I noticed that a lot of media and publications talk about Vietnam War veterans suffering from PTSD and other psychological/mental health issues.
What was so devastating in this specific war comparing to other wars (i.e. WW1 and WW2) that caused so many vets’ trauma?
Or is it a matter of fact that during previous wars mental health care was less developed?
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Vietnam was the first American war where the concept of PTSD was looked at closely. Researchers who look back at the medical histories have found it reported under other names, like “combat fatigue” in World War II and “shellshock” in World War I. In hindsight, it was a thing in past wars but it wasn’t talked about in the same way.
One line of speculation I’ve read, which I found interesting but I’m not sure if it was ever proven, has to do with the transportation between home and the wars. In Vietnam you could be on a plane and back home within a few days, whereas a soldier in previous wars had to take a ship home. They would have months around other soldiers with similar experiences to help process the trauma of what they’d experienced, whereas a Vietnam veteran would have no such benefit. Again, I’m not sure that this was ever proven to have any correlation but it is an interesting possibility.
WW veterans spending weeks on a ship, talking with guys with similar experiences, going home to a heros welcome, probably helped compared to going straight from a war zone to home on a short plane flight with random people and a less than warm welcome
In war typically you’re fighting other men, in uniform, in a battlefield. Yes things get messy sometimes. Sometimes civilians die. It’s war
In Vietnam, there was no way to tell friend from foe. (Hence why perfidy is a war crime) and they struggled because every village they entered could have Vietcong. Every person they saw could be VC. Every child could be holding a grenade.
That’s a lot of mental toll. All it takes is watching 5 of your friends get blown up by a grenade dropped by a child looking for candy, and suddenly you start to A) stay away from kids or B) shoot them when they get too close.
Now imagine you shot a kid. They got to close. You watched 5 of your friends die to this exact circumstance. They didn’t have a grenade. They just heard the American soldiers had candy. How do you think that affects a man?
The public was not supportive of the Vietnam war. In fact, there was a large vocal part of the population that was actively against the war. There was no support the troops movement like in the 00’s. Troops, often drafted against their will, came home to people calling them baby killers and protesting them. Not to mention, they were fighting a losing fight and so many more young men were lost over there compared to other wars. That all combined to make for a very depressing existence when returning to civilian life.
The stat I’ve seen is that the average WW2 soldier saw 40 days of combat, while the average Vietnam soldier saw 240. There was also the added brutality of fighting against traps and ambushes in the jungle.
Can’t discount the severity of PTSD in those who saw the front in WWI. Vietnam caused some real bad examples of it due to the whiplash of coming home so quick, but WWI inspired trauma responses so powerful that they caused brain damage and severe loss of motor function for many afflicted, with some cases even resulting in a permanent catatonic state of I’m not mistaken. The unmatched horror that soldiers in WWI witnessed was like nothing humans have ever experienced before or since, with barrages of shelling that lasted literal weeks, where all men could do is lay in the mud while their bodies literally rotted away, hoping a shell doesn’t land right on top of them.
Not as many media examples of it though because mass media wasn’t a thing then like it was when Vietnam was still in the zeitgeist.
After WW2, in Europe the vets spent weeks in Britian and France waiting for ship back home. Then they were stuck on the ship for a week or so while crossing the ocean. All with their fellow soldiers who fought with them and went through the same things. They had the time to come to terms with what happened.
Vietnam was very different. Units didn’t rotate back. Individuals did. And they were just stuck on a plane and landing back in the US two days later. They didn’t get time to decompress before they were thrown back into society.
And before WW1, wars were fought over months with only a few days being actual fighting. WW1 is the first time that soldiers had to be on and be worried 24/7. Before that, it was weeks of marching to even come close to yout enemy. And then it was days of maneuvering to maybe engage in a day long fight. WW1 was months of being in combat. Something that had never happened before.
I’m gonna get blasted. I’ve looked for the article recently because it never leaves my mind, but I’m pretty sure it had some connection the the book “Stolen Valor”.
But essentially the Vietnam Veteran that you described and are thinking of is a fabrication of people stealing benefits and running grifts. The majority of Vietnam veterans, definitely suffered levels of PTSD, but reintegrated into society quite well just like WWII veterans.
The reason why the article stuck out to me was a couple of claims that it made. First there were more per capita draftees in WWII than Nam. Second and this is the crazy one, the number I remember is 3 out of 4, but it could be 2 out of 3…. But 3 out of 4 people claiming Vietnam service are lying, not 1 out of 4, 3 out of 4. The number of people who served in Vietnam versus the number of people claiming VA benefits is that far off.
As a service member it’s amazing the amount of embellishment and lying that you see. But I will leave you with this final question “of all the people you have ever met who claimed to serve in Vietnam, how many of them were cooks? Logisticians? How many claim some connection to MACV SOG?
If you’re too young for that ask your dad or grand dad.
Highly recommend this book if you want to learn more.
War is always traumatic. Not all soldiers get PTSD but there is no specific level of severity that “qualifies” for PTSD or not. Each person is different and war is horrible no matter how you look at it.
But the key difference between the two wars was the treatment the vets received back home. WW2 vets got a hero’s welcome and Vietnam vets were unjustly treated with disdain, unjustly because they were drafted and held responsible for the actions of multiple successive governments they had no control over. The war ruined their lives and they came back home and hated for their part in it instead of being seen as victims of it as well.
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