What is the importance of the Vietnam war?

Answer 1

For the typical citizen at large:

1. An all volunteer military (no more fear of being inducted into the service).

2. Voting age lowered to age 18 (used to be 21).

For the military population:

1. The F22 Raptor still has guns on it thanks to the Vietnam War.

2. All armies now use the assault rifle (pioneered in the Vietnam War).

3. The M1 Abrams MBT (Main Battle Tank) was pioneered on the combat experience obtained from the M48 Patton's combat experience in Vietnam, among other conflicts.

4. Today's Kevlar helmet is based upon lessons learned in Vietnam combat.

5. Today's Blackhawk helicopter is based upon lessons learned from the UH-1 Hueys (Iroquois) combat experience in Vietnam. Today's AH-64 Apache helicopter gunship is a direct descendant of the Vietnam AH-1 Cobra attack chopper.

6. The A-10 Warthog took some of it's design lessons from the A1 Skyraider's (code named Sandy and Spad) experience in the Vietnam War.

7. Today's USN riverine forces took their ideas directly from the USNs "Brown Water Navys" riverine forces in Vietnam.

Just a few examples.