
After the Allied powers prevailed as victors in the Second World War and Hitler, the Nazi Regime, and the Axis powers were defeated,  a threatening opponent remained at large.  Post-World War II, the threat of Communism took reign as the American public’s enemy number one. The absolute repudiation of Communism among the American people and their fear of the threat it posed to their Capitalistic way of life, allowed for a social acceptance towards the War against Vietnam, the idea of making a strong and undeniable stance in the fight against Communism was one the American people were all board for. However, while these type of feelings give reason to the American people’s acceptance of the war, it did not resonate to their total support for the war. After America entered into war, an intensifying need for more man power emerged. In order to form an army large enough to take into war, the American government needed to hold a draft. (Bergen 380) In the draft, young men from coast to coast were selected at random, and if picked, these young men were required by law to play a role in the military’s combat efforts whether they wanted to or not. (Bergen 381) Once selected these young men were stripped from society and placed into trenches at Vietnam where human nature then took over and a sense of self-pride amongst the soldiers came into play that buried their collective longingness to return to the lives they knew before they were dropped onto the battlefield. During the Vietnam War, the motivation of the American soldiers to participate in the campaign directly laid in America’s post WW2 heightened Nationalistic ideals and the overall power of the fear of shame. 

The American Soldiers of the Vietnam war was a group made up mostly of draftees.  These war draftees did not volunteer to fight for their country, they were required to. (Bergen 381)  America’s support for war in Vietnam stemmed from the countries heightened Nationalistic ideals and the proposition of  terminating a political movement that could eventually threaten American principles.  While on the surface this stance does looks credible, a large chunk of the population felt that the war was a preventable and completely unnecessary course of action.  No population group felt this way more than the young men eligible for draft.  Political parties  typically develop contrasting stances on political issues, which grants that countries people an outlet to voice their own personal respective opinions. (Bergen 380)  During the Vietnam War era, American political parties failed to make any type of divisive stance on the War, which led to a lack of support over the issue.  Without a political party to endorse personal opinions on the specific issue of the Vietnam War, self-interest among the American people, soldiers and citizens alike, amplified. (Bergen 380)  Eligible American draft candidates valued the well-being their own selves, over fighting on behalf of their country in an unnecessary war, in fact draft candidates likely to be selected were 18% more in support for immediate withdrawal then those who weren’t. (Bergen 383)

The opinions of the American draftees did not change after their enlistment into the military, but they did change their attitude.  Any ill will a particular soldier had towards being enlisted into the war was immediately buried under a sense of self-pride upon arrival in Vietnam.  In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”, O’Brien- a former soldier himself, dives into the trenches and perfectly captures what was the mental state of most soldiers stationed in Vietnam at the time.  O’Brien closely follows the story of First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and Cross’ relationship with a pen pal back home in America whom he perceived to be an awaiting lover.  Throughout the novel, O’Brien analyzes the Lieutenant’s constant struggle between his feelings for his pen pal, Martha,  and his duties in war.  Cross’ deep and persistent feelings for Martha grew so overwhelmingly strong that it began to directly affect his duty as an officer.  (O’Brien 332) Cross’ feelings for Martha were over exaggerated, Cross even acknowledges this himself as the letters he received never suggested to be anything more than conversational. (O’Brien 328) Cross didn’t actually love Martha, but she represented a life back home in America, the constant self-struggle Cross faced wasn’t for the love and longing for Martha, it was for the love and longing for a society from which he was required by law to be removed from. (O’Brien 336) This longing for society, along with the proposition of a quick and certain death looming around the corner, were present in the soldiers minds and resulted in an internal lust to abandon war and return to the country that they knew and loved. (O’Brien 338)  In truth, any single one of the soldiers could have shot himself in the foot and got airlifted back to their lives in America in a matter of hours, but a sense of self-pride and the fear of being shamed kept soldiers stationed in the trenches of Vietnam. (O’Brien 339) 

In the years following the Vietnam War, which was quickly being recognized by the general public as a total disaster, the American government took blame for the responsibility of the war’s failure and Robert McNamara, the United States Secretary of Defence, admitted that the decision to enter into war with Vietnam was “wrong”. (Oliver 757)  A further look into the events leading up the United States final decision to enter into war amplifies just how wrong they were.  The aftermath of the Allied powers WW2 victory left one major enemy of the war at large, Communism.  When the United States shifted their focus on the extortion of Communism and with the influx of Nationalism stemming from two separate World War victories the American military felt they were invincible.  While intervening into and then shutting down a Communist revolution on a global stage would strike fear into the remaining Communist nations, it was clear before war that Vietnam was not the right platform.  While Vietnam was a proponent of Communism, America’s real Communist enemy was the Soviet Union. (Oliver 769) The Soviets were entering a new era fresh off of the rule of Stalin and following WW2 the Soviet Union had every intention of maintaining peace with non-communist nations. (Oliver 769)  In 1957, the Soviet Union even proposed that North and South Vietnam should enter the United Nations as separate countries. (Oliver 769)  Even though the United States was under no actual immediate threat, they decided to enter war anyway which forced the Soviets to mobilize and thus the Vietnam War began. (Oliver 771)  

When analyzing the thoughts and feelings of soldiers it is important to recall the thoughts and feelings of the nation at the time and the events leading up to the war.  It was clear that although the American people were big supporters for the end of Communism, they were not big supporters of the Vietnam war. (Bergen 380) While the US Secretary of Defence, did finally publically admit, at the Wars conclusion, that the decision to enter Vietnam was “wrong”, many Americans felt this way much before then.  The lack of support for the war was masked by an overwhelming flood of Nationalism. (Oliver )  Soldiers of the Vietnam War felt the weight of this heightened sense of Nationalism while buried in the trenches.  The soldiers were uninspired, longing for home, and downright miserable, but while they may have not cared for the War they were fighting they cared for the Country that they were fighting for.  Soldiers wanted to leave, they were regressing both physically and mentally, and unexpected death of close friends had become a frequent and accepted part of life, but the fear of shame kept the soldiers marching along until the very end. While the American people did not care much for Vietnam, they did care for America, and if a soldier were to abandon battle Americans would accept it as abandoning America, even if there was no actual support for the war itself.  The heightened sense of Nationalistic principles masked the wrongness that lied in the Vietnam war itself and the struggles that the soldiers were facing.  America’s heightened post-WW2 Nationalistic ideals and the soldiers’ fear of being shamed for abandoning the country greatly influenced the American troops’ willingness to participate in the Vietnam War. 
