19 (song) 19 (song) "19" is a song by British musician Paul Hardcastle released as the first single from his self-titled third studio album "Paul Hardcastle" (1985). The song has a strong anti-war message, focusing on America's involvement in the Vietnam War and the effect it had on the soldiers who served. The track was notable for early use of sampled and processed speech, in particular a synthesized stutter effect used on the words 'nineteen' and 'destruction'. It also includes various non-speech, re-dubbed sampling, such as crowd noise and a military bugle call. "19" features sampled narration (voiced by Peter Thomas), out-of-context
1963 in the Vietnam War Delta, had devised tactics to combat American helicopters and armored vehicles. U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) Commander General Paul D. Harkins declared the battle a victory for ARVN because the Viet Cong had abandoned the battlefield. American adviser Lt. Col. John Paul Vann who observed and directed the battle from a small airplane, called it a "miserable damn performance" by ARVN because the Viet Cong escaped after inflicting heavy casualties on the South Vietnamese. State Department officer Roger Hilsman, who had counterinsurgency experience in World War II, said after a visit to Vietnam that "things are going much better