The Agony of Vietnam - Essay Example

Most persons prefer narrating their ordeals from an optimistic perspective. Typically, knowledge from testimonies was obtained from some exceptional persons who represented a bulk of those who participated in the war, either directly as combatants or indirectly as supporters and protestors. As a thesis statement, it appears Vietnam War caused significant physical and psychological sufferings to Americans both at home and away in the battlefield. In order to understand events and experiences from Vietnam War, historians have preferred the use of oral interviewing techniques.

Responses from such techniques are contained in chapter 10 of the book “Discovering the American Past.” The first interviewee in the book is a college student named John. When the Vietnam War commenced, the responded had just joined college. During that time, American armed forces needed more soldiers for the war. Consequently, there was a pending legislative draft in congress recommending for mandatory incorporation of college aged youth into the army. In case of poor college performance, one had higher chances of being incorporated into the military.

Therefore, eligible college students had to keep their grades high or risk college deferments, which would inevitably land them into the military (Becker and Glover, 317). As the Vietnam War intensified, college students started engaging in deliberate debates. Some of them hailed from conservative families while others were from liberal backgrounds. Despite the difference in their family backgrounds, all the youth were forced into an era of awakening as they encountered realities from the real world away from the shelters of their parental homes.

The second interviewee was also a college student named Johnson together with his college sweetheart Hanna. Both respondents are from an African- American community. During the war, blacks and the poor citizens in America were forced