The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States.

This medal is for the men who went down that day.

It's for the families of those who didn't make it.

Recipients have done the improbable, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves.

On Medal of Honor, stories of courage, you'll hear about

these heroes and what their stories tell us about the nature of bravery. Listen to Medal of Honor

wherever you get your podcast. War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding

right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased its

size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential

for understanding American history. Welcome to Key Battles of American History, a podcast in which we discuss American

history through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.

Here is your host, James Early.

Hello and welcome back to Key Battles of the Vietnam War, a 10,000-foot survey of the war that defined a generation.

I'm your host, James Early. As always, and as always, I am joined by my co-host and my good buddy, Sean McIra.

In our last episode, we discussed the complex, multifaceted anti-Vietnam War movement in the United States and around the world.

In this episode, Sean and I will reflect on the long-term consequences of the war for the Vietnamese people, the United States, and the whole world.

Now, usually in the final episode of this series, this is actually not the final,

this is the almost final, second to the last episode.

But we often, toward the end, we begin by discussing the human costs of the war.

We give the total number of killed, wounded, and missing on all sides. But since I've

already done this back in episode 17, two episodes ago, we're not going to be talking about

casualties today. It is worthy of mention, though, that the war costs the United States

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