Summary: The Representations Of Vietnam Veterans

The Vietnam War of 1954 - 1975 was the longest and one of the most unsuccessful wars in U.S history. It took place in countries such as South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The war was a huge blow to the United States’ pride and military, so much that there were lotteries for soldiers. There were five presidents in office during the war, but the main presidents that had a big impact on being involved were Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon. Although the objectives of the U.S being involved were good intentioned, there are many reasons to support that it was an Unjustifiable war due to the casualties. While looking at present information about the war, it was not needed for America to step into the territorial

The Vietnam War was a long, exhausting, and traumatic experience for all of the soldiers and those who came with them. The Things They Carried, by Tim O 'Brien illustrates the different affects the war had on a variety of people: Jacqueline Navarra Rhoads, a former nurse during the Vietnam war, demonstrates these effects within her own memoir in the book, The Forgotten Veterans. Both sources exemplify many tribulations, while sharing a common thread of suffering from mental unpredictability. Desensitization and unstable morals are two main themes relevant not only throughout the novel, but in Jacqueline 's personal story.

The soldiers that fought for or are fighting for our country are some of the bravest men and women that there have ever been. These men and women put their lives on the line as well as their own mental health for fighting for the people of the United States. The most common mental disorder that Americans hear about veterans having is PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Louise Erdrich’s “The Red Convertible,” and “Midnight Movie” by Mike Subritzky, the characters all show signs of PTSD. The Vietnam War is a large part of America’s history and therefore is one of the greatest examples of the effects of war, such as PTSD, on a soldier.

This report aims to find and discuss about the problems that the Vietnamese war veterans face and at the end there will be ways that can help, how they were treated and viewed by their fellow countrymen when they returned back home. How did it impact Countries/governments and who protested against the Vietnam War. All these question will be answered on the main paragraphs bellow.

The Vietnam war was an absolutely brutal time in American history. The war lasted for the majority of the 1960s and left many young men dead. The short story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien and the film Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam give us just a glance into the war by giving using the three themes of fear, pressures, and blame/guilt to embody the concept of war and how it absolutely changes a person. War not only destroys countries, but it destroys people.

Throughout America’s history, few things have left the nation in such controversial turmoil as the Vietnam War. With an American death toll of almost 60,000 troops, the Vietnam War has gone down in infamy as one of the most tremendous struggles Americans have faced both overseas and on the home front. Because of the tumultuous controversies caused by the war, Americans split into two social factions – those against the war and those who supported it. During the years of 1961-1975 - the era in which the war had its greatest effect on Americans - the population of citizens from 18-35 years old and the Presidency were both affected irreversibly.

Instead, most Vietnam veterans returned to a society that did not seem to care about them, or that seemed to view them with distrust and anger. ”(Coming Home: Vietnam Veterans In American Society). Even when they just fought a brutal war, the lives of the Veterans were just

Just under 42 years ago, the United States fought a war against Vietnam for almost 20 years. The United States lost. It was a tragedy because many lives were lost and our Presidents made multiple mistakes and false promises. The U.S. had lost its first war in history and it would go down as one of our worst mistakes. In the following paragraphs, we will go over two separate accounts from two people living in the same area, Buffalo, New York. Patricia “Pat” Musiak had family members and loved ones fight for America and Raymond “Ray” LaMarca, Sr. fought for the U.S. in the Army.

The Vietnam war was one of the most publicly hated wars in American history. The amount of people killed and the amount of people declared MIA is unfathomable. These troops were never liked, never supported, and to this day are over looked because no one wants to remember the years of the Vietnam war.

After the Vietnam War, the use of chemical warfare caused many post-war issues for American veterans. Many veterans had a direct experience on homelessness due to the immediate consequence of American military policies. Psychological symptoms were apparent, when veterans had phobic avoidance to society. Diseases affected veterans health conditions by making their skin bare to infections. Through the wake of the chemical warfare in the Vietnam War,veterans could not substantiate the long term impacts given through combat.

Imagine being suddenly drafted to war, not prepared for the death and horror. Young, confused, scared, naïve. During the Vietnam War, many young men were forced to face a war that changed them, and not necessarily for the better. Many of the men who went to war experienced terrors that changed them in a way that affected their lives after, as shown by countless war stories and poems. Norman Bowker, from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried (1990), is a perfect example of the hard-bitten war veteran archetype. Fighting in the Vietnam War and feeling as if he had a part in his friend’s death (Kiowa) caused him so much guilt and pain that he ended up hanging himself after endlessly driving around a lake when returning home. Similarly, Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem, “The Dead at Quang Tri”, emphasizes the ghosts that haunt soldiers during and after war. Overall, the haunting memories that characters deal with in war stories, like O’Brien and Komunyakaa’s, display the long lasting effects of death and war on the minds of soldiers.

During the Vietnam War, soldiers witnessed and underwent traumatic events that changed not only who they were as people, but also how they behaved in a functioning society. In The Things They Carried, after Norman Bowker witnesses the tragic death

Home is not always a good place to be greeted from after coming back from a long, gory, and devastating war. The Veterans of the Vietnam War fought without a choice on the battlefield on Vietnam land. They were forced to hold back their opinions and do what they were told to do, which is to serve the country of America, home to them and many other Americans, in any way possible. Throughout their time in this war, they felt overwhelmed as horrifying events played out in front of them, such as the deaths of fellow soldiers. However, even as they were serving their country to the best of their ability, Vietnam soldiers were treated unfairly when they returned home from war.

Representation 1 is an article that was posted on the factualworld.com website in 2015. The purpose of the article is to inform readers about the “Hard Hat Riot” that took place on 8th May 1970. Representation 2 on the other hand is from the book “America’s war in Vietnam”, written by Larry H. Addington and published in 2000. This representation discusses “the anti-war movement” in America and the “students for a Democratic Society”. Representation 3 is a cartoon by Bill Mauldin that was published in 1966 in the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper. This representation shows two different opinions to the Vietnam war.

I have always been interested in the Vietnam War and the results of “the longest war in America.” Therefore, I have decided to examine the social attitudes toward Vietnam veterans. Since I feel so passionately about the way that Vietnam veterans are viewed, the purpose of my paper is to inform others about the way that the veterans have been criticized and misrepresented. Personally, I hope to gain a further understanding of the attitudes and views towards Vietnam veterans, especially since my father is a veteran. After reading my paper, I hope that my audience will walk away with more respect and reverence for those that fought in the Vietnam War and gave their lives for their country. My