What impact did the Vietnam war have on families of soldiers?

Answer 1

Hard on American SoldiersI think it affected the American soldiers because they were there and they felt like it wasn't their war to fight. Not only that they would sit and wait for the enemy and then out of no where and then just like that your friend right next to you would be dead. They were also in extreme weather and had barely any food. Not to mension that those who have been exposed to Agent Orange and now have to deal with cancers and getting the skin cut off so it doesn't come back. They also have nightmares and bad days when they just dream about it or think about it. That is my opinion but if anyone else know or thinks different I am open to new ideas of why it is hard on them.

US servicemen returning home from Vietnam were treated with hostility, discrimination, and rejection.

Answer 2

Many returning servicemen did not tell anyone they were veterans because of discrimination. Discrimination might come from his girlfriend (she would leave him), an employer (would not hire him or fire him), a neighbor (might trash his front yard), a school instructor (teacher) (purposely give him a lower grade), or a family member (would criticise him, or belittle him), when eating out in a restaurant and a young man had a crew cut (short hair) people knew he was in the military, and he would not get served, the waitress would be too busy of course, but all the "long hairs" got served. In 1974 (?) the U.S. Government passed a federal law specifically prohibiting discrimination against a Vietnam Veteran.

Answer 3

Vietnam, like the US Civil War before it (1861-1865), divided families (arguing amongst themselves), and physically divided the families when the father, husband, son, brother, uncle, nephew, etc. was physically removed from the household for military service, then, often, off to Vietnam. If the "removed" family member became a casualty in the war, then the family suffered even more.

Answer 4

Having permanently handicapped Fathers, Sons, Nephews, Cousins, Brothers, Husbands, and friends, etc. or dead Fathers, Sons, Nephews, Cousins, Brothers, Husbands, and friends; tore families apart...by arguing about the war...and who was responsible for their particular families tragedy.

Answer 5

Physical Effects

Agent Orange

Apart from the psychological damage inflicted on the veterans, by the late 1970s many believed they had also been poisoned while fighting in Vietnam. Between 1962 and 1971 over 17 million gallons of herbicide and insecticide were used in Vietnam to clear vegetation so the Viet Cong had nowhere to hide. Agent Orange was only one of the many insecticides used but that name has come to represent them all. This action was known as Operation Ranch Hand. During Ranch Hand, American and Australian soldiers were exposed to the chemicals.

In 1978 a report appeared that linked Agent Orange with cancers of the soft tissues and blood, birth defects in children born to those exposed to the herbicide and toxic brain dysfunction. All three of these disorders were common enough among Vietnam veterans that the State Veterans Associations in Australia began to ask for a government inquiry to establish a link between Agent Orange and the large numbers of veterans with disabilities.

The legacy of the Vietnam War

The legacy of the Vietnam War among Vietnam veterans and their families was long looked upon as something that should not be talked about. The higher rates of birth defects and miscarriages, depression, suicide, cancers, Alcoholism and the many other physical effects of herbicide poisoning were all ignored for a long time. Both the war and its consequences on those who fought in it were pushed to the back of the national conscience. Australian society has been mostly unwilling to acknowledge what took place in Vietnam.

Each veteran's experience in Vietnam was, of course, different and it is difficult for anyone who was not there to truly understand what they went through.

Psychological Effects

The return home

After the war was over and the Australian troops came home, they were angry and confused by the reaction they met. The anti-war protests led to many shunning the soldiers. They were not welcomed home as they had expected they would be. Many veterans felt like they were being blamed for the war - instead of the government.

Unlike returning soldiers from previous wars that century, they were not victorious and there was no big welcome home parade for them. They also came home suffering effects of war that went beyond what had been suffered by veterans from the First and Second World Wars - no one knew how to deal with it. They did not receive an official 'Welcome Home' parade until 1987 - nearly 20 years after the last soldiers left Vietnam. Not surprisingly, many veterans felt their service to their country went unrecognised and un-thanked.

The psychological effects of the Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was so unlike any other war Australian soldiers had fought in that no one really knew how to deal with the after effects of it. Vietnam was not a war fought on open fronts, with areas of safety to which they could retreat. There had been nowhere to relax in Vietnam, the soldiers had been constantly on alert for the enemy. What made it worse, was that they did not always know who the enemy was. It could be the women and children they thought they were protecting. The result of this was that many Vietnam veterans suffered psychological damage in the form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Studies have proven that compared with other men of that generation Vietnam veterans have higher rates of psychiatric disorders, Heart disease, alcoholism and alcohol-related diseases, as well as a higher suicide rate among their families. Many Veterans just could not cope with the things they had seen and the stress they had lived under for two years. Many veterans also could not understand why they were feeling the way they were. In many cases, PTSD was not diagnosed until years later. By that time a lot of damage had been done, both to the veterans and their families. A lot of the men became emotionally detached from their lives. They felt they could not love or show affection to their wives and children, even years after the war was over.

Another of the reasons that many veterans found it hard to settle back into their lives in Australia was the selective nature of the National Service programme. Unlike the world wars where all the young men form an age group had gone off to fight together, the National Service Act (1964) only called up men selectively based on their birthday. This meant that while some young men were fighting in Vietnam, the rest of their peer group was getting on with their lives and careers in Australia. Vietnam veterans returned home to find that life had moved on without them and that they had essentially lost two years of their lives. It also meant that only a very small section of Australian society really understood what the Veterans had gone through. The Vietnam War had become so hated in Australia that no one wanted to talk about it when the Veterans came home - not many people could, or tried to, understand the extreme circumstances those young men had lived through for two years.

Answer 6

Losing a loved one thru death/MIA/POW.

Having a loved one handicapped for life (e.g. amputee, wheel chair, etc.).

Turning down offers of home buying, relocations, careers, marriages, children, college, etc. due to the uncertainty of the draft (not knowing when "your number is going to be called").

Answer 7

Anger, when their sons, fathers, and husbands, brothers, etc. were drafted.

Answer 8

Even a Spartan Mother or Spartan Wife suffered when their Son or Husband was killed or maimed in war. War is not new; neither is suffering.