Veterans And The Vietnam Essay Research Paper free essay sample

Veterans And The Vietnam Essay, Research Paper Veterans and the Vietnam War Contrary to President Roosevelt # 8217 ; s run promise in 1940, immature work forces and adult females still go to war ( Colombo ) . All wars have harsh consequences to the service work forces. They were non merely grownups, but immature grownups. It was different than that of trench warfare in World War I. Although what happened to many work forces in Vietnam did go on to other work forces in other wars, the cumulative psychological effects were much greater. War, to be certain, is hell. There are other elements that make the Vietnam War different from and even worse than other wars. It was marked to the extent of arbitrary violent death. The veterans were perceived as interlopers, liquidators, and vanquishers ( Marin 177 ) . Some work forces and adult females come place adversely affected with these wartime experiences frequently go forthing cicatrixs that do non mend ( Colombo ) . Many people like me do non understand the war. Of class, we have heard that it was bad, but we do non cognize how the veterans were affected, and what the causes are. Before making some research, the lone thing I had known about the war is the fact that it was rough. After more in deepness survey, I have found it to be more than merely rough. The Vietnam War has caused many jobs for the veterans who served. The Vietnam Era began August 5th, 1964 and continued boulder clay May 7th, 1975 until so President Gerald R. Ford proclaimed an terminal to the # 8220 ; Vietnam Era # 8221 ; ( Kulka 5 ) . The peak old ages of hitch were from 1967-1969 ; the extremum old ages for issue were 1968-1970 ( Kulka 19 ) . With over 2.8 million work forces functioning in the war ( Gelman 145 ) , we do non recognize the age of these contending work forces. The mean age of Vietnam contending adult male was 19.2 old ages, compared with 26 in World War II ( Gelman, 148 ) . Twenty-five per centum of them received a combat decoration ( Kulka 19 ) . That means that an estimated 728,000 work forces received a decoration due to injury or for an act of gallantry. These Numberss help us to understand merely how many people how many people hav e psychological affects due to the rough engagement. By reading a transition from a missive of a Wichita, Kansas soldier to his female parent, we can come to footings of merely what service work forces and adult females were traveling through during the war. # 8220 ; There are so many Cong here that in three yearss we captured 12VC and killed 33. Ma, I had to kill a adult female and a babe I swear to god this topographic point is worse than snake pit. Why must I kill adult females and childs? Who knows who # 8217 ; s right? # 8221 ; ( Kerry 455 ) . Reading letters such as this, we wonder why we have veterans with many psychological effects. One of the Most widely known psychological effects is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. It affects over 25 per centum of Vietnam Era veteran ( Kulka XXVII ) . Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is a psychological status experienced by a individual who had faced a traumatic event which caused a ruinous stressor outside the scope of usual human experience ( Parrish ) . # 8220 ; Twenty old ages after # 8216 ; peace with award # 8217 ; was declared in Vietnam, veterans continue to pay their ain conflict with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, # 8221 ; says Senator Alan Cranston ( Kulka 1 ) .Physically it creates monsters. Monsters in the signifier of 1000000s of work forces who have been taught to cover and to merchandise in force and who are given the opportunity to decease for the biggest nil in history ; work forces who have returned with a sense of choler and a sense of treachery which no 1 has yet grasped ( Kerry 457 ) . Mentally it creates psychos. That is when Roth ( non his existent name ) catchs awake, forced back to world by the sound of his ain shriek. # 8220 ; Something merely triggers it, and at that place I am- a 20-year-old child in a firefight # 8221 ; ( Gelman 148 ) . I remember of a friend late stating me about her male parent whom, when they go to dinner, must sit in a degree Celsius orner in order for him to be able to watch his milieus and experience safe.As an Army rifleman in Cambodia in 1970, Andy Grimes of Trenton, Tenn. , dodged Viet Cong snipers and ambuscades utilizing shrubs as screen, which subsequently became victims of the defoliant Agent Orange. Of the physical effects, Agent Orange is the most know cause. Agent Orange is a toxin used to deprive away jungle flora and to strip North Vietnamese forces of hidden sanctuaries and presenting countries for ambuscades. There are 9,495 documented spraying missions flown from Air Force C-123 lading planes dumping over 11.8 million gallons. What we know now could hold prevented its usage. It has effects such as fatty tumours, light sensitiveness abortions, birth defects, and weariness ( Gelman 158-159 ) . Rockne Harmon and his brother Jim were exposed and sprayed with Agent Orange and told to keep their breaths. Now Rockne’s boy has lost an oculus and can hardly walk. His brother Jim has lost a twelve-y ear-old girl to a rare lung malignant neoplastic disease ( Agent ) . This is merely two of the many instances affecting Agent Orange and veterans of the Vietnam War. Beyond the physical and psychological effects of the war, there are other jobs. The veterans who were lucky and returned home alive, did non worry a spot about anything, except for the fact that they were back on U.S. dirt. One of the many talked about Vietnam War issues has been the result of the veterans who honored the United States during the war in Vietnam. Upon returning place, most found out to be unwelcome by the American society. An unwelcome return that of which was different from the warm welcome of World War II veterans. They were faced with platitude. Murderers of immature guiltless kids, psychos, and maltreaters of drugs were some of the stereotypes associated with the returning veterans ( Dudley 145 ) . Not merely did they have the face the jobs of society, but besides with the job of the Veterans Administration losing their records. Veterans were holding a difficult clip acquiring intervention for disablements and acquiring recognition for their actions. The undertaking of mending a veteran of the Vietnam War Is non an easy undertaking. It is a j ourney for both the therapist and the veteran. The journey is full of many images being risky, empty, happy, and sad. It is a journey on a way to rapprochement ( Hicks 4 ) . # 8220 ; Agent Orange # 8221 ; . Online posting. PBS. 31 Dec. 1996 hypertext transfer protocol: //www.pbs.org/cgi-bin/pov/response.cgi/discuss/38/ gt ; . Colombo, Al. PTSD Information Al Colombo United States Veteran Information Non-Governmental. 28 Jan. 1999 hypertext transfer protocol: //web.raex.com/ colombo/vets2/ptsd.htm gt ; .Dudley, William, et Al. # 8220 ; How has the Vietnam War Affected Veterans? # 8221 ; How has the Vietnam War Affected Veterans: Opposing Point of views. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven. 1990. 145.Gelman, David. # 8220 ; Treating War # 8217 ; s Psychic Wounds. # 8221 ; Newsweek 29 Aug. 1988. Rpt. In # 8220 ; Vietnam Veterans Suffer from Psychological Problems. # 8221 ; How has the Vietnam War Affected Veterans: Opposing Point of views. Ed. David Libender and Bruno Leone. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven. 1990. 146-159.Hicks, Pamela. The Grave, the Talisman, and the Walking Dead. Atlantis Articles. 28 Jan. 1999 hypertext transfer protocol: //www.imagerynet.com /articles/vietnam3.html gt ; .Kerry, John. Vietnam and America. Ed. Marvin E. Gettleman, et al. New York: Grove Press, 1995.Kulka, Richard A. , et Al. Trauma and the Vietnam War Generation. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1990.Marin, Peter. # 8220 ; What the Vietnam Vets Can Teach Us. # 8221 ; The State 27 Nov. 1982. Rpt. In # 8220 ; The War Developed Veterans # 8217 ; Moral Sensitivity. # 8221 ; How has the Vietnam War Affected Veterans: Opposing Point of views. Ed. David Libender and Bruno Leone. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven. 1990. 174-180.Parrish [ SIC ] . PTSD. 26 Jan. 1999 hypertext transfer protocol: //www.ptsdmanual.com/chap1.htm gt ; .