Before the Vietnam War Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was not as prominent or well known as it is today. At the end of the Vietnam War about 15 of every 100 soldiers were diagnosed with PTSD. But more recent studies show that the actual amount of veterans that suffered from PTSD at some point in their life is closer to about 30 out of every 100 soldiers. No other war has had that high of PTSD statistics. Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) reported having about 11 out of every 100 soldiers suffering from PTSD while the Gulf War resulted in 12 soldiers out of every 100 having PTSD. The only war/operation that was close to the Vietnam War was Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). OEF reported having 20 soldiers out of every 100 soldiers developing PTSD.
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Other than the possibility of having a psychological condition, many veterans were exposed to a herbicide known as Agent Orange. Agent Orange is a herbicide used to kill plants to make it easier for soldier to navigate the terrain. The only real problem with Agent Orange is that just about anyone who was exposed to it made them suffer severe physical defects. Two side effects of soldiers being exposed to Agent Orange were that sometimes they developed different types of cancer and/or skin defects. Although there are many different symptoms that arose with exposure to Agent Orange the above ones were the most common. The most common types of cancer that have been linked to exposure to Agent Orange were liver, lung, and prostate cancer. There were other symptoms such as weight loss, chills, fever, skin growths and tumors and extreme fatigue that were linked to cancer as well. The skin defects that soldiers experienced when exposed to Agent Orange included rashes, hair loss, brittle nails or nails that fell off, changes in skin color and increased sensitivity to heat and direct …show more content…
The repercussions and side effects of the use of Agent Orange and other deforestation agents as well as Napalm, as an incendiary weapon, had dramatic, far reaching, and unforeseen impacts on the Vietnamese people. As stated before, Agent Orange led to severe birth defects in children whose parent or parents were exposed, both American and Vietnamese alike. Unlike Agent Orange the American casualties of Napalm were more of a result of accident than design. Unlike Agent Orange Napalm was a weapon designed to kill. Napalm is considered a weapon of mass destruction due to the very nature of the substance. The way that Napalm works is that it was a formula that took petroleum (gasoline) and thickened it so that it would stick to virtually any surface. Napalm was an effective anti-personnel weapon in that it could stick to its victims, and that there were several main ways that it killed. In particular you could burn to death, suffocation, or as an after effect dehydration. All in all an “effective” weapon. (The UN banned the use of Napalm in 1980, declaring the use of it a war
Other than the possibility of having a psychological condition, many veterans were exposed to a herbicide known as Agent Orange. Agent Orange is a herbicide used to kill plants to make it easier for soldier to navigate the terrain. The only real problem with Agent Orange is that just about anyone who was exposed to it made them suffer severe physical defects. Two side effects of soldiers being exposed to Agent Orange were that sometimes they developed different types of cancer and/or skin defects. Although there are many different symptoms that arose with exposure to Agent Orange the above ones were the most common. The most common types of cancer that have been linked to exposure to Agent Orange were liver, lung, and prostate cancer. There were other symptoms such as weight loss, chills, fever, skin growths and tumors and extreme fatigue that were linked to cancer as well. The skin defects that soldiers experienced when exposed to Agent Orange included rashes, hair loss, brittle nails or nails that fell off, changes in skin color and increased sensitivity to heat and direct …show more content…
The repercussions and side effects of the use of Agent Orange and other deforestation agents as well as Napalm, as an incendiary weapon, had dramatic, far reaching, and unforeseen impacts on the Vietnamese people. As stated before, Agent Orange led to severe birth defects in children whose parent or parents were exposed, both American and Vietnamese alike. Unlike Agent Orange the American casualties of Napalm were more of a result of accident than design. Unlike Agent Orange Napalm was a weapon designed to kill. Napalm is considered a weapon of mass destruction due to the very nature of the substance. The way that Napalm works is that it was a formula that took petroleum (gasoline) and thickened it so that it would stick to virtually any surface. Napalm was an effective anti-personnel weapon in that it could stick to its victims, and that there were several main ways that it killed. In particular you could burn to death, suffocation, or as an after effect dehydration. All in all an “effective” weapon. (The UN banned the use of Napalm in 1980, declaring the use of it a war