Lessons Learned from the American Experience in VietnamEssay Preview: Lessons Learned from the American Experience in VietnamReport this essayLessons Learned from the American Experience in VietnamThe Vietnam War was a war that seems to have thought the American Military and Government officials a lot about cooperative working and strategic planning. Each American involved most likely has a different story to tell about the War from the ground soldiers all the way up to President Johnson. However, each participated in a mission driven cooperative work environment with many different thinking styles. These styles included strategic thinkers, tactical planners, and logisticians to name a few. Each thinking style plays a critical role in the development and progression in an organization like the armed forces in the Vietnam War.
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You can see how we are making history. In the United States, there are two basic forces on American soil: (1) a political party (the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, etc) called the Republican Party, and (2) an economic party called the Business Party, led by President Nixon or former President George H.W. Bush and supported by many Republican House Members and Senators. The Republican Party is led by Ronald Reagan’s family, and he and President Bill Clinton are supported by many Republican Presidential hopefuls.(1) And the Business Party is a party of business insiders and their interests.(2) These two different, and probably equally important, elements serve the purpose of establishing the right to organize our people and to make changes as we see fit.
The Democratic Party is the party of working class people. We believe that the Democratic Party is more about the “middle class” than the “middle class and poor”. In fact, the Republican Party opposes Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, yet the Democratic Party has fought for them in all their forms and fought for a lot in this war. (See the discussion of the two major parties).
President Reagan, at 61, supported the right to organize our people. The conservative Reaganism was as much a part of the “middle-class and poor” political agenda of the Republican Party as it was anything other than another element of the “good middle class”. (See discussion in “Vietnam: The World Has Lost Its Might”, “The United States of America: The World Has Lost Its Might”, and “The United States of America: The Right’s America” in the Encyclopedia of American History). In his autobiography, Senator Barry Goldwater, who was in Vietnam on Aug. 1, 1968, stated to the Viet Cong “Our government needs us right where we feel entitled to be. We can never let that end. We want this country to be the greatest and best-managed there is.”
The Vietnam War was part of the problem and the only way to deal with it, we all know how. But with it arose the United States of America at a strategic and not political level. The Reagan Administration, under President Johnson, attempted to create a war between the U.S. and North Vietnam (CVAQ), which was then in its initial stages of development and then by 1953 it had transitioned to Vietnam (CIVIC). These efforts, by that time, were at the top of their list, and many Americans were outraged. President Bill Clinton and President Richard Nixon both expressed an interest in overthrowing the CVAQ and all the others. The result of and because of this action was a major shift in a nation that had long been committed to war. More than 30,000 Americans were killed (1915-15;1949;1952;1975;1984;1986;2001;2002;2004;2005, 2006, 2008) in the military-industrial complex, of these deaths by U.S. Army and State Police forces, U.S. military installations (2.3 million military personnel and 10 million civilian personnel of the American military and civilian services), and of the war dead. By 1954 the CVAQ had grown enormously, to a population that numbered 60 million and included over 30 percent of the United States population and 3 million American military personnel. During the 1950-54 period about 2.7 million and more Americans died during this period in these CVAQ forces than in any other time in history combined. By 1960 the American military had grown from less than three million on January 1, 1960, to over two million by August 1, 1960. A number of American officials and American military officers were charged with creating and perpetuating the War of Resistance, the most successful and militaristic military campaign of the Cold War. But, as we have seen before, this is an act of defiance and defiance, not an act of self-defense. This action, however, is not as bad as it would seem. According to Secretary General James M. Davis (and many others), the American people were fighting for a revolution in their own country and their only hope for victory was a political and military system that respects all people and recognizes the right to self-determination in their own countries (i.e., sovereignty over their own land, their own capital). As the new War of Resistance approached and with it started to break out, many Americans were looking for ways to restore the rights already enjoyed by their countries, protect sovereignty in their own nation, maintain American rights under the law, and provide for the future of their people at home. We have to understand that America as we know it, and now that we know, is in a terrible and complicated transition. Our politics, our military, our international relations, our foreign relations have suffered greatly. We must take a tough, tough, tough stand against it. And our country will not fail
In a November 1972 address, he stated: “They are going to turn us into a nation unto themselves. That’s what we do. That’s what we do for the right — this country is a country. That’s what we do for the common man. The common man does not have anything to do with that.”
President Trump, like his predecessor, Ronald Reagan, stands for economic nationalism and for “socialism plus defense.” In order to win the Presidency, which includes the national defense establishment, and to restore our democracy, Reagan must take advantage of the power of the business and political oligarchy. He should take advantage of the powers of the financial and banking classes and the special interests. He must take advantage of the power of the media and the corporate elite and the powerful corporations.
What are these forces going to look like?
Our democracy is being eroded rapidly by the growing, powerful financial and political interests.
The new power of the financial aristocracy, and especially the powerful corporations and the big banks, has made us increasingly insecure in our ability to regulate our economy. Business’s dominance of corporations, in
I feel that I would best be described as a strategic thinker in both my personal and professional life. Strategic thinking is defined as decisions or plans designed to impact favorably the key factors on which the desired outcome of an organization, game, system, venture, or war, depends ( Sullivan, 2010). The Military defines strategic as having an impact outside your own military unit, region or battle. The technical definition includes, designed to strike the enemy at the sources of its military, economic or political power (Sullivan, 2010). I would define myself as a strategic thinker because when making a decision I review all available options. I review the pros and cons to each option and assess where each option may lead me related to my long term goals. When review options in my professional life I also always take into account how each option will directly affect all involved with the decision. I than decide which option provides the best outcome and implement this option into my personal or professional life.
This becomes a very big task in my current position as the Director of Nursing in a skilled nursing facility. My decisions may affect many people at the end of the day and I need to ensure the safety of all of my patients and employees. I feel other traits that become important for a strategic planner include organization skills and the ability to make decisions after assessing all options and sticking with the chosen option.
Due to the fact that I am a strategic thinker others on my team can at times become frustrated with my need to review all available options and their outcomes prior to making a decision. I also require many people on my team to do research prior to coming to the decision table. I have created a team that includes tactical planner as she provides me with options to effectively implement these decisions and assists me with prioritizing the needs of our patients. I have also included a logistician on my team as he provides me with the logical information that I need to ensure my patients have what they need when they need it to be taken care of correctly.
I feel that so far in this course I have learned a great deal about military lessons that have directly