U.s. Soldiers During The Vietnam War

Hundreds of thousands of United States veterans are not able to leave the horrors of war on the battlefield (“Forever at War: Veterans Everyday Battles with PTSD” 1). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the reason why these courageous military service members cannot live a normal life when they are discharged. One out of every five military service members on combat tours—about 300,000 so far—return home with symptoms of PTSD or major depression. According to the Rand Study, almost half of these cases go untreated because of the disgrace that the military and civil society attach to mental disorders (McGirk 1). The general population of the world has to admit that they have had a nightmare before. Imagine not being able to sleep one

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.

Various reasons explain why Vietnam vets had become psychologically ill. Coleman believes it was a lack of leadership, support, and trust. Troops were trained to believe the Vietnamese were below Americans and they were just ‘gooks’ (74). One by one each veteran tells their story in the documentary “Winter Soldier,” and the same story is told in different words. In the moment of war the men were persuaded to believe what they were doing was for the good of their country (Lesser). Soldiers were left to feel as if they were sent to

Introduction: In  order  to  stop  the  spread  of  communism,  America  joined  the  vietnam  war. Many  young  men  were  drafted  into  this  war,  with  no  other  options  but  to  go  or  to  be  arrested.  Many  were  terrified  to  go  into  the  war,  and  tried  to  flee  the  United  States.  The  main  problem  was  not  even  just  during  the  vietnam  war,  it  was  after  the  war  was  over  and  troops  were  sent  home.  This  problem was  known  as  shell  shock,  or  what  we  now  call  Post  Traumatic  Stress  Disorder  (PTSD).  Throughout  the  turmoil  and  pain  of  the  Vietnam  war,  many young  soldiers  were  emotionally  distraught  and  treated  poorly  in  their  return home,  each  with  their  own  load  to  bear.

Many are called terrible names, spit on, and generally discriminated. Maurice Robinson commented on this time during a recent festival commemorating the Vietnam War. “No respect for what you did. Nobody wanted to talk to you or congratulate you- sometimes not even your family. So a lotta guys got rid of their uniforms, threw ‘em in the closet and went on with their lives. A lot of ‘em are still trying to get their lives together today” (Sherr 22). Veterans were not thanked for their service and many are looked down upon by their participation in the Vietnam War. This treatment had a huge impact of the Vietnam veterans and their families. Pervis Crowe reflects upon this in Vietnam: Homecoming. “If we’d come home in different circumstances than we did, my life wouldn’t be the way it is now.”

The impact of the Vietnam War upon the soldiers who fought there was huge. The experience forever changed how they would think and act for the rest of their lives. One of the main reasons for this was there was little to no understanding by the soldiers as to why they were fighting this war. They felt they were killing innocent people, farmers, poor hard working people, women, and children were among their victims. Many of the returning soldiers could not fall back in to their old life styles. First they felt guilt for surviving many of their brothers in arms. Second they were haunted by the atrocities of war. Some soldiers could not go back to the mental state of peacetime. Then there were soldiers Tim O’Brien meant while in

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.

Many veterans are unable to leave behind the trauma of Vietnam and psychologically return home. They struggle with a variety of extremely severe problems that neither they nor their families, friends, or communities knew how to understand

The Vietnam War started in 1945, resulting in almost 60,000 American deaths and nearly two million Vietnamese deaths, according to Mintze. Years after combat countless Vietnam veterans suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder in every aspect of their lives (Price). Posttraumatic stress disorder is an illness that can happen to anyone who has gone through a horrifying experience. It has been documented in all forms of literature and films the brutality of the war and the side effects it came with. The history of Vietnam is quite long and winding and leaves one to question its purpose (Mintze).

Wars are fought for freedom and independence and usually when soldiers come home we receive them with open arms ready to praise them and thank them for putting their lives on the line. If you were asked to describe a soldier, you’d probably say heroic, brave, courageous, or honorable. After the Vietnam War, parades weren’t the welcoming soldiers got; instead, they were shunned and booed at.

I retain an increased value and compassion toward the military community since this experience. Our society praises and dedicates media to the individuals fighting for our freedom, yet fails to discuss the harsh reality that many veterans face when returning home from war – homelessness, mental illness, relationship failures, and inability to acquire a job. In an essence, our society takes military veterans for granted. We can support and cheer them on while they fight for our freedom, yet we neglect their freedom when they return to the United States. It stands truly heartbreaking how many veterans survive the war, yet find themselves struggling to live in their own nation. At the VA, I noticed that many Veterans, while appearing tough and strong, do not mind discussing their mental health and the components of life they struggle with. I noticed that while the veterans will state where they served and their purpose in the war, they tend to shift the topic away from their service. I am not sure whether this behavior relates to their humble personalities, an inability to discuss military information, or emotional pain. No matter the reason, the “brotherhood” of military veterans remains evident. Veterans connect on a level society will never understand. They are a family that does not discriminate one another based on race, mental health, age, or gender. After

The Vietnam War profoundly affected many Vietnam soldiers after they left the homeland, and the media had an immense influence on how these individuals were treated in America. The returning soldiers showed all of the typical symptoms of what psychiatrists now understand as PTSD: difficulty sleeping, an overly sensitive reaction to stimuli, and flashbacks. For instance, Sonny Hartwell, a Vietnam veteran with PTSD, recounted the constant uncertainty he experienced during the war, “War is a strange thing. You spend so much time with nothing to do and the boredoms of every day existence [sic] in a camp-like setting and then all hell breaks loose. That might last for just a few seconds, but the terror and trauma that you go through in just that minute to few seconds can be mind boggling” (Stein 12). Hartwell’s story was one of many, and yet, early editions of the DSM had very little information on war neurosis during the 1960s (Stein 11). Veterans were often considered delusional and even misdiagnosed as LSD addicts,

“When I was in serious danger I was almost completely paralysed by fear, I remember sitting with a coffin (a fellow soldier) on the fire-step of a trench during an intense bombardment, when it seemed certain that we must be killed”(The Psychological Effects Of The Vietnam War). Our soldiers that we send to war to protect us against the countries trying to harm us are put into dangerous situations that affect them physically and mentally and leave them with permanent damage to their minds and bodies. The server damage that our military soldiers faced when returning from war is PTSD which stands for post traumatic stress disorder and is the most common disorder that returning soldiers are diagnosed with , but a more tragic diagnosis from war

For many who served their country during both World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam society didn’t know how to handle their conditions. Many of them would turn their despair into negative actions such as substance abuse, drinking heavily, child abuse, spousal abuse, or suicide. Others would lose their families, jobs, and possibly left homeless and alone. Society looked down on these people as if they were weak. The media certainly didn’t help by producing films depicting war heroes as being the strong silent man, and that feelings were to be suppressed. Many that suffered from extreme trauma experienced a lot of

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.