Together with Bloody Knife in South Vietnam: Old West Metaphors and the Kit Carson Scouts during the Vietnam War

Abstract

The Vietnam War saw widespread usage by American soldiers of metaphors and imagery referencing the mythic Old West of American history. This article examines a case of an Old West reference that has been overlooked in previous research: The Kit Carson Scouts, former PLAF and PAVN soldiers who had volunteered to work for the United States. I argue that Americans, ranging from high ranking officers to enlisted men, used Old West metaphors and imagery drawn from popular culture to interpret and understand the place that the Kit Carson Scout had amongst American forces and how the cooperation between South and North Vietnamese defectors and American soldiers was meant to function. In the process, Americans faced resistance from Vietnamese scouts who could not identify themselves with examples from mythologized American history.