Philosophy

Vietnam War started in 1959 and lasted until 1975. It was fought between South Vietnam government with support from the United States of America and other anti-communist nations, and the communist North Vietnam government under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh assisted by its allies. The conflict grew as a result of the ending of the France colonial rule when they were defeated by Vietnam in July 1975. The US feared a take offer of the entire region by the communists who had expanded into Eastern Europe, Korea and Cuba and decided to take action to stop its further spread. The whole war was captured by an American Photographer, Tim Page and a Writer, Michael Herr, who later reported on the war on the Esquire Magazine. Herr covered several operations including two major ones the siege of the Khe Sahn and the recapture of the old Vietnamese capital City Hue.
These correspondents attached a lot of glamour to their work in these war zones. There is some passion associated with watching, covering or doing a story about war. This is why Tim Page, the American Photographer said, Take the glamour out of war I mean, how the bloody hell can you do THAT... I mean, You Know that, it just CANT BE Done (Herr, 1977) This was his reaction to a British Publisher, when he was asked to do a story on war that was supposed to take glamour out of war. Despite the dangers, pain and suffering that Page underwent while covering the war in Vietnam, he still felt there was that urge inside him that made him volunteer to work in this place and this is what he associates with glamour. Herr describes him as a remarkable correspondent who took many risks and suffers many shrapnel wounds. He adds to say that his flair and obvious craziness made the marine nervous. He behaves as if he is home, he is not scared about the enemy and this scares the marine, if they hadnt known him well, they would have thought he was some sort of spy. His glamour comes partly from courage and partly from his lampoons of the military, but he earns it (Bookrags, 2000). Soldiers also earn their glamour as indicated by the badges on their chests. This portrays the glamour that Page is referring to in his statement. The soldiers on the ground themselves wanted to come home and were surprised with the correspondents presence in full knowledge of the looming danger. He does not even regret the large shrapnel at the base of the brain that nearly took his life. To extend the odd personality of enjoying glamour of this war, he throws a party on his twenty-fifth birthday to the surprise of many (Bookrags, 2000). Through his photography, Page showed that war was always was, and will always be heavily invested in glamour, with glory and in machoism such is the representation of conflict in popular imagination (Hills, 2003). He made an issue of the glamour of Vietnam in an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 1980 and recalled how groovy it had been playing with helicopters, tanks and piloting Sky-raiders (Hills, 2003).
Herr meets a lot of Marines, several officers, and fellow correspondents while gathering information on his story Dispatches. She prefers working in the field over work in Saigon which is considered safer. Vietnam is never a safe place at this time as the night is owned by the enemy. It is filled with mortar attacks and bombs that explode anywhere at anytime of the day (Bookrags, 2000). In his story, Herr (1977) quotes Page for a number of reasons. Both of them attended the war area Herr to write a story and Page to cover the scenes. Therefore, there works are complimentary and their experiences of grief and suffering are the same. The story told by Herr is the perception of war from looking at the pictures taken by Page. They are also driven to this area by the same reasons. Another reason is the perception that is fascinating that is usually associated with war when one is watching a movie as Herr recalls when he was young watching these movies. This is what pulls Herr to the Vietnam War. Herr notes that the marines who think that they are being captured by the war coverers act movies in a real situation (Bookrags, 2000). In Bookrags (2000), it is written that, war has its own beauty though it is very terrible, and this is seen in the displayed feelings that Herr, Tripper and Mayhew as they pass over triage. Herr also says that the driving force of the soldiers in these war fields is the glamour that follows after the opponent has been overpowered. It does not matter the worse the situation gets even as their combat mates are killed and they are forced to retreat they will not surrender and go back to their homes, they want to truly serve their country. Others would like to be honored for being in this battle fields. In Bookrags (2000), war stories are also conveyed as being popular and everyone would always want to be associated with them.
War can be defined as a contest between two or more groups who engage in an armed confrontation aimed at solving an issue. It is a forceful action aimed at solving conflicts. It is usually prolonged and is fought between nations, parties or states. It usually arises because of the changing relations of numerous variables technological, psychic, social, and intellectual (Wright, 1965). There are several reasons why people engage themselves in war. The following are some of them and their illustrations.
A country will engage in war if it is invaded by the other in a way to defend itself. The invasion of its territorial boundary will cause make it to retaliate by sending the invaders away. If the invading nation refuses to withdraw, the two nations will engage another in war. A good example is the war that was fought against the colonialists in Africa. The rise of MAU MAU fighters in Kenya in the 1950s to fight the British is an example of this war. The White Settlers were taking away their land through forceful evictions from their farms and this made people from all the communities in Kenya to group and fight against this common enemy.
Some of the wars are meant to redress wrongs done on the people of a nation. When the most of the fundamental human rights are disobeyed, there is always need to fight for them. Iraq invasion by the United States of America with its troops was aimed at removing the former President, Saddaam Hussein who had infringed too much on the rights of the citizens of Iraq. He ruled by his principles and had clinched to power for a very long time.
Other wars are fought to acquire territory. There is also a boundary between rulers of certain regions in a country and these boundaries are usually permanent. Rulers govern these regions and some times they would want to expand them. Of course, no other ruler will be willing to reduce its territory at the expense of the other ruler and the only way to extend the boundary is by waging war on the other group. In the ancient past, nations were divided into territories each under the leadership of rulers and these wars were common.
In some cases, wars are fought as revenge missions on unaddressed cases of the past. The fighting between Israel and the Palestinians is a good illustration of this. Other wars are fought to obtain and establish superiority over another nation or group. The war between the Algaeda and the United States is a war of dominion. The United States is a super power and would like protect the Pakistan Central government which has been destabilized by this group. On the other hand, the Algaeda group seeks to establish dominion by organizing terror attacks on other nations especially those under the helm of United States. It did bomb the United States Embassy in Kenya in 1998 and the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001.