THE COLD WAR 1950 1973
THE VIETNAM WAR
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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not allowed to fight over seas
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often granted deferments to attend college
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becoming commissioned officers at a high rate
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more likely than others to serve in combat positions
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Detailed explanation-1: -African American troops were more likely to be assigned to combat units: 23% of such troops in Vietnam were African Americans. In some airborne units African Americans composed 45-60% of troops. Racism against African Americans was particularly pronounced in the Navy.
Detailed explanation-2: -Approximately 300, 000 African Americans served in the Vietnam War. In 1965, African Americans filled 31% of the ground combat battalions in Vietnam, while the percentage of African Americans as a minority in the general population was 12%. In 1965, African Americans suffered 24% of the U.S. Army’s fatal casualties.
Detailed explanation-3: -There was no war front to advance, no safe region to defend, not even a well-defined theatre in which to operate. The Vietnam conflict was a 360-degree war where any soldier – particularly Americans and Westerners – might encounter attacks, ambushes and booby traps at any place or time.
Detailed explanation-4: -Increasingly, Black activists charged that the war itself was racism, and many African Americans developed a sense of racial solidarity with the Vietnamese.
Detailed explanation-5: -More than 300, 000 Black Americans served in Vietnam. Though only about 12% of the U.S. population, Black servicemembers were 16.3% of the armed forces, and up to 25% of enlisted men in the Army, but only 2% of officers across all branches.