ABSTRACT

This paper looks at the impacts of Vietnam War on Vietnam veterans, mainly after
they returned to the US after the war. The focus of the paper would be the post-
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that veterans had to suffer and the attitudes of
them towards America once they came back home.

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1. INTRODUCTION

The Vietnam War ended many years ago and until now it is still considered as
one of the major reasons for American understanding of the psychological effects
of trauma. In other words, a new diagnosis in psychiatry was introduced – post-
traumatic stress disorder also known as PTSD. This trauma could be simply
understood as a mental disorder that can arise after a person is exposed to a
traumatic event, here is the Vietnam War. According to Michael R. Trimble, this
trauma is ‘a most frequent, yet clearly misunderstood aspect of human experience.’
This paper begins with a brief look at several reasons for the causes of PTSD as
well as some characteristic symptoms of this trauma suffered by Vietnam veterans.
The second part of this paper would present the attitudes towards America of
Vietnam veterans after they returned home when the war ended.

2. DEVELOPMENT
2.1. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) of American veterans after Vietnam
War

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) could be defined as a mental disorder

caused by a psychologically traumatic event, here is the Vietnam War. Although
the Vietnam War, for many American, has been over and forgotten for such a
long time, many veterans are still suffering from PTSD. Bob Filner (2010)
described several symptoms of PTSD as having ‘problems sleeping, maintaining
relationships, and returning to their previous civilian lives. Additionally, studies
have shown that veterans suffering from PTSD are more likely to be diagnosed
with cardiovascular disease and other diseases.’ When suffered from this trauma,
the veterans might encounter these following characteristic symptoms: they

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began to find it difficult to sleep, or in other words, insomnia. Sonnenberg and
Blank (1985) described the symptoms of PTSD as ‘It begins with an event in
which the individual is threatened with his or her own death or the destruction of
a body part, to such humiliation that their personal identity may be lost.’ In
addition, Vietnam veterans had a feeling of powerless, uselessness, anger,
depression, and they even tend to react to tense situations by using survival tactics,
which they often used in the battlefield.

Regarding the response of the US government to the veterans suffering from

PTSD, it was not until the 1980s when PTSD was seriously taken into
consideration after many Vietnam veterans’ complaints of suffering from similar
symptoms. These symptoms had been identified after previous wars but there
were only a couple of cases. In some cases, PTSD symptoms did not appear until
a year or more after the veterans returned from the battlefield. Because of the
deferred reaction, the government seemed not to take the effects of PTSD
seriously.

In terms of the reasons why Vietnam veterans got PTSD after returning
home, it was not only the different sense of identity that they got or the denials
and criticisms from anti-war people that caused this trauma, but also the
ignorance of other people surrounding them. Since Vietnam veterans left the
country for such a long time in order to fight in another country, after they came
back home, they had particularly different sense of personal identity as well as
perspective of the society. Other people looked at them with different attitudes.
As a result, they had to deal with the process of establishing new individual
identity and constructing new values. During this process, many individuals were

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engaged in bitter struggle to achieve self-unity; therefore, they got PTSD.
Moreover, it was reported that most Vietnam veterans received very little
reaction when they returned home. They mainly noticed that people seemed
uncomfortable around them because Vietnam vets got different identity after the
war. Little interest was shown in hearing or understanding about their
experiences during the wartime. It is impossible for Vietnam veterans to share
their war experience with their families and friends, resulting in loneliness,
indifference and depression or even the feeling of hatred themselves.

All in all, due to the change in the sense of identity and perspective
regarding the society and the ignorance of the community, a lot of Vietnam
veterans got PTSD. Despite the trauma that they had to suffer after the Vietnam
War, since the symptoms appeared lately, normally a year after they were
discharged, the US government did not take this problem seriously. As a result,
the attitudes of Vietnam veterans towards America become not so positive as
presented in the second part of this paper.

2.2. Vietnam veterans’ attitudes towards America after their returning home
from Vietnam War

First of all, as mentioned above, the response of the United States

government to the overwhelming number of veterans with PTSD created an
overall distrust of government agencies amongst veterans suffering from PTSD.
Many individuals did not accept medical services from any health institutions,
which made lots of veterans become ignorant about the obvious fact that their
mental health and stability had problems, namely had been negatively affected
by the things they did and saw when they experienced the wartime. They got

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stuck in depression, insomnia and also the alienation to the society. Not only did
they get doubt about the government, but they also did not believe in the service
that they had served for such a long time. Coming back home with no pride, some
Vietnam veterans somehow felt bitter regret about the destruction as well as the
death caused by the war. They casted doubt on their sacrifices in Vietnam and
wondered whether it was meaningful or just pointless at all.

Secondly, as Vietnam veterans returned home after such a long time, they
had different sense of identity and perspective of the society. Therefore, it was
not easy for some of them to re-adjust to American society after being discharged.
Veterans Larry Heinemann (2000) said in Vietnam shadows the war, its ghosts,
and its legacy that ‘I had the distinct feeling that this was not my country, not my
time.’ The response of the government as well as the chill attitudes of other
people towards Vietnam veterans made them feel isolated and alone. Moreover,
the development and changes of the country also affected the veterans. Some of
them felt overwhelmed of the life in modern cities, which were an obvious
contrast to that of where they had been (fields, jungles, or swamps). That was
also the reason why several Vietnam veterans had tendency to use survival tactics
even though they had stopped fighting and come back home.

Last but not least, there was a general feeling of hostility from the veterans
towards the anti-war movement, the government and even towards family and
friends. ‘They hated their peers who somehow escaped military service and now
live a wonderful life. They hated profiteers and politicians because while soldiers
were dying, they were getting rich and making capital of campaigns that cost the
lives of many. To veterans, politicians and government officials were hated the

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 most because all they did was talk about ideals and morals, and how to fight for
them, when they had no idea of the process of enforcing these ideals meant in
terms of pain, starvation, fear, and death’ (Sonnenberg and Blank, 1985). It was
common for veterans to feel hostility towards their own government who allowed
them to die off while those who survived were forgotten.

3. CONCLUSION

The costs of war have always been extremely enormous, both direct and
indirect ones. The after-war impacts could twist a veteran’s life in a negative way.
Not only did they get physical injuries, but they also had to suffer from mental
disorder and awaiting long-term consequences of the traumatic stress of war. The
causes of PTSD were changes in the perspective of the society of Vietnam veterans
and the society’s ignorance about the after-war adverse impacts. The attitudes
towards the government and the whole community of Vietnam veterans might be
positive or negative, but studies shown that most of them distrusted the military
service and got doubt on their sacrifices in Vietnam. Some even became hostile
towards almost all people around them. All in all, Vietnam is a war Americans
would like to forget, but in fact, cannot because of such terrible long-term
consequences it brought to both countries.

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REFERENCES

1. Filner, B. (2010). A Health Care: Status of VA’s Approach in Conducting

the National Vietnam Veterans Longitudinal Study. Retrieved from
https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-578R
2. Hochqesang, J., Lawyer, T. & Stevenson, T. (2014). The Psychological
Effects of the Vietnam War. Edge. Retrieved from
http://www.stanford.edu/class/e297c/war_peace/media/hpsych.html
3. Isaacs, A. R. (2000). Vietnam shadows the war, its ghosts, and its legacy.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
4. Sonnenberg, S. M., & Blank, A. S. (1985). The Trauma of war: Stress and
recovery in Viet Nam veterans. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric
Press.
5. Trimble, M.R. (1986). Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: History of a Concept.
In Trauma and its wake, edited by Figley, C. R, 5-13. New York:
Brunner/Mazel.