Can anyone explain why Vietnam Veterans were treated so badly?

Question

My grandpa is a Vietnam Veteran. He got drafted because he dropped a class that he was getting a low grade in college and the draft board said he didnt have a enough college credits to keep his non draft status. He was sent to vietnam and saw combat. A few weeks ago he and my grandma were over watching us while my parents went out. After we all went to sleep I heard my grandpa screaming and rushed into their room. He woke us up. My grandma was holding him and he was crying. It really scared me. I never saw him do that before. Anyway my question is about why vietnam veterans were treated so badly by the American people. He said people used to accuse him of all kinds of terrible things. He told me that the best a vietnam veteran could get was being ignored or pitied. The left thought they killed innocent civilians. The right thought they were throw aways from the lower social classes.

Im going to let this question go to voting. It really made me feel good to have so many people say kind things about my grandpa and praise his service to his country. Even though he was drafted and served in a war that seems to not have been appreciated by some people, he does not regret serving his country. He rarely discusses the actual combat he experienced because I think many of the memories involve loss of his friends in his unit and the level of danger, but I know my kind gentle loving grandpa would have NEVER hurt an innocent civilian; man woman or child. After all my grandma who is a very good judge of people knew immediately that the man of her dreams just entered her life and she was not going to let him go.

Answer 1

I grew up in that era and I don't understand it. What I see as scary is that the same thing is happening to the Iraq veterans now. The war is unpopular. People are accusing the military of killing civilians. My take is that the news reporters do not belong on patrols. The liberal press and the liberal view have overtaken the press and you never see the good things the military does only the bad stuff. I seldom see pictures of our soldiers being hailed as heroes, instead they are baby killers. It is Vietnam again.

Personally, I respect the soldiers from Vietnam and from this war. The Vietnam soldiers had no choice as most were drafted. Our military today is volunteer and many are very well educated. Neither deserve to be treated with disrespect. They are/were doing a job. War is not pretty. It is about people dying. Buildings being exploded. Families being ripped apart. It is not something that someone joins the military to do. Most join for other reasons: education, lack of civilian jobs, occupational training, pride in their country... they hope they NEVER have to go to war, but they realize it is a possibility.

I am truly sorry for your Grandpa. Has he gone to the VA and asked to speak with a counselor? Many of the men who served during that period have suffered mentally. He might be able to get relief from seeking help from the VA.

Tell your Grandpa, that you respect him for serving his country and that in your eyes he is a hero. In my eyes, he is!

Answer 2

i dont know why some Americans still concern about the Vietnam war even this time.
you can believe me or not, your father would be treated kindly as any other people if he came to Vietname.
Vietnamese who live in Vietnam no longer cares of you are American, Vietnam veteran or not.
My susgestion is to ask your grandpa to visit Vietnam oneday, once he sees how peaceful Vietnam is and how friendly Vietnames people are. He will soon escape from this mental situation as many other Vietnam Veteran did.
I would wish him all the best.

Answer 3

I just want to clear up some errors that have been posted. Democrats were not trying to discredit the war, nor did they come into power at the end. Democrats were IN POWER when we sent combat troops to Vietnam. Prior to Kennedy's assassination, we were going to leave the country alone, as per internal White House memos released to the public per the Freedom of Information Act.
Republicans, namely Nixon, came to power at the end of the war, but also failed to immediately withdraw. Instead we resorted to massive bombing campaigns.

Not all the left were "hating" the soldiers. A significant number of the anti-war crowd supported the soldiers through out the entirety of the war and worked with them to bring them home. We know this because a large part of the anti-war crowd was made up of: Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines. The same troops that were fighting the war were also part of the effort to end the war. The hatred for Vietnam Veterans is far less widespread than what it is claimed to be. Yes, there were people who didn't support the war who also didn't support the soldiers, but that happens in every war. Why should Vietnam have been any different. What was different was the unofficial coalition between civilians and military personnel seeking to end the war and have the troops withdrawn.

It should be noted that since the Republicans were the political party that came to power towards the end of the Vietnam war, the lack of VA support for returning veterans falls upon them. Democrats weren't running the government, they weren't the ones deciding policy.

Answer 4

Look at what is happening in Iraq. The world is divided on whether or not Americans should be over there. And there are stories leaking out about horrible things that are being done by American soldiers that are tired of being there.

Vietnam was the same way. Only it was the first time that war could be seen on TV with you sitting in your living room. watching It was the first tme that men didn't come back as heros. The machinery was bigger, the cause was more confusing...a lot of the men didn't know themselves why they were fighting.

The 60s were confusing times. The kids of that era were the children of WWII. Baby boomers who believed in freedom of speech, free love and lots of drugs. They were out to change the world and in many ways they did. Black people got to vote. Got to go to colleges with white people. Kids to to have an opinion that was different from their parents. And their opinion was that America didn't belong in Vietnam.

As with every war there were casualties in Vietnam that should never have happened. Villages burned down. Half American babies being left behind in orphanages. ALL of the things that happened in every other war since the very first war that ever happened. But like I said. This war was on television for the first time. And young people had their own voice for the first time.

The men who came home from Vietnam, tired of being shot at and having no idea why they were there in the first place were treated worse than dirt. Because people were able to see what war looked like for the first time. And it was very ugly.

Answer 5

Tell your grandpa welcome home. Wow! I am really glad to hear some of the answers on this. They show that there are still people who understand the absolute madness of war, and can distinguish between the soldier and the criminal. You guys are the people who keep me going. (Sgt. MACVSOG RVN 68-69) I believe some cannot understand because they don't have any like experiences to war, and that's fine. They are not supphosed to. I spent 2 years in a VA hosp on Long Is. and got help at a PTSD unit, met many vets like myself and am doing OK these days. Grandpa doesn't have to go it alone anymore, help is out there. I was homeless for 6 years,considered hopelessly lost and abandoned. No more. I can't work anymore due to my disability, but maybe I can help a little here and there a times. Thanks for your ques. Deltarat69

Answer 6

The Vietnam war was demonized by the press, and by the populace here at home. There were ever mounting casualties, and demonstrations by liberals on college campuses, getting the students all worked up. We just did what we were told to do. When my unit got ready to out chop from there, to come home, we did not wear our uniforms on the plane home. To wear a uniform thru an airport back then was to invite ridicule, and worse. By and large, we couldn't even identify who the enemy was while over there. The warfare employed against us was ever more a guerrilla warfare, and they didn't wear a distinctive uniform, that said..."I'm on the other side". So, as a consequence, as a matter of survival, everyone was the enemy. Women, kids, old men, old women.... they were all the enemy. And.... the press picked up on that, but with the "spin" that they placed on it, made it look like we were a bunch of warmongers. It's crap...all crap. That's from my perspective

Answer 7

America betrayed its self by getting involved in Vietnam's Civil War in the first place. I think the revulsion came out of the violence on innocent civilians. The ignornace of our political leadership only made things worse. We bought into a lie and were misled into a war that had no winning options.
We will have PTSD cases coming out of this new war for years to come. America was just as divided over this war as the public became in time. to the Vietnamese. Granted most Americans did not drop napalm on kids or wipe out entire villages - and the ones that served deserved better treatment.

Answer 8

I served in country in 67/68. The war just wasn't popular and the American populous were split between those that wished the war to end and the right (read military industrial complex)that wanted the endless millions to keep flowing...Unfortunately unlike today's wrong war people of the late 60's and early 70's couldn't separate the warriors from the war..Most of my fellow combatants suffer poor sleep/nightmares and Post traumatic Stress..just like the warriors fighting the current war PTSD is just a natural byproduct of engaging the enemy...Even the lifers I speak with that call those who admit suffering "sissies" and whiners also admit to having symptoms of PTSD but feel it is wrong to get treated for the wars aftereffects..Stories of being spat upon are real happened to me at Junior college..along with these hurtful words.."you're a baby-killer don't talk to me ever again!!" I went nearly 30 years before I was proud enough to claim my service..I was wounded and evacuated during TET offensive in Jan-Feb 68

Answer 9

I don't envy any vet, but the Vietnam vets got the stick in the eye. Why? One, Americans were never behind the war and eventually very against it. Second, we lost. The boys came back not in honor but in disgrace - nobody likes a loser. We've been trying to sweep the evidence under the carpet ever since. Shame about your grampa; shame that war ruins so many lives; shame that the human race is so stupid.

Answer 10

Hippie and super-libs didn't support the war. They were so immature in that belief that they made no distinction between the war and the warriors. They screamed the war was unjust , not least for the fact that many soldiers were there against their will as was your GrandPa. Then When Grand Pa comes home the nation learned that sympathy for the Draftees was just an excuse to protest the war and gov't. This issue forever turned my family away from the Democrat Party.

Thank your Grand Pa for me and my family. Tell him "welcome home and thank you for your service," from us.

God bless