The Vietnam War, BBC 4, Monday at 10pm
I think we all understand that war dehumanises, but rarely do you hear it explained so clearly as by one American soldier in the brilliant Vietnam War documentary.
John Musgrave was a teenage member of the Marine Corps fighting in the Con Thien area just short of the DMZ in 1967.
So terrifying was the battle that the soldiers referred to the demilitarised zone as the Dead Marine Zone.
In one ambush at a crossroads know as ‘The Marketplace’ in July 1967, the marines suffered their worst defeat of the war.
Fifty-three American dead and 191 wounded were carried off the battlefield, while 34 more dead had to be left behind. When Musgrave’s unit fought their way back two days later some of the bodies had been booby-trapped and others mutilated.
Musgrave said earlier in his tour of duty he had been “sick with guilt” when he killed his first enemy soldier.
“Then I made deal with myself,” he said.
“I will never kill another human being as long as I’m in Vietnam, however I will waste as many gooks as I can find, I’ll whack as many dinks as I can find, I’ll smoke as many zips as I can find, but I ain’t gonna kill anybody.
“You turn the subject into an object. It’s racism 101 and it turns out to be a very necessary tool when you have children fighting your wars.”
While there were many instances of bravery (Musgrave tells of two soldiers killed trying to rescue him when he had been shot 10-feet short of a machine gun post), there were also war crimes.
Musgrave explains that Marine headquarters were “desperate to get prisoners”.
“Good luck, don’t you know what we are doing up here (in the DMZ).
“I want to make this clear, we did not torture prisoners and we did not mutilate them (long pause) but to be a prisoner you had to make it to the rear. If he fell into our hands he was just one sorry f***er (long pause).
“I don’t know how to explain it that it would make sense”
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Billion Dollar Deals And How They Changed Your World, BBC 1, Monday at 11.15pm
In the second episode of his fascinating series, Jacques Peretti turned his attention to digital payments.
It may not sound that exciting, but it’s probably more significant to our future world than Donald Trump, North Korea or Brexit.
In essence, we are turning away from cash and moving to digital payments and the battle is underway for control.
Peretti argued that while there are many innovators and players in the market, the feudal kings of our world - Apple, Facebook and Google - are battling for overall control of the digital payment revolution.
The tech giants may claim that they want to make the world a more connected place but a world where Silicon Valley owns the banking system sounds like a very scary one.
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World Cup Qualifier: Wales v Republic of Ireland, Sky Football, Monday at 7pm
Now that was a flashback to the 1990s. The football was still awful, but at least the excitement levels for watching the Republic improved.
It’s not quite at Jack Charlton levels yet, but hold onto your hats if the Republic wins the play-off and qualifies for its first world cup in 16 years.
The celebrations were more muted for Northern Ireland given the consistency of their performances had practically guaranteed qualification for the playoffs. However, a play-off win will give Norther Ireland a spot in the world cup for the first time since the heroics of 1986.
