Why did Vietnam War veterans come back traumatized?

Question

What really happened over there? How come you don't hear stories about Korean War veterans or Gulf War veterans committing suicide when they got home? What made it so different then other wars? Thanks just curious.

Answer 1

So many things... my brother was 17 when he joined up to go fight for his country, just a kid. He was not expecting the wholesale slaughter of entire villages or of the devastation the war caused to an entire culture. Not only did he realize that he wasn't fighting for his country but that people back home saw nothing heroic in the soldiers actions. We lost a lot of fine young men to that war, not to mention the ones who couldn't leave the war behind.

Answer 2

Aside from the traumatic experience of fighting any war, both the US government and the people were incredibly ungrateful to returning American soldiers. They were never honored, not even acknowledged, for risking their lives. I'm living in New York city for the summer, and you can still see veterans going around homeless, maimed or in wheelchairs.
Neither the media, nor political analysts or academics discuss the Vietnam war. It's largely ignored, as if it never happened. Americans have a hard time accepting defeat, because it upsets the idea they have of themselves, as being the best in the world and therefore invincible.
Whether this is true or not, the Vietnam vets did not deserve to be blamed for the disaster, yet they were publicly humiliated for defending their country, and have been ignored for the last 30 years.
Don't be too surprised if the same happens to the troops returning from Iraq, a few years from now.

Answer 3

I have done a bit of advocacy work for Australian veterans of WW II, Korea, Malaya and Vietnam. Some veterans from all conflicts are traumatised. I have not seen anything to suggest that a different percentage were traumatised from different conflicts. What has definitely changed is the willingness of veterans to talk about their trauma. WW II veterans, to my limited observation, are far more likely to be stoic and to deny that anything is wrong with them. Although Vietnam veterans may seem to be more traumatised it may only be a reporting issue in that more have reported the trauma.

If there is a real difference, and there may be, it could be caused by the fact that in Vietnam there was never any real time off. As it was a guerrilla war a soldier could be exposed to an attack at any place and at any time.

Post war recovery of already traumatised people would be hampered by the lack of support back home. Where a veteran's self worth after WW II would be enhanced by being treated as a veteran of an honourable war, for Vietnam veterans who were already traumatised their treatment may have made them feel bad about what they had done, hindering recovery.

Answer 4

What really happened over there is a war!!!!! And they are traumatized because they saw these people they fought with side by side get shot and killed right next to them. You dont hear about other veterans killing themselves because the US people opposed the Vietnam War. And the Vietnam War wasnt much different than any other war that has been fought.(and forgive me if i am wrong)

Answer 5

Sprout's opinion only:
World War II was a "just war" and those who fought it were honored at every turn. The entire Country supported the soldiers and was involved in the War effort. We also had identifiable "BAD GUYS." Tojo, Hitler, et al.
We're also talking about a different generation of men. Boys, really, who were taught to keep their emotions and feelings to themselves. Men don't cry.
Korea was very similar.
Viet Nam was unlike any war previously fought by this Country. We weren't prepared for guerilla warfare, nor were we prepared for the enemy to be around every corner, in every little house, in multitudes unimaginable to our Country which did NOT support this War. Perhaps if it was being fought in Chicago things would have been different.
And based on my Father's experience - What makes you state that there were no suicides, PTSD, alcoholism, etc. affecting WWII veterans? There was, and were and will continue to be.
One of the few times he actually spoke about his "feelings" (after a few drinks) he described how he joined the Air Corps so he wouldn't have to slog through mud and sleep outside. Once in England he realized it was actually worse - for him - the way you knew the guy you had breakfast with was dead was when a couple officers came into the barracks and cleaned out his locker and packed his trunk to return to his family. They were removing anything that might prove embarassing to the family. In hindsight, he thought it would have been better to actually witness a buddies' death than to watch that ghoulish procedure.
The Viet Nam vets were maltreated horrifically. What is truly frightening is I see so many similarities between Viet Nam and this mess we're in now - vis a vis the Veterans. I'm a Viet Nam kid - my son's friends are going to Iraq now. Those who have returned thus far seem okay, but what will we see a few years (or 10) down the road?
Please also keep in mind those men and women who are "surviving" injuries which would have killed them in any prior war due to medical advances.
Sorry - rambling again...

Answer 6

There's an old saying 'We're always fighting the last war'. When we fought in Vietnam we were ready to re-fight WWII. But it wasn't like that at all and we weren't prepared.

We were fighting the North Vietnamise Army and also the Viet Cong, a guerilla group that were a lot like the insurgents we are fighting now in Iraq. The Viet Cong didn't wear uniforms. They blended right into the population so you couldn't tell the good guys from the bad guys. They didn't have the strength or numbers or weapons we had so they used their brains, setting traps and ambushes. They weren't afraid to take higher casualties.

In the end, just out of frustration, our guys ended up just destroying whole villages. We'd pull everyone out of their houses, shoot them all--women and children and old men and everyone--then burn the villages. We'd do this just to get one or two Vietcong.

Can you imagine what it would be like to attack a peaceful farming village, maybe ten houses, 30 or 40 people, and just shoot them all, even little kids? I don't think I'd ever get over it.

Then they came back to the US and they weren't heroes here either. There are stories that people lined up in the San Francisco airport to spit on vets as they got off the planes. I think that's just an urban legend. But Americans were ashamed of the war so the vets weren't welcome like WWII vets were. The govt. didn't want to give them any benefits or anything. A lot of them could have used some counselling or even psychiatric help but never got it.

It took about 20 years before we even built a Vietnam Memorial in Wash. DC. People who see it feel especially sad, I think because we didn't feel bad -then-! And two presidents kept the war going for years and years after it was clear we couldn't win. It took us a long time just to come to grips with that.

This is how the Iraq war is going. Our guys went over there with the best intentions, wanting to help, wanting to be heroes. They were told they'd be greeted as liberators. But whever you go in Iraq, outside the heavily-fortified 'green zone', you are in danger. Guys see their best friends get killed, and they weren't even fighting! After seeing this a few times they decide to 'get tough' on the Iraqis.

And this war is like Vietnam. Americans are disgusted with it and the vets aren't heroes to us. The Bush admin. keeps trying to cut funds for hospitals and medical services. There are no parades for returning vets. etc. etc. And we can't win and we can't quit.

For those of us who remember Vietnam, Iraq has an eerie sense of deja vu!

Answer 7

it wasn't really what happened over there that was different, but what was happening back in the US. People were protesting the war more and more, and this war got more negative publicity. Plus reporters were showing alot more, including the deaths of innocents, something they had shyed from in previous wars. So when veterans returned they were shunned and ignored, and not properly received, unlike the earlier veterans. So they didn't receive the proper care or attention they needed

Answer 8

Where do I begin...War is hell on anyone and there were large quantities of vets of every war that commit suicide. Vietnam vets were used as Guinea pigs, from torture, chemical warfare and drugs. At the end it was not even called a war but a conflict where no one was the victor. When they returned they had to fight for their place in society, they weren't even considered heroes. They had to fight for medical benefits, jobs, and their right to tell their stories. The effects of the exposure to various chemicals and drugs had a lasting effect..even until today.

Answer 9

the army was carrying out horrendous atrocities. i mean entire villages were wiped out. they were fighting a popular based insurgency. the soldiers themselves didn't know who they were supposed to be fighting because they were being lied to. they were put into a position were they had to kill civilians etc. things like the Mai Lai massacre were common place. also they were fighting in in a jungle climate which is the worst if your enemy knows the jungle. this is why the army used napalm and agent orange. south vietnam was effectively destroyed as a viable society., this was actually the US objective. resistance in the US didn't really start until the first troops got back and told their stories. i imagine all that was very hard to deal with when you didn't know what was going on. like in WWII it was very clear... you were fighting the Nazis. Nazis were evil... much different story when all of the sudden you are the nazis.

Answer 10

when the soldiers came home they were cursed and spit at and called baby killers etc.... I wasn't a real war it was called police action I think. Anyhow my father came home from there and still has nightmares from all the blood he saw there. Now when soldiers come home(who by the way enlisted, were not drafted and forced to go)we celebrate and call them hero's. It was wrong for our soldiers to get harassed as they did when they didn't even sign up in the service!