During the Vietnam War, there was a large difference of opinion about the United States’ involvement between the Military and the American Citizens. The lack of support of the war and the continuous protests of it on the Homefront eventually led to the United States having to pull out of the war despite the Government and Military’s interests. By looking at the movement, landscape, and the comparison of the foreground and background, we can see that America and its military forced itself into foreign wars to prevent the spread of Communism during the Cold War. This is important because it shows the difference of opinion between the America’s military and its citizens during the Cold War, particularly during the Vietnam War, which is where and when this picture was taken.

In this picture we can see that the helicopters and the soldiers are moving rapidly towards the forest and the smoke behind it. The smoke and the fire it was coming from could represent the struggle between the United States Military and American Citizens (Which will be explained in the next paragraph). So the fact that the soldiers and the helicopters are rushing towards it could mean that they were trying to gain the support of the American citizens as quickly as they can.  They knew that without the support of their citizens, they could never fund or provide the necessary resources for a war overseas. The morale of the troops also seems to be lowered for some reason, based on the body movement of the soldier closest to the camera. We can see that his head is hanging, he appears to be moving slowly, and he is slouching. This can show what happens when the soldiers do not have the support of the people that they are fighting for. They can get worn out and tired of fighting.

By looking at the layout of the land and the smoke in the woods, we can see that this land is not owned by the United States and that they are invading it. The fields going straight into the tropical woods is not a landscape that you would typically find in the United States. This can also be related to the goals of the United States Government and Military. The Military wanted to stop the spread of communism, which is represented by the trees. As I said before, the soldiers and the helicopters are moving towards the trees, which further supports this argument. The blotches of smoke on the middle of the picture show that there is some kind of fight going on here. The area behind the forest seems to be covered with smoke and looks like the result of a huge fire that is still occurring, which could represent the ongoing arguments of international military actions. It could also represent the relationship between the United States Military and American citizens during this time period. A lot of American citizens were opposed to the Vietnam war and there were a lot of protests against it on the Homefront. 

The foreground and background of the paper have many differences that can represent problems that were going on during this time. The first thing that I noticed about it was how in focus the foreground is compared to the background. It makes it seem like the forested area is even further away than it actually is at a first glance. This can help us relate to how the American Citizens felt during the Vietnam War; they felt that it was very far away from them. This also led them to wonder why the United States Military needed to be fighting a war that is so far away from them in order to protect them. It led American Citizens to think that this war was a waste of time, money, and lives. It also leads us to believe that the problem does not have a clear solution from the point of view of the Military. They do not want to just pull out of the war, because then they would fail. But what the citizens want is to pull out of the war, so the United States Government wanted to keep its citizens in favor of the war but they had no idea how. The foreground is also where all of the soldiers and helicopters are, which tells us that this picture is from the point of view of the Military, not the Citizens. Knowing this, we can go back to the point about how the Military needs the support of its citizens. The United States Government knew that they could not fund a war that was protested against in their own country. Despite their best efforts, the United States did have to pull out of the war because of the lack of support on the Homefront. Another difference between the foreground and the background is that the foreground is an open field, while the background is heavily forested. This shows us that what the United States Government wanted (to stop the spread of communism throughout the world) was very clear and plain to them, but what the American Citizens wanted was a lot more difficult to achieve by this point (when they were already involved in Vietnam). 

The United States struggled with the Vietnam War in a large part because of the lack of support for the war on the Homefront. We can see that in this picture through the movement, landscape, and the comparison of the foreground and background. The people in America had grown tired of all of the fighting throughout the Cold War, and they lost support for the fighting when the Vietnam War came around, as we can see by analyzing this photo. And the loss of support is what forced the United States to eventually pull out of the war in the end, despite their best efforts to gain the support of Americans.