Vietnam War
Imagine a place so full of hatred, with so much war that the thought of a quick death is blissful; now imagine returning home from that and having every person you once knew think of you as a monster. The Vietnam war started in 1955, because of the communist aggression in that region. The very reason why the United States entered the war was to stop the unification of Vietnam under communist control; two years later this is exactly what happened. President Nixon enacted vietnamization, the removal of United States forces from Vietnam, in 1973. The U.S. surrendered, because they were not willing to make a full commitment to win, with enough resources already spent on the war and 58,000 American soldiers lost (national archives). …show more content…
Vietnam has a tropical monsoon climate, with the humidity being 84 percent throughout the year and the substantial rainfall leaves the ground a swamp (globalsecurity.com). Soldiers then had to dig fox holes in the ground as their sleeping quarters. Can you picture yourself sleeping in a dark hole in the ground, feet away from blood, urine, and feces? Every night troops were sleeping in these conditions, knowing that they were never truly safe or secure. This drove many to insomnia, days without sleep left them with hallucinations and slow reactions. Always being on your feet but hardly sleeping confused their brain, servicemen became delirious and unstable. There were many booby traps throughout Vietnam, even in their own camps. For instance, the “Pungy-Pits”, these traps were holes in the ground that contained large spikes coated with a type of poison that caused infection quicker, and when they ran out of poison they put feces, vomit, and urine in the pits (Vietnam:A life Experience). These holes were covered by leaves and mud waiting for an unsuspecting soldier to fall into them. With every step they were risking their lives, scenarios flashing through their head every second. The anticipation is the worst part; not knowing if you are going to survive is enough to make any man insane. With the filthy environment and smoke surrounding them, soldiers craved fresh air …show more content…
There are multiple variations, but they all contribute to the same thing, worsening psychological conditions. There is survivor 's guilt, this is the question that will forever dwell on the soldier 's mind; why am I alive and that man, that father, that person better than I, dead? Then you will find the home guilt, this is the question the will hit their brain every time they look into their child 's face, or spouses eyes; do they know I did not want to leave them? Were they better off without me? Killer 's guilt, the one that keeps veterans awake every single night; the one that haunts their dreams. How many lives have I destroyed? How many children have I orphaned? How many mothers will never see their children because of me? Their guilt will forever burn the images of war into their brain. It is a luggage that they will forever carry. The burden of a survivor, of a
Imagine a place so full of hatred, with so much war that the thought of a quick death is blissful; now imagine returning home from that and having every person you once knew think of you as a monster. The Vietnam war started in 1955, because of the communist aggression in that region. The very reason why the United States entered the war was to stop the unification of Vietnam under communist control; two years later this is exactly what happened. President Nixon enacted vietnamization, the removal of United States forces from Vietnam, in 1973. The U.S. surrendered, because they were not willing to make a full commitment to win, with enough resources already spent on the war and 58,000 American soldiers lost (national archives). …show more content…
Vietnam has a tropical monsoon climate, with the humidity being 84 percent throughout the year and the substantial rainfall leaves the ground a swamp (globalsecurity.com). Soldiers then had to dig fox holes in the ground as their sleeping quarters. Can you picture yourself sleeping in a dark hole in the ground, feet away from blood, urine, and feces? Every night troops were sleeping in these conditions, knowing that they were never truly safe or secure. This drove many to insomnia, days without sleep left them with hallucinations and slow reactions. Always being on your feet but hardly sleeping confused their brain, servicemen became delirious and unstable. There were many booby traps throughout Vietnam, even in their own camps. For instance, the “Pungy-Pits”, these traps were holes in the ground that contained large spikes coated with a type of poison that caused infection quicker, and when they ran out of poison they put feces, vomit, and urine in the pits (Vietnam:A life Experience). These holes were covered by leaves and mud waiting for an unsuspecting soldier to fall into them. With every step they were risking their lives, scenarios flashing through their head every second. The anticipation is the worst part; not knowing if you are going to survive is enough to make any man insane. With the filthy environment and smoke surrounding them, soldiers craved fresh air …show more content…
There are multiple variations, but they all contribute to the same thing, worsening psychological conditions. There is survivor 's guilt, this is the question that will forever dwell on the soldier 's mind; why am I alive and that man, that father, that person better than I, dead? Then you will find the home guilt, this is the question the will hit their brain every time they look into their child 's face, or spouses eyes; do they know I did not want to leave them? Were they better off without me? Killer 's guilt, the one that keeps veterans awake every single night; the one that haunts their dreams. How many lives have I destroyed? How many children have I orphaned? How many mothers will never see their children because of me? Their guilt will forever burn the images of war into their brain. It is a luggage that they will forever carry. The burden of a survivor, of a