What made Vietnam vets different

Geezer Garage said:
I was there, and think you summed it up well. Always check your boots before you put them on, an carry extra dry socks, something you learned pretty quickly. There is a reason young people fight wars, by the time you figure it out, and for most it didn't take long, it was too late. If it was 40 and over for military service, I think there would be a lot less of them. Mike

QUOTE: The public didn't despise the soldiers themselves, we despised an unclear, unwinnable war motivated by corrupt politicians and corporate interests that put those mostly unwilling young draftees in uniform.

Those who mistreated soldiers were engaging in "kill the messenger" behavior which was unfair and unconscionable. Those young people in uniform were victims of a system that didn't give a damn about their lives, their physical and emotional health or their futures
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+1, QFT.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
My personal opinion is that we are much more psychologically fragile than we think. Maybe Viet Nam Vets get tagged with the label you mention is because that's when we learned about PTSD, as a genuine illness. "Shellshocked" was the WWII version. After the Civil War, the "old soldier's disease" was rampant.
Civil War Vets and Mental Illness: The Tragedy After the War. – Our Great American Heritage
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Good post, and at some level I believe you are right, all wars create a lot of PTSD or whatever you call it. But all wars are also different and so is the way we have (or have not) dealt with PTSD.
 

squatting dog said:
Vietnam veterans have a reputation for being emotionally unstable; many are addicts, and lots are homeless. Of course this reputation does not apply to all, but it is widespread.
We have fought other wars in the jungle. And we fought in Asia twice before Vietnam. And as in every war, bombs and bullets kill young men, rain and dirt make mud, and “Dear John” letters are common.
But Vietnam was different because it is the only war in the history of our country where the general population despised our soldiers in uniform.
Imagine being a young high school graduate when your country drafts you, teaches you to use a gun, then sends you to the other side of the world where you see horrors that will stay with you a lifetime. And then you survive and come home, and everyone despises you for serving your country.

Wouldn’t you have emotional problems, too?
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You just described the plight of the Black soldier in WWII and before. I never understood why the Vietnam vets were treated so badly and I hate that they were seen as outcasts instead of heroes. To me it's a sad state of affairs and a blemish on our so called society. I have never been in favor of drafting boys so young, exposing them to the horrors of war then expecting them to be normal if they even survive it. Damned shame! @Pecos
 
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squatting dog said:
everyone despises you for serving your country
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That's an exaggeration. On the contrary I found that people were highly sympathetic to returning veterans. The sad part was all too often they faced unemployment for prolonged periods of time. Further, there was the problem of black & brown soldiers fighting to preserve or promote freedom and democracy abroad but still being second class citizens at home. Those black and brown soldiers rightfully demanded the right to live in suburban homes and get access to the same jobs their white counterparts had. All too often these things were denied. I blame capitalists and realtors for that. But I do not say that "everyone" was responsible for any or all of that. In the ghetto we remained highly sympathetic to those returning vets and always treated them with the respect they deserved.
 
Alligatorob said:
The soldiers risked and often lost lives for us, we need to remember that.
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Read the Pentagon Papers which reveal that the premise behind the war was a sham. They died so that rich people could profit from the war just like they did in Afghanistan and Iraq. Not my opinion but FACT. Read the book if you think I'm making that up. Read the Downing Street Memo if you still believe there were WMD in Iraq. It wasn't the people spitting on American soldiers. It was the government and greedy capitalists who did so.
 
Pentagon Papers - https://tinyurl.com/32e5cpux


330px-Corpse_of_Ng%C3%B4_%C4%90%C3%ACnh_Di%E1%BB%87m_in_the_1963_coup.jpg



"The body of President Diệm after he was assassinated in the 1963 South Vietnamese coup, which was backed by the United States government"



That's right - your own government started the war and killed every American soldier. Therefore, PLEASE STOP SAYING IT WAS THE PUBLIC WHO SPAT ON OUR SOLDIERS WHEN IT WAS YOUR OWN GOVERNMENT THAT DID SO. Sorry for the caps but it must be said.


Google for more data on the Downing Street Memo.
 
I'm a Vietnam vet, but never saw the country -- possibly once, but it may have been nothing more than a cloud on the horizon. Enlisted just before it began and spent much of the next three years in the engine rooms of an aircraft carrier steaming around the South China Sea -- after that, 2 years shore duty in Spain. When I returned to the States and discovered the truth about that war I resigned my Navy Reserve commission, and never looked back.
 
I was 16 when the Gulf of Tonkin "incident" took place. I watched the news with my mother and asked, "do they REALLY expect us to believe this BS?". I was lucky. I was going to get drafted so I enlisted at the ripe old age of 24 in 1972. I served with a number of Vietnam vets who made me even more aware of how fortunate I was to have missed that debacle.
 
squatting dog said:
Vietnam veterans have a reputation for being emotionally unstable; many are addicts, and lots are homeless. Of course this reputation does not apply to all, but it is widespread.
We have fought other wars in the jungle. And we fought in Asia twice before Vietnam. And as in every war, bombs and bullets kill young men, rain and dirt make mud, and “Dear John” letters are common.
But Vietnam was different because it is the only war in the history of our country where the general population despised our soldiers in uniform.
Imagine being a young high school graduate when your country drafts you, teaches you to use a gun, then sends you to the other side of the world where you see horrors that will stay with you a lifetime. And then you survive and come home, and everyone despises you for serving your country.

Wouldn’t you have emotional problems, too?
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From what my brother said, another important difference was often not knowing who "the enemy" was- anybody from a tiny child to an elderly-old person could be carrying explosives, etc.

But re: what you said about "the general population," the vets I knew in the area I lived in at the time didn't have those experiences. There wasn't a lot of fanfare, but it was pride for them.

When my brother returned stateside, he decided to attend a basketball game at his old high school. The principal noticed him, and when the place was packed he called everybody to attention. He said one of their graduates had just returned home from serving in Vietnam.. and everybody stood up and applauded.
 
JaniceM said:
When my brother returned stateside, he decided to attend a basketball game at his old high school. The principal noticed him, and when the place was packed he called everybody to attention. He said one of their graduates had just returned home from serving in Vietnam.. and everybody stood up and applauded.
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That is a great story, and I am sure some things like this did happen. They deserve attention.
oldiebutgoody said:
They died so that rich people could profit from the war just like they did in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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We the American public supported these wars, in the beginning anyway. We may have been mislead or duped into it, but we did support things. And the soldiers went for us, few if any knew of the corruption behind things at the time. We need to honor what they did for us.
 
Alligatorob said:
We the American public supported these wars, in the beginning anyway. We may have been mislead or duped into it, but we did support things. And the soldiers went for us, few if any knew of the corruption behind things at the time. We need to honor what they did for us.
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The best way to do so is to bring about retributive justice. Johnson and Bush deserve(d) Nuremberg tribunals for their crimes against the American people and the victimized countries they invaded. Because nobody has lifted a finger to do so, it was repeated in the Middle East and you can bet it will happen again. Refusing to do so dishonors what the veterans did because they died in vain so that wealthy elites could profit and continue to profit.
 
Alligatorob said:
That is a great story, and I am sure some things like this did happen. They deserve attention.

We the American public supported these wars, in the beginning anyway. We may have been mislead or duped into it, but we did support things. And the soldiers went for us, few if any knew of the corruption behind things at the time. We need to honor what they did for us.
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I honored them by working in the anti-draft movement. I did the best I could to support the young men my age by doing so.
 
I didn't understand the war except from the music that was produced. I still don't agree with war but what do I know? Seldom do those who start wars are the true victims of war.
 


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