Although there were many protests in the United States against the war in Vietnam, GIs began opposing and resisting the war for several reasons and protested in many ways.
The first forces to enter the war, would be the first forces to speak against the war. The Green Berets would come back from missions and question why they were fighting. Military peace movements were formed from these special forces such as The Vietnam Veterans Against the War. These veterans would speak against the war and state contradictions about the war.
"The whole thing is a lie. We weren't preserving freedom in South Vietnam. There was no freedom to preserve. To voice opposition to the government meant jail or death...Newspapers that didn't say the right thing were closed down. People are not free to leave...It's all there to see once the Red film is removed from the eyes. We aren't the freedom fighters. We are the Russian tanks blasting the hopes of an Asian Hungary. It's not democracy we brought to Vietnam-it's anticommunism."
Racial tension in the military led many African Americans to refuse combat. African Americans would find it difficult to fight for democracy in Vietnam, while still fighting for democracy within the military. "In the C Company, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry, seven African Americans refused combat duty, claiming that racist commanders were exposing them to undue risk." In the Navy, one hundred African American sailors assembled to protest racism. An attempt from the marines to end the protest ended in a fight between white and black soldiers. Many other sit-ins and protests were led by African American and white sailors. African Americans felt the war was in America, not in Vietnam. The people in Vietnam never did anything to them.
Resistance was found in several forms: sit-ins, "strikes", combat refusals and "fraggings". Soldiers would hold up battles to negotiate terms and conditions that they wished to change. Soldiers would refuse combat upon seeing the ARVN soldiers walk away from battles. "It's their territory. If they don't want it, I don't want it." Fraggins were threats and assignation attempts on officers and soldiers who were not liked or had led their squads into dangerous conditions. Each of these were forms of resistance lead by US soldiers against the fighting in Vietnam.