This paper examines the devastating and lasting consequences the Vietnam War had on the soldiers who served, drawing on Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried as a literary lens. It explores the hostile socio-political environment that greeted returning veterans, the emergence and persistence of PTSD as a recognized medical condition, and the physical health consequences of exposure to Agent Orange. Personal testimony from a Vietnam veteran provides firsthand perspective alongside academic research. The paper concludes by drawing parallels to contemporary conflicts and argues that lessons from Vietnam must inform how society supports and treats soldiers returning from war today.
"Twenty years. A lot like yesterday, a lot like never. In a way, maybe, I'd gone under with Kiowa, and now after two decades I'd finally worked myself out. A hot afternoon, a bright August sun, and the war was over." — Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
In the novel The Things They Carried, which chronicles a soldier's journey in the years following the war, the protagonist spends two decades trying to move beyond the memory of the Vietnam War, demonstrating the devastating, lasting, and complex toll that the war had upon the individual soldier. This journey toward redemption and solace is not unlike the journey of hundreds of thousands of Vietnam War veterans. Once they returned home — while no longer on an actual front — they had battles to wage within themselves and within a society that did not and could not understand the horrors of war. Indeed, these battles were neither well understood nor well received by the American public as a whole.
Today, as a society, we are still trying to understand the effects of Vietnam upon the soldiers who served, just as many of those soldiers — such as the protagonist depicted in O'Brien's novel — are still trying to understand how the war affected their own lives. In retrospect, it is clear that these brave young men faced a multitude of challenges due to the lasting after-effects of the Vietnam War, ranging from poignant and enduring psychological wounds to newfound physical injuries and illnesses.
"I first went to Viet Nam with the 3rd Marine Amphibious Force in 1965… I didn't have time to form an opinion about the conflict because we were too busy establishing a camp and establishing relationship with the local citizens."
The Vietnam veterans who were fortunate enough to return to their homeland after their individual tour of duty did not receive a hero's welcome. While most Americans viewed World War II as the "good war," the Vietnam War was highly contested, with an unclear distinction between war protests and appreciation for the individual soldier. The individual soldier, however, did not have the privilege of analyzing whether or not the war was good or bad. As noted by a Vietnam veteran interviewed for this paper, they were "too busy" establishing their place in the war zone to debate whether or not the American government had committed itself to a war it would not "win."
According to a study by Boulanger and Kadushin published in 1986, the trauma soldiers actually experienced as a result of their Vietnam service led to adverse psychological reactions that revealed themselves through readjustment difficulties — difficulties that were further exacerbated by the perception of an unwelcome return home.
The veteran interviewed for this paper profoundly summarized how he and others like him were perceived upon their return:
"I feel that the radical groups during the sixties were against the military personnel. There was no support from a lot of people that were constantly protesting and making remarks that were hurting too many of the military men and women that was risking their lives to make it possible for these groups to have the freedom to protest against the very people that was protecting them."
Indeed, if the soldiers were not facing tepid responses from those who disagreed with the war, or outright hostility from those who actively protested it, they encountered marked apathy from the American public: "The majority of Americans, it appeared, neither wanted to talk or think about their nation's longest and most debilitating war — the only war the United States ever lost."
Accordingly, the Vietnam veteran returned from turbulent time on the front lines to a nation of individuals who either disagreed with or simply did not care to discuss the war. A hero's welcome was clearly absent. Ironically, this left the Vietnam veteran to sort out his or her issues — be they psychological, physical, or emotional — without the support of the very American public for whom they had honorably sacrificed and risked their lives.
According to a recent study, almost 19% of the more than three million U.S. troops who served in Vietnam returned with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Until Vietnam, the term PTSD was not used to describe a soldier's trauma after war. Following Vietnam, there was no denying this phenomenon as men and women came back with lasting psychological trauma. As a result, we have come to understand that after a trauma, re-lived stress may occur immediately or may be delayed for more than six months after the event. When it occurs soon after the trauma, it usually improves after approximately three months. However, some people experience a longer-term form of PTSD — including many Vietnam veterans — and this disorder may persist for many years.
A study revealed that between 1999 and 2004, the total number of Vietnam veterans receiving disability benefits for PTSD increased by approximately 79.5%. Moreover, in response to the contention that this increase might be the result of secondary gain or fraud, medical research by Columbia University revealed that what is reported and experienced by these veterans is, by and large, genuine.
PTSD is a serious medical condition that has greatly affected the lives of thousands of Vietnam veterans and, unfortunately, continues to afflict many to this day. People with PTSD experience ongoing frightening thoughts and horrific memories of their ordeal and, as a result, may feel emotionally numb — especially toward people they were once close to. They may also experience sleep problems, feel detached or isolated, become easily startled, have outbursts of anger or frustration, have difficulty concentrating, and may avoid anything that reminds them of the traumatic experience.
Not everyone who experiences war will develop PTSD or be debilitated by it. While the exact cause of the disorder is unknown, researchers believe that psychological, genetic, physical, and social factors all influence how the body reacts to stress and trauma, and therefore whether an individual will develop PTSD. Research on Vietnam veterans specifically demonstrates that those with strong support systems were less likely to develop PTSD than those without such systems.
This finding is supported by firsthand testimony from the veteran interviewed for this paper, who credits his faith and family for helping him through his trauma: "There were times when God protected me from danger. Through these situations, it drew me closer to God. It also reminded me that my family, friends, and church were praying for my safety."
He was, indeed, one of the fortunate ones. He returned from the war with his faculties and his limbs intact and, despite encountering hostility from those who disagreed with the war effort, he had the love and support of his faith and family to carry him through difficult memories. Perhaps this is what helped make him part of the Vietnam veteran subgroup that was fortunately not afflicted with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
"Agent Orange exposure, disease, and elevated veteran mortality"
Vietnam soldiers were exposed to these herbicides, and even the Department of Defense has admitted to their deleterious health effects. According to a press release dated March 25, 2010, from the Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards, the Veterans Administration added additional "presumptive" diseases for Vietnam veterans. The proposed regulation established B-cell leukemias (such as hairy cell leukemia), Parkinson's disease, and ischemic heart disease as conditions associated with Agent Orange exposure.
Moreover, a high proportion of Vietnam veterans did not live to see the March 25, 2010 ruling on Agent Orange, nor did many make it into the twenty-first century at all. Studies have shown that veterans of Vietnam, compared to both non-Vietnam veterans and non-veterans, suffered a significantly elevated mortality rate through external causes in the first several years following discharge. The leading causes of such deaths were automobile accidents of various kinds as well as "poisoning," which likely refers in many cases to drug overdoses.
The scars carried by veterans after the Vietnam War are devastating and, at times, lethal. As we continue to fight in wars in which ideology plays a central role and in which the lines of combat are blurred and the enemy is not always evident, today's soldiers face similar challenges with regard to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We must therefore learn from the experience of our Vietnam veterans.
Perhaps the greatest lesson is already visible in the distinction our society now makes between disagreeing with the ideology behind a war and supporting the men and women in uniform who fight it. Additionally, if the emotional toll and the economic costs of PTSD after Vietnam teach us anything, it is that the military's means of training and supporting soldiers for the brutality and inhumanity of war may still be insufficient. We ask our soldiers to do the unthinkable; thus, every effort must be made not only to heal their physical wounds upon their return, but to heal the emotional wounds that linger as well. It is to be hoped that future papers written about Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will reflect that we learned from Vietnam — and that those lessons truly benefited the brave young men and women who came after.
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