The Effects of the Vietnam War on American Soldiers - Report Example

Sana Osman English 13 December 2008 The Effects of the Vietnam War on American Soldiers The Vietnam War was also known as the Vietnam Conflict or theSecond Indochina War. The war took place in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam which took place from 1959 to 1975. The Vietnam War was fought between the government of South Vietnam and the communist of North Vietnam. The Government of South Vietnam was supported by the member states of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization and the United States, while the communist of North Vietnam were supported by its communist allies. The South Vietnamese communist insurgency, the Vietcong, fourth a guerrilla war, while the North Vietnamese Army fought a more conventional war. The South Vietnamese forces along with the United State depended on the air force and fire power with which they conducted search and destroy operations. "The Vietnam War, like the other two world wars before it, was a conflict that defined war for a generation. Unlike those previous wars, it was not fought on a broad international battlefield but rather in a narrow stretch of land far distant from America. Moreover as our study shows, it left not a single overwhelming image, but conflicting visions and meanings over which we continue to fight, though less stridently than at the height of that bitterly divisive conflict" (Wouters and Laufer 316). The United States entered the war to avoid the takeover of South Vietnam by the communist. The strategy behind this support was called containment. U.S. Military advisors arrived in 1950. In the early 1960s the U.S. involvement grew and the early 1965 they deployed combat units. The involvement of the U.S. was the highest in 1968 during the Tet Offensive. Later U.S. forces withdrew under a policy called Vietnamization, as South Vietnamese troops were armed and trained. The fighting in Vietnam continued even after a peace treaty was signed by all parties involved in January 1973. The U.S. Congress passed the Case-Church Amendment in June 1973, responding to the anti-war movement. The Case-Church Amendment banned U.S. Military intervention. North Vietnam captured Saigon in April 1975. In 1976, North Vietnam and South Vietnam were reunified. The Vietnam War had a huge impact on the culture, foreign relations and politics of the United States. The American citizens were very upset over the government's justification for the war and the means of fighting used. The war encountered a large human cost, which included the loss of 58,159 U.S. soldiers. The Vietnam War did not only result in the loss of life of American soldiers. The war had lasting effects on the soldiers who were in Vietnam. The soldiers not only suffered physical pain and injuries, they also suffered many psychological disorders. The fact that their own country men had turned against them affected the soldiers psychologically and emotionally. "Going to war creates a gulf between the warrior and his fellow citizens who have not directly experienced warfare" (Wouter and Laufer 40). The effects on the psychic of the soldiers were devastating up to the extent that they also stared committing suicide due to depression. The soldiers also faced problems which had lasting effects, these included drug addiction and the effects of Agent Orange on the soldiers and their children. "With the Vietnam war came widespread drug use, anti-military activism, racial tensions and increasing crime, all of which debilitated the training and readiness of the U.S. forces" (Baker 64) . Soldiers faced extreme conditions like hunger, fatigue, diseases and the like. Due to the intense conditions the soldiers faced in Vietnam, war memories were not forgotten easily. This resulted in a psychological disorder called delayed stress syndrome, which is described as extreme stress or even disorder of the brain caused by shocking memories of the past. Studies show that almost 15 per cent of the 3.3 million Americans who were a part of the Vietnam War were diagnosed with delayed stress syndrome. When asked about his stress problems, Lance Johnson an ex U.S. Army Artillery Officer replied, "I've found peace of mind - not complete and not all the time - but I'm better now. I live in Hawaii with a woman who loves me, and I've reunited with my son. I still go to counseling, and the doctors adjust my medication when the Prozac quits working. Jesus, man, it's time I experience a little joy. I'm 66 years old, and I've spent half my life in an emotional wilderness" (Schroder and Dawe 143). Another psychological disorder that the soldier of the Vietnam War suffered was Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD was an anxiety disorder caused due to the exposure to horrifying events that caused deep physical harm or threatened of physical harm. It is considered to be an ongoing and severe reaction to immense psychological trauma. This trauma may involve a threat to a patient or someone else's life, someone's death, physical injury, or a threat to one's psychological or physical integrity. In some cases PTSD can be from intense emotional and psychological trauma, apart from actual physical harm. However, the two are usually combined. PTSD is different from traumatic stress, which is short term and less intense. After the Vietnam War, PTSD was also called post-traumatic stress syndrome and traumatic war neurosis. According to studies, "the Vietnam veterans had more PTSD than the veterans of other wars. The researchers found that the Vietnam veterans in their sample were exposed to more combat than the Korean veterans. They also found that the Vietnam veterans witnessed more abusive violence and were more frequently targets and observers of killings than World War II and Korean War veterans" (Resick 106). The psychological effects the war had on the soldiers have lasted for many years even after the war. The American soldiers fought many war but the degree effects on the psychic of the soldiers due to the Vietnam War was very high when compared to other wars. Soldiers suffered from immense levels stress. The conditions the soldiers faced in Vietnam led to serious emotional trauma, which led to severe depression and dejection. Another devastating and lasting effect of the war on the American soldiers was the effects of the use of Agent Orange. Agent Orange was an herbicide and defoliant used by the United States Military, as part of its Herbicidal Warfare program during the war. Agent Orange was used from 1961 to 1971. Dioxins were released when Agent Orange was degraded. The dioxins caused many health problems to the people and soldiers who were exposed to it during the war. According to many studies, it is believed that exposure to these dioxins resulted in an increased risk to cancer and various genetic disorders. The long-term effects to low level exposure of the dioxins are yet to be discovered. The specific health problems include respiratory and prostrate cancer, type II diabetes, Hodgkin's disease, peripheral neuropathy, spina bifida in the children of veterans exposed to dioxins of Agent Orange, and the like. " As the decade wore on, concern about possible long-term health consequences of Agent Orange and other herbicides heightened, fueled in particular by reports from growing numbers of Vietnam veterans that they had developed cancer or fathered handicapped children, which they attributed to wartime exposure to the herbicides" (Institute of Medicine (U.S.) 26). American veterans who were affected by Agent Orange were seeking recognition, compensation and treatment for the diseases they and their children had acquired. However, many veterans exposed to Agent Orange were not given the promised medical care. After their return many lawsuits were filed against companies that manufactured Agent Orange. The U.S. veterans got about $180 million from these lawsuits, where the most affected veterans were given $1200 each. The dioxins of Agent Orange not only affected the U.S. soldiers, but also had a lasting effect on their coming generations. One of the serious effects of the war on soldiers came by the choice of the soldiers themselves. This was drug addiction. The U.S Military forces were being reduced rapidly. For this reason many soldiers were sent back even before they completed their usual twelve month period of warfare. It was a known fact that many U.S. soldiers that went to Vietnam for war had gotten addicted to drugs, particularly Heroin. During their stay in Vietnam many soldiers had access to drugs like Heroin. "By 1971 the heroin problem had spiraled out of control and the army admitted that some 35,000 soldiers in Vietnam were addicts" (Wiest 69). In July 1971, when the U.S. soldiers were returning to America a urine-screening program was organized to detect the use of drugs by men who departed Vietnam. Many soldiers were detected positive during the tests. These soldiers were kept for detoxification for seven days and the n sent home only if they were tested negative after retesting. The urine-screening was organized as there was a fear that the soldiers might continue to use drugs even after they returned to the United States. This detoxification process was done because most of the veterans that were returning were due for discharge after their return and would have presented many problems to the veteran hospitals and the legal system. To identify if this fear of the officials was correct, the Special Action Office For Drug Abuse Prevention started a follow-up study in collaboration with the Department of Defense, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Department of Labor, and the Veterans Administration. The aim was to find out how many soldiers were actually addicted to drugs in Vietnam, how many would continue to use Heroin after return and how many would get readdicted after detoxification. One of the most painful effects of the Vietnam War on the American soldiers was suicide. Many soldiers committed suicide after they returned from the war and even during the war. Due to the immense depression the soldiers faced during and after the war many of them committed suicide. The reasons for depression included the extreme conditions they faced in Vietnam and also the fact that they did not have many fellow soldiers with them and saw many fellow soldiers die. "Once home they often encounter a hostile or indifferent public, endure media images of veterans who are drug crazed, ticking time-bombs, feel alienated from civilian world, and inexplicably may long to return to war" (Herzog 161). "The veterans were also victimized by returning home to face negative stereotypes as 'ruthless baby-killer,' 'drug addict,' and 'having fought in an immoral war.' There was a lack of appreciation by both the general public and the American government. The nation wanted to put trauma of the war behind and get on with business of restoring normality" (Neal 101). This was another possibility of the suicides among soldiers. The Vietnam War and the effects it had on the soldiers is considered one of the most crucial wars world history. The American experience in Vietnam was considered as one of the most controversial conflict. "Of the 8,744,000 Americans who served in the Armed Forces during this period, 58,022 died and over 313,000 were wounded as a result of Vietnam service" (Goodspeed 3). The soldiers who returned home were victims who suffered long lasting effects on their health. The American veterans suffered physical, psychological and emotional trauma and pain. The suffering was not only among the soldiers but also the children they fathered. The emotional trauma the soldiers faced was primarily because of the way they were treated when they returned to America. There were no welcome flags, or praises for the soldiers, but they were discriminated and called killers and drug addicts. This affected their emotional health tremendously and also led to suicides and intense depression. The Vietnam War was the only war America lost on the war front. However, due to the affects it had on the American soldiers, the Vietnam War was not only a loss on the warfront, but also an internal failure as far as the Americans and the American soldiers were concerned. Works Cited Laufer, Robert S. and Ellen Frey-Wouters, Legacy of a War: The American Soldier in Vietnam, M.E. Sharpe, 1986 Herzog, Tobey C., Vietnam War Stories: Innocence Lost, Routledge, 1992 Wiest, Andrew A., The Vietnam War, 1956-1975: Essential Histories, Osprey Publishing, 2002 Baker, Anni P., American Soldiers Overseas: The Global Military Presence, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004 Neal, Arthur G., National Trauma and Collective Memory: Extraordinary Events in the American Experience, M.E. Sharpe, 2005 Resick, Patricia A., Stress and Trauma, Psychology Press, 2001 Schroder, William and Ronald Dawe, Soldier's Heart: Close-up Today with PTSD in Vietnam Veterans, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007 Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 1996, Institute of Medicine (U.S.). Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides, National Academies Press, 1996 Goodspeed, Michael, When Reason Fails: Portraits of Armies at War: America, Britain, Israel, and the Future, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002 Gossop, Michael, Living with drugs, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007 Read More