Vietnam War Veterans example essay topic

Vietnam The U.S. war in Vietnam was the longest and sec and most costly in U.S. history. It last from the mid 1950's until 1975 and cost the United States over $150 billion. Most believe the war was a mistake, some, claimed they don't know what the U.S. should have done differently, and yet others don't have "a clear idea" what the war was about and can't remember which side we supported. The only thing most know is that it has hurt our country and its people really bad. The war statistics were grim: 2 to 3 million Indochinese killed, 58,000 Americans dead, and many suffering.

Some families of Vietnam War Veterans suffered from the loss of their husband, father, brother, or relative that died in the war. Some suffered from the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Some of the symptoms of PTSD include constantly being bothered by intrusive memories of the Vietnam War in the form of nightmares, flashbacks, and the like; a tendency to withdrawl and stay away from people, or to be numb and have no feelings; and to be easily aroused, angered, or to have a "short fuse". In addition, people suffering from PTSD often are depressed and tend to abuse drugs and alcohol. Kula reports that over 30% of all male veterans, and 26% of the women who participated in the war had PTSD at some time during their lives.

Although we were not the only country suffering from the war, there were many others too. The veterans told stories that at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages iin fashion reminiscent of Gengis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war and the normal and very particular ravaging which was done by the applied bombing power of our country. Not only were the enemies hurting and killing Americans, the Americans were doing the same thing to them. Although Vietnam War Veterans were suffering from the war, innocent families were suffering from the loss of their children during violent protests against the war.

While the war was going on people iin america were protesting all the time. They would gather iin Washington D.C. and in other places iin very large groups protesting to stop the war. The protests got so violent that in some cases the cops would come in and start beating the people and it was known that in some cases shots came out. For instance, at Kent State four innocent victims ended up getting killed for no reason at all. Opposition to the war grew with increased U.S. involvement. Leftist college students, members of traditional pacifist religious groups, long-time peace activists, and citizens fo all ages opposed the conflict.

Some were motivated by fear of being drafted, others out of commitment, and some just joined the crowd. College campuses became focal points for rallies and "teach-ins" lenght y series of speeches attacking the war. Marches in Washington began in 1965 and continued sporadically, peaking in 1968 and again in 1971. Although the antiwar noovement was frequently associated with the young, support for the war was actually the highest in the age group 20-29. The movements presence certainly was an indication of the increasingly divisive effects of the war on U.S. society. Even some Vietnam Veterans protested against the war. they marched from town to town protesting against the war, saying the war was a "mistake".

There were many protest going, which started tearing all of our country apart. The protest came from the governments decisions to stay in the war. Most of the U.S. citizens wanted not to be in the war so they protested. The government kept on lying and trying to say that we were winning the war when really we weren't. By late 1967 the war was stalemated.

President Johnson urged Westmoreland to help convince a public growing more restive that the United States was winning. Although he promised "light at the end of the tunnel", increasing casualties as well as growing disbelief in public pronouncements, the "credibility gap", fostered increasing skepticism. U.S. strategy was clearly not producing victory, and President Johnson began a limited reassessment. The Vietnam War tore apart our country in many different ways. It caused pain, death, and suffering for our country and its people.

Pain that some people can never make up for along with the respect for their country. All the lies and wrong decision caused many violent protests, and many to disrespect the U.S.