How did soldiers returning from the Vietnam War feel?
Rather than being greeted with anger and hostility, however, most Vietnam veterans received very little reaction when they returned home. They mainly noticed that people seemed uncomfortable around them and did not appear interested in hearing about their wartime experiences.
How were Vietnam veterans treated when returned from war?
Perhaps the cruelest aspect of the war was the treatment of the returning soldiers. Unlike the hero status given to the returning soldiers form World War II, the soldiers that served in Vietnam were portrayed as baby killers, psychos, drug addicts and war mongers.
How were soldiers affected after the Vietnam War?
Although most veterans were not permanently damaged by the war, some 15 to 25 percent of Vietnam veterans (between 500,000 and 700,000) suffered from a stress-related impairment known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a psychological disease brought on by acute combat experience.
How many Vietnam veterans came back with PTSD?
In the 1970s, a study showed that 15 percent of Vietnam War veterans developed PTSD. However, as time has gone on, that number has doubled to a staggering 30\% of Vietnam veterans with PTSD, or 810,000 of the 2.7 million service members, in the National Vietnam Veteran Readjustment Study.
Did you experience trauma from the Vietnam War?
The Vietnam War claimed the lives of more than 58,000 American service members and wounded more than 150,000. And for the men who served in Vietnam and survived unspeakable horrors, coming home offered its own kind of trauma. Some, like Wowwk, say they had invectives hurled their way; others, like naval officer Ford Cole, remember being spit on.
What was it like for American soldiers returning home from Vietnam?
American soldiers returning home from Vietnam often faced scorn as the war they had fought in became increasingly unpopular. Twenty-one-year-old Steven A. Wowwk arrived as an infantryman in the Army’s First Cavalry Division in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam in early January 1969 to fight in an escalating and increasingly unwinnable war.
What were the effects of the Vietnam War on American soldiers?
The later years of the war saw increased physical and psychological deterioration among American soldiers—both volunteers and draftees—including drug use, post-traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ), mutinies and attacks by soldiers against officers and noncommissioned officers.
How many US soldiers died in the Vietnam War?
The Vietnam War claimed the lives of more than 58,000 American service members and wounded more than 150,000. And for the men who served in Vietnam and survived unspeakable horrors, coming home offered its own kind of trauma.