Any war is repulsive. The Vietnam War is no exception. Ho Chi Minh City and its surroundings have many museums and artifacts dedicated to this conflict. From the Cu Chi tunnels to a secret bunker that played a role in the fall of Saigon. Almost everywhere I got the impression that the exhibits were more focused on trophies and the horrors committed by the Americans, rather than on the idea that such things shouldn't happen again. Although the communists clearly weren't innocent either.

I'm not an expert on Vietnamese history, let alone this conflict. But a few facts caught my attention while reading about it all.

* In 1945-1946, the British won a war against Vietnamese communists with relatively little bloodshed. This played a role in the US decision to send soldiers to Vietnam.

* One of Jimmy Carter's first presidential orders was an unconditional amnesty for all draft dodgers.

* During the war, college students weren't drafted into the American army. So professors inflated grades for young men to prevent them from being expelled and drafted.

* The US military tried to rapidly recruit 100,000 recruits. They could think of nothing better than lowering standards for new soldiers. This included lowering the IQ threshold by 6% from the minimum of 80 points. Unsurprisingly, people with lower IQs didn't return from the battlefield five times more often than others.