Why do Vietnam vets not trust anyone?

Answer 1

Speaking as a Viet Nam Veteran, my short answer would be because we were, as a group both victimized and demonized by the press and the public. It quickly became a case of the only people we could trust were those who had been there. Specifics: my kids were osterized rediculed and physically assualted at school because I was in Viet Nam. My wife was refused credit specifically because I was on a current tour "in country." She was told it was because I was a very low survival risk. Many marriages ended with the husband in country because the wife and maybe children couldn't take the pressure. Upon my return to the U.S. I was told to change into civilian clothes before exiting the plane. This did nothing of course because the crowd waiting for us in the terminal had been informed that we were all returning from Viet Nam. The press coverage of Viet Nam was worse than biased. They reported every instance where the troops raided a Viet Cong village, which happened about once every month or two. Sometimes if it didn't happen soon enough, they re-ran film clips from a past raid and reported it as a current raid. Not once did I see an account of the Viet Cong rocketing an orphenage, hospital, or church. Events that happened two or three times a week. In contrast, draft evaders were, and still are, idolized as heros. This osterization became even more pronounced after the draft ended. Once you left the military, having served there was a negative factor at job interviews. It took me almost six months to get an entry level job in a field where I had held officer rank. Then contrast that with the treatment of today's returning combat troops. The long and short of it is, I may like you, or even love you, but I've been back-stabed too often to trust you. I reserve my trust to those who served there, and for those families that remained faithful during that service.