6. US Servicemen During The Vietnam War Were Not Largely From Poor Backgrounds... And Were Actually The Best-Educated American Forces In History
Films such as Forrest Gump have helped to create a stereotypical image of a US serviceman during the Vietnam War as being poor, uneducated and, more-often-than not, African-American - although in reality nothing could really be further from the truth. The proportion of African-Americans in the Armed Forces roughly matched their make-up of the population as a whole, as has already been mentioned, while the majority of soldiers were actually from middle-class backgrounds following the boom years of the 1950s and early-1960s across the USA. And, in terms of education, the forces in Vietnam were actually the best-educated group of men and women the USA had ever sent into war - with 79% having gained a high-school education or better. Quite often, stereotypes and myths can mask the reality of a situation.