Can anyone explain why Vietnam Veterans were treated so badly?

msfyrebyrd

I grew up in that era and I don't understand it. What I see as scary is that the same thing is happening to the Iraq veterans now. The war is unpopular. People are accusing the military of killing civilians. My take is that the news reporters do not belong on patrols. The liberal press and the liberal view have overtaken the press and you never see the good things the military does only the bad stuff. I seldom see pictures of our soldiers being hailed as heroes, instead they are baby killers. It is Vietnam again.

Personally, I respect the soldiers from Vietnam and from this war. The Vietnam soldiers had no choice as most were drafted. Our military today is volunteer and many are very well educated. Neither deserve to be treated with disrespect. They are/were doing a job. War is not pretty. It is about people dying. Buildings being exploded. Families being ripped apart. It is not something that someone joins the military to do. Most join for other reasons: education, lack of civilian jobs, occupational training, pride in their country... they hope they NEVER have to go to war, but they realize it is a possibility.

I am truly sorry for your Grandpa. Has he gone to the VA and asked to speak with a counselor? Many of the men who served during that period have suffered mentally. He might be able to get relief from seeking help from the VA.

Tell your Grandpa, that you respect him for serving his country and that in your eyes he is a hero. In my eyes, he is!

powerofconviction

Because people were really ignorant back then, some still are.
Your grandfather is a hero.
All Vietnam Vets are.

madge 51

It was terrible how your GRAND-DAD was treated he and his fellow SOLDIERS were and are HERO`S, I am afraid the war was a very unpopular one. What worries me is will it happen again with our troops in both Iraq & Afghanistan, I would not like to believe it will, but I am not certain that it would not.

October

Because Vietnam was an unpopular war.

answer faerie, V.T., A. M.

because some of those who served behaved despicably, killing innocent civilians, and regrettably many who were against the war treated all the vets they saw as though they were all responsible for those events, which of course they weren't.

Justme

Look at what is happening in Iraq. The world is divided on whether or not Americans should be over there. And there are stories leaking out about horrible things that are being done by American soldiers that are tired of being there.

Vietnam was the same way. Only it was the first time that war could be seen on TV with you sitting in your living room. watching It was the first tme that men didn't come back as heros. The machinery was bigger, the cause was more confusing...a lot of the men didn't know themselves why they were fighting.

The 60s were confusing times. The kids of that era were the children of WWII. Baby boomers who believed in freedom of speech, free love and lots of drugs. They were out to change the world and in many ways they did. Black people got to vote. Got to go to colleges with white people. Kids to to have an opinion that was different from their parents. And their opinion was that America didn't belong in Vietnam.

As with every war there were casualties in Vietnam that should never have happened. Villages burned down. Half American babies being left behind in orphanages. ALL of the things that happened in every other war since the very first war that ever happened. But like I said. This war was on television for the first time. And young people had their own voice for the first time.

The men who came home from Vietnam, tired of being shot at and having no idea why they were there in the first place were treated worse than dirt. Because people were able to see what war looked like for the first time. And it was very ugly.

azrael505

I just want to clear up some errors that have been posted. Democrats were not trying to discredit the war, nor did they come into power at the end. Democrats were IN POWER when we sent combat troops to Vietnam. Prior to Kennedy's assassination, we were going to leave the country alone, as per internal White House memos released to the public per the Freedom of Information Act.
Republicans, namely Nixon, came to power at the end of the war, but also failed to immediately withdraw. Instead we resorted to massive bombing campaigns.

Not all the left were "hating" the soldiers. A significant number of the anti-war crowd supported the soldiers through out the entirety of the war and worked with them to bring them home. We know this because a large part of the anti-war crowd was made up of: Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines. The same troops that were fighting the war were also part of the effort to end the war. The hatred for Vietnam Veterans is far less widespread than what it is claimed to be. Yes, there were people who didn't support the war who also didn't support the soldiers, but that happens in every war. Why should Vietnam have been any different. What was different was the unofficial coalition between civilians and military personnel seeking to end the war and have the troops withdrawn.

It should be noted that since the Republicans were the political party that came to power towards the end of the Vietnam war, the lack of VA support for returning veterans falls upon them. Democrats weren't running the government, they weren't the ones deciding policy.

Raptor

Tell your grandpa welcome home. Wow! I am really glad to hear some of the answers on this. They show that there are still people who understand the absolute madness of war, and can distinguish between the soldier and the criminal. You guys are the people who keep me going. (Sgt. MACVSOG RVN 68-69) I believe some cannot understand because they don't have any like experiences to war, and that's fine. They are not supphosed to. I spent 2 years in a VA hosp on Long Is. and got help at a PTSD unit, met many vets like myself and am doing OK these days. Grandpa doesn't have to go it alone anymore, help is out there. I was homeless for 6 years,considered hopelessly lost and abandoned. No more. I can't work anymore due to my disability, but maybe I can help a little here and there a times. Thanks for your ques. Deltarat69

Signilda

Because of the big peace movement and all the protests, sit-ins, love-ins, etc going on with the hippies. The war was controversial and back then if people were against the war and all policies leading to that war, then they were against all the soldiers too. I think we know better now. People support the troops even if they are against the war.

mcbrian2000

well its a sad day to talk about this. the government mico-managed that war so badly it made what seemed to be a quick occupation into a mutli year debocle. That is what made the public against it.

blame the french. can they ever do anything right?

planksheer

America betrayed its self by getting involved in Vietnam's Civil War in the first place. I think the revulsion came out of the violence on innocent civilians. The ignornace of our political leadership only made things worse. We bought into a lie and were misled into a war that had no winning options.
We will have PTSD cases coming out of this new war for years to come. America was just as divided over this war as the public became in time. to the Vietnamese. Granted most Americans did not drop napalm on kids or wipe out entire villages - and the ones that served deserved better treatment.

chiefof nothing

I served in country in 67/68. The war just wasn't popular and the American populous were split between those that wished the war to end and the right (read military industrial complex)that wanted the endless millions to keep flowing...Unfortunately unlike today's wrong war people of the late 60's and early 70's couldn't separate the warriors from the war..Most of my fellow combatants suffer poor sleep/nightmares and Post traumatic Stress..just like the warriors fighting the current war PTSD is just a natural byproduct of engaging the enemy...Even the lifers I speak with that call those who admit suffering "sissies" and whiners also admit to having symptoms of PTSD but feel it is wrong to get treated for the wars aftereffects..Stories of being spat upon are real happened to me at Junior college..along with these hurtful words.."you're a baby-killer don't talk to me ever again!!" I went nearly 30 years before I was proud enough to claim my service..I was wounded and evacuated during TET offensive in Jan-Feb 68

Philip

Libs portrayed all the returning vets as baby killers and rapists.

mangomanocr

I don't envy any vet, but the Vietnam vets got the stick in the eye. Why? One, Americans were never behind the war and eventually very against it. Second, we lost. The boys came back not in honor but in disgrace - nobody likes a loser. We've been trying to sweep the evidence under the carpet ever since. Shame about your grampa; shame that war ruins so many lives; shame that the human race is so stupid.

the robber

i dont know why some Americans still concern about the Vietnam war even this time.
you can believe me or not, your father would be treated kindly as any other people if he came to Vietname.
Vietnamese who live in Vietnam no longer cares of you are American, Vietnam veteran or not.
My susgestion is to ask your grandpa to visit Vietnam oneday, once he sees how peaceful Vietnam is and how friendly Vietnames people are. He will soon escape from this mental situation as many other Vietnam Veteran did.
I would wish him all the best.

terryshawn1975

the media.. doin the same thing it is doin now trying to turn our stomachs against our resolve.. if this keeps up they will have a replay of nam and our enimies will prevail against us..

Anthony M

Hippie and super-libs didn't support the war. They were so immature in that belief that they made no distinction between the war and the warriors. They screamed the war was unjust , not least for the fact that many soldiers were there against their will as was your GrandPa. Then When Grand Pa comes home the nation learned that sympathy for the Draftees was just an excuse to protest the war and gov't. This issue forever turned my family away from the Democrat Party.

Thank your Grand Pa for me and my family. Tell him "welcome home and thank you for your service," from us.

God bless

DeuceRider

The liberals are the ones who treated the vets badly, they are vile, hateful people and they were too cowardly to go to vietnam so they evaded the draft like Bill Clinton. Look for these scumbags to treat our troops in the middle east the same way.

cincinnatus

The liberal anti-war crowd who were being advised by the communists ( the enemy) treated them the sane way they treat anyone who does not agree with them. Like sub humans that don't deserve to live

angrygramma

Ask today's mainstream media, "why." They're trying to do it again.

AreWeThereYet?

Democrats fear what they dont understand. Democrats dont understand national defense or the military. They turn on us and side with the enemy, from hanoi jane fonda flirting with the vietcong to Sen John Murtha calling us Nazis.

Im on the right, and I in no way feel that way. I have served, and I re-upped last year.

wunderkind

Because at times (most of the time) America is a nation of idiots!

max1us

because American soldiers killed Vietnamese children

scottishchristiansen

because at the time the democrats controlled the media and discredited the war trying to make the ones in office look bad... like john kerry he did this... they showed everything from soldiers taking drugs on the front lines to prisoners being tortured on both sides... they showed "inocent vietnam civilians" being starved etc. but in all reality they didn't show the stuff that the communist vietnam were doing to try to subject republic vietnam to communism through force. so citizens thought people who fought for freedom were bad people and that they all killed innocent people but they didn't to make it worse at the end of the war the democrats took office and didn't do anything financially to really help vets.... and they didn't get their back either they spit on the uniform of the united states armed forces.... traitor senators even met with vietnamese communist leaders which is and was unconstitutional. (also kerry)

Carl K

I assume you are talking about the American veterans, rather than the Vietnamese veterans who faught against them.

The Vietnam Veterans were treated so badly for two reasons, which you addressed yourself a bit in the question.

Firstly because the USA government, and right-wingers in general, don't believe in looking after sick, poor or disabled people, or people with mental problems, or the kinds of lower classes they send off to die in wars. So many people who need treatment were simply left to live on the streets. There are a huge number of homeless people in the USA who are war veterans. That problem doesn't exist in other countries that fought in Vietnam.

The second reason is because THEY DESERVED IT. They are called killers because they kill people. That is just what happens when you kill people, destroy their homes and villages, and when you kidnap and torture people or threaten them at gunpoint and force them to do your bidding. You will be treated like a monster if you do those things. And it is because you really are a monster.

The fact is your grandpa helped kill people. Most of those people were innocent. That is what "saw combat" means.

It sounds like your grandpa might have post-traumatic stress disorder. That is presumably more because of how Vietnam treated the invading killers, and less because of how Americans treated him when he got back. He should probably see a psychologist. The psychologist will probably make him go through and come to terms with the things he has experienced, and the things he has done, until he can deal with them.

If he wants to be treated better by people who call him a killer, he needs to appologise and prove he has changed. If he wants to be treated better by the government and right-wingers, he needs to vote in a different government that actually cares about people.

Captain Kirk

To the person that said we lost the war, we did not. We kicked their ass, their body count way more then ours. We pulled out when the piece agreement was signed, then they didn't keep it. It was such a financial strain on our economy we could not a ford to be a part of it any longer so we kept pulling out. VNV M/C PHA Supporter and dam proud of it!

DennisD

I see nothing much has changed in the past 40 years concerning Vietnam. lots of misinformation and and opinions not based on facts or the reality of what happened back then. People do accept myths as fact which is a crying shame. Some of you need to study a little unbiased history and get your facts straight. Three quarters of the men who actually served in Vietnam where volunteers not draftees. We could start with that and then let history sort out the rest. Semper Fi!

DennisD

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