




Any history class will teach you the following: The Vietnam war (or conflict depending on how one views it) was the first war that was essentially televised; you will also learn that this was a war that met great criticism by the American public, and finally, that the veterans from this war, did not come home to parades, or praise as war heroes, no, instead, these brave men were met with the public viewing them as demons, and that they were just as bad as the government that started the war.  Everyone knows that Vietnam vets came back and struggled adjusting civilian life, but many don’t know why, or why these brave men were subject to arrest more than regular civilians, or suffered higher divorce rates, and higher alcoholism rates than the general public as a whole.  Examining the psychological aspect of this war is critical to understanding these American heroes and their difficulties. Vietnam is one of the most violent, and terrifying wars the United States has ever been engaged in.  Many of the veterans of this horrific war returned home with not only visible, physical scars, but the unseen mental ones as well.  This bloody war caused many veterans to display clear signs of post-traumatic stress disorder also known as PTSD.   But, there was also a colossal population of these veterans who did not display outward signs of PTSD, leading to an enormous population of people with this mental disorder untreated, and subject to dealing with the consequences on their own. Being right at the brink of studying mental illnesses, and doing more than simply institutionalizing or opening the heads of those displaying symptoms of mental disorders, this emerging field was asked to mature rapidly in order to adequately serve those displaying such disorders, for example PTSD.  Now, we know that Many things can cause PTSD, such as but not limited to: sexual assault, witnessing death, life threatening experiences, and more.  The sheer violence seen in the Vietnam war sent many vets home scarred forever.  Drugs also greatly influenced these men, as it became more socially at this time to engage in the recreational use of drugs.

In the article Vietnam Vets: How did they adjust? by Bower, the question of how returning Vietnam vets were adjusted back to regular life after the war.  To be blunt, they did not adjust well or adjust at all.  Approximately 35% of veterans returning from war with heavy combat experience were diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) according to Bower.  PTSD is a life changing disorder, that can be crippling, making it extremely hard if not impossible, for these veterans to try and return to what is thought of as “normal life”.  The article directs one’s attention that arrest rates, in particular, being significantly higher for returning veterans from the Vietnam war than those who returned from other wars, and regular civilians in general.  The arrest rate could be contributed to the higher rate of drug use by Vietnam veterans as well as higher rates of consumption of alcohol.

In the article Behavior by Science News they outline the drug use influx amongst veterans returning from the Vietnam war. In The Things They Carried they examine drug use, and abuse in Vietnam one quote saying:

“In Vietnam, for instance, Ted Lavender had a habit of popping four or five   tranquilizers every morning. It was his way of coping, just dealing with the realities, and the drugs helped to ease him through the days. I remember how peaceful his eyes were. Even in bad situations he had a soft, dreamy expression on his face, which was what he wanted, a kind of escape.” (Obrien)

This quote lays out that some soldiers felt a great need to use drugs in order to just to get through the days of this terrible war, whether it be the horrible conditions, the killing of others, or any torture they may have been subject to.  This drug use scared many Americans because they were afraid that the use of “dope” would turn the states to a generation of heroin, or marijuana addicts which ultimately would lead to the destruction of the United States. (Science News) But, this did not turn out to be a problem, the major problems in fact were related alcohol, divorce, and unemployment in Behavior it states that many veterans did not turn to drugs once they came home, whether it be that they no longer felt a need to get high or whether it simply was not a life style that they believed they could reasonably continue but a large percentage, did get divorced, suffered from alcoholism, and were unemployed in the years following the war.

In the primary text, they also examine the seemingly common it was for soldiers to carry large amounts of drugs to help them get through their days in Vietnam, one soldier even kept 6 to 7 ounces of what they referred to as “premium dope” on him.  They also peek in to the rituals after another soldier has been killed in battle: 

“obvious, the guy's dead, and Mitchell Sanders used his radio to report one U.S. KIA and to request a chopper. Then they wrapped Lavender in his poncho. They carried him out to a dry paddy, established security, and sat smoking the dead man's dope until the chopper came.”

Not only do they intend to save the drugs for themselves for future use, nor do they decide to turn the drugs over to the proper individuals in the chain of command, instead they smoke, or use it right away, this could be because of an underlying addiction, but from what seems easy to understand, is it is more likely due to the fact they don’t know when they are going to die. During war, a soldier doesn’t know when it could be there last moments alive so instead of planning for the future, or doing what they are supposed to do, they decide that they would rather enjoy it, and smoke a dead mans weed or use whatever drug they may have died with.  The Things They Carried not only talks about what they carried, but how it seemed to affect the lives of those in this abysmal situation. At the time and now, we as society, may look down on those who turn to drugs in order to cope, claiming it may be a sign of weakness, or an excuse but at the time this is what those in the war felt necessary to get through the war.  People looking in from the outside have never been through the terrors of war, and don not know what may be deemed necessary to avoid insanity, depression, or both. A large population of those who fought in Vietnam felt the need to use drugs as a coping method for what they were experiencing.

The prolific drug use in Vietnam is also seen as a coping method in order to deal with the horrifying reality that was the war in Vietnam.  Today this may be seen as a major problem, but this was the coping method of the time for the hundreds of thousands of returning veterans suffering from PTSD.  The vets did not continue their drug usage according to Science news, but instead seemed to struggle with their severe post-traumatic stress disorder in other ways which may have lead these men to alcohol, leading to alcoholism, divorce, and unemployment.  The combination of a war that caused much suffering, and mental distress, blindsided the American public, who ill-equipped as how to properly treat these disorders at the time, created a generation of veterans that suffered not only the scars of war, but a society that did not accept them, and thank them for what they did to protect the United States at all costs.

 



