Vietnam War Research Paper

The Vietnam war has been referred to by many names, one of the longer ones was 'the cornerstone of the free world southeast Asia'. It was called that by John F. Kennedy. He was talking about Vietnam being and essential country in a non-communist world. He believed that if Vietnam became a communist country, all of the surrounding countries would also become communists. This is the main reason America was involved in the Vietnam war. Another reason was that America wanted to spread their “political ideas around the globe”. They wanted to do this so that their anti-communism stance was clear. The public also wanted to keep communism from spreading. To soldiers, the war was like a crusade, a great journey to purge the communists from Vietnam.

Veterans coming home had to face many different situations. Most veterans who came home did not receive the welcome they had deserved. Some veterans were homeless and unemployed after coming home. An organization called the Vietnam Veterans against the War or the VVAW tried to help the soldiers coming home. The organization allowed veterans to talk about their experiences to them and also tried to get the veterans to talk to the public (Rivers 646-648). The VVAW helped the veterans throughout the war. Many veterans who came home had emotional trauma or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The United States citizens did not want to remember the war or the brave men who fought in it (Rivers 646-647). Very few people cared about Vietnam or the soldiers during the war because of the negative views toward the soldiers and the war.

WOOSTER — Friday morning, a group of 24 veterans pulled out of the parking lot of Shreve American Legion in a chartered bus heading to see the war memorials in Washington, D.C.

Remembering the Vietnam War Veterans The Vietnam War remains today to be one of the most memorable and long - lived wars in history. Mike Clark was one of those veterans who fought in the war and he is alive to share is share his memorable experiences in the war. In remembering the Vietnam War veterans, it is important to consider the experiences of guerilla warfare, the training the soldiers endured, and the lives of the veterans after the war.

“The Vietnam War was unwinnable.” A very controversial statement that raises the question as to how. With the amount of power and money to support the United States, Vietnam looked to have no chance at winning the war. However, that was not the case. The Vietnam War began on the 1st of November 1955 due to the fear of ‘the domino affect’, the United States feared that the North Vietnamese would convert South Vietnam to communism and essentially cause the surrounding countries to follow suit. Which led the United States to become involved and in July/August 1962 involve Australia as well, until 1972 when Australian troops were withdrawn from the war, however, the country was divided in the debate as to whether or not Australian troops needed to be involved in the first place as popular opinion was that the war was unwinnable.

After the Vietnam War, soldiers suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder in countless numbers. The trauma they saw, endured, and witnessed forever changed and scared their lives. Men, like Tim O'Brien the author of the novel The Things They Carried, suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder and it took them years to regain their lives after their return home. In the excerpt from his novel, O'Brien shows the reader how the men endured this mind-altering experience in the jungles of Vietnam through the details of all the items the men carry.

Was the Vietnam War winnable? Vietnam was in wars for many years against different nations, protecting its land from being controlled by others. It later it found itself in a war against the United States who was there trying to protect it from communist rule. I believe the Vietnam war was unwinnable because we are not invested into this war and it is a different type of fighting style.

Sparked by the Versailles Peace Treaty, the second wave of terrorism began. The second wave, also known as the anti-colonial wave, is where terrorism campaigns were fought over political problems where it would look too weak to back out. The third wave, or “New Left,” began after the Vietnam War. The New Left was the beginning of hijackings with the mix of the first wave’s radical and nationalistic intentions. The second wave includes groups, such as the PLO and FLN, whereas the New Left includes the Weather Underground and the Red Brigades. Each group has their own objective, strategy, and support which made them stronger.

Originally, the topic I have chosen was about the social effects of the Vietnam War and how the veterans were treated when they returned. However, I was able to narrow it down to a protest that took place at Kent State University and the treatments given to veterans who suffer from diseases due to war. The Kent State University protest was a violent one that took place on May 4th,1970. These students were clearly anti-war, and this was shown by their disagreement with the military draft, the power the military held, and the denial of many basic civil rights (Kohn). National guards started getting involved when the protests began disrupting the rest of the town and nearby neighbors. Tear gas was fired into the crowd of students, following with

From 1955 to 1975, a period of twenty years, the Vietnam war, as bloody as any other wars, claimed the lives of more than two million people where a majority of that casualty population was comprised of civilians, 3 million were wounded, and hundreds of thousands of children were left orphans. The war devastated both North and South Vietnam. Initially it was only a minor group of American soldiers serving on Vietnam soil as aid to combat communism. However, by June of 1965, 50,000 American troops had arrived in Vietnam, and by the end of that year, 180,000 Americans were serving there. As American involvement increased abroad, opposition to the war increased at home.

The article talks about how veterans from the Vietnam war has much more anxiety or affects than the more recent wars such as in Afghanistan or Iraq. It says hundreds of thousands of veterans are still affected by the Vietnam War even though it’s been 40 years since it had ended. This study was ordered by Congress to understand how war vets are affected throughout their lives. It states that between 70 and 75 percent of vets are not affected from war. The affects that vets can have from war are PTSD, depression, alcoholism, and drug addiction. The overall problem is that more than 250,000 Vietnam vets are still struggling everyday.

There were many reasons the U.S. committed itself to Vietnam in 1964. It was all started

The Vietnam War had a long-lasting impact on soldiers and civilians. They saw their loved ones or close friends suffered or die. The Vietnam War caused many soldiers to have fitness and medical issues, and an estimate of about 700,000 Vietnam veterans suffered from the war. Civilians’ deaths in the Vietnam War was costly as it is that approximately 40,000 South Vietnamese citizens were murdered by the Viet Cong or North Vietnamese; 250,000 were killed as a result of battle in South Vietnam, and 65,000 were slaughtered in North Vietnam. There was a total of 587,000 civilian deaths. The Paris Peace Accords successfully released all U.S forces from fighting. North Vietnamese military forces gradually assembled their military infrastructure in

The Viet Cong wanted to unite the country under one socialist flag, with the forces of the South losing the war, and fearing communist growth, the USA entered the conflict to fight the army of the North. The fighting quickly escalated and successful operations turned the flow of the war in the Viet Cong's favour

The duty of the soldier is to obey the command. In the Second World War, the American soldiers were brave in a foreign country for the peace of the world, in order to protect the bravery of the people of other countries. This is only because the US government asked them to do so. Maybe some soldiers would think that they were injured or even lost to other countries was a worthless thing; but the vast majority understood that they were fighting a moral war, they were doing the right things, the people they killed were evil. The Vietnam War was different, although the US government was still publicity to the public, that this war was a moral war, they were fighting for democracy and freedom in the protection of the Vietnamese people from communist erosion. However, there were many retired soldiers, expressed doubta the meaning of this war after came back to the United States. At the same time, they had a very deep reflection for their own killing behaviors in Vietnam. Some US soldiers could not tell the truth of the slaughter in Vietnam due to the political will, some US soldiers could not get back to normal lives because of the unforgettable, cruelty of the war, and some soldiers shamed and regret on their participation in this injustice war.