Under-Fire and Underground: U.S Servicemember Activism during the Vietnam Conflict (1965-1973)

Even in the 21st century, the official U.S intervention in South Vietnam (1965-1973) remains a polarizing topic of national, political debate. Popularly portrayed as an anti-war, pro-victory struggle within U.S national culture, the Vietnam Conflict’s principal actors, its combat and support servicemembers, were also the critical enablers for the anti-war activities that occurred because of the conflict’s nature, conduct, and escalation. Meanwhile, as the U.S war in Vietnam got underway, the Civil Rights Era and its various political and cultural impacts began to assert itself into the mainstream of U.S society. This study seeks to interpret how the Cold War politics, the Civil Rights Era, and the demographics of the U.S influenced the servicemember anti-war activism during the Vietnam War, its withdrawal and transition to the All-Volunteer Force in 1973.
A national institution, the armed forces of the United States are reflections of the society and state they serve. Going further, the combat and support units within those services are national microcosms of the United States. However, during the Vietnam Conflict, the military units representing the U.S in South Vietnam were so socioeconomically, academically, ideologically, and racially unequal that both civilian and military leaders decided to withdraw and reform the U.S armed forces from South Vietnam. Through a combination of domestic dissent and overseas resistance, the U.S servicemembers during the Vietnam Conflict, more than any other group or organization, compelled the U.S to withdraw and reassess its civil-military worldviews.

Good afternoon, my name is Samuel Aceret and I am a senior participating in George Mason University’s Celebration of Scholarship and Impact. Thank you for taking the time to watch my video and share in my brief historical and cultural vignette on U.S Servicemember Activism during the Vietnam War. As a Marine veteran, I take immense pride in sharing my research and work thus far, on this subject. The PowerPoint provided will complement, but not substitute, the senior thesis I have written, but will cover the main points, arguments and themes that are illuminated in my paper.
The All-Volunteer Force of the U.S military we know today is the direct descendent of the many civil-military lessons learned during the U.S intervention in South Vietnam
But more than anything, it reflects the national frustration at that time with Selective Service System, or draft, that emerged out of the Cold War Nuclear politics. A national program used by a public institution, the military, the draft used in the Vietnam Conflict reflected the profound inequalities of the United States. Militaries, as with any other public institution, evoke, share and acquire similar characteristics to those of the society and state it serves. Aggravated by the conflict’s escalation and invigorated by the sociopolitical shifts attributable to the Civil rights Era, the combat and support servicemembers during the Vietnam Conflict began to voice their concerns and frustration with their military leaders and civilian counterparts.
While not wholly representative of the U.S armed forces at the time, the U.S servicemember activism during the Vietnam War included both active-duty, reserve, and National Guard personnel, regardless of combat experience. From Green Berets to the average drafted soldier, who eventually comprised nearly 2/3 of military personnel in South Vietnam, the servicemember movement was composed of a diverse array of citizen-soldiers.
As the conflict overseas escalated, so did the movement, and soon deferments and desertions rose, protests broadened, military race riots flared-up, and eventually, the movement began to organize through underground newspapers and G.I coffeehouses, where soldiers and veterans networked and discovered a newfound identity within society.
Overseas, the servicemember movement was limited somewhat by the inherent military code and conduct, but nevertheless failed to quell the inter-and intra-unit divisions that eroded offensive ability. Through faking military operations, to quasi-mutinies, going absent without leave from rear areas, to murdering one’s own commanding officer after a battle, the overseas component of this movement turned out to be extreme and sporadic.
Seen together, the combined efforts of servicemembers created the military and geopolitical conditions necessary for the withdrawal and reform the United States armed Forces in 1973, with the adoption of the All-Volunteer Force model.