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Effects of vietnam war on america
Effects of vietnam war on america
Effects of vietnam war on america
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In the novel, Passing Time, Ehrhart experiences change. For instance, Ehrhart begins to realize that the war was a huge mistake on the government’s behalf. Ehrhart believed that the government shouldn’t have taken part in the Vietnamese war due to the innocent deaths that developed over the years. Many of the soldiers, including Ehrhart, were traumatized by the killings during the war. Ehrhart often questions the events that take place during the war. For example, when Ehrhart witnessed innocent civilians being killed from both Korea and America. In war, Ehrhart, was taking part in some of the killings because of a “kill first and ask questions later” mentality. Reflecting on that mentality is what lead Ehrhart towards the notion that the war was pointless, which made Ehrhart join the anti-war movement. People were dying for no reason and the antiwar movement caused people in America to die as well. During the 1960s-1970s people such as Ehrhart had many rebellious views about the war. The anti-war movement was a war within its self because America was divided in half by civilians who were for and against the war, which caused a lot of violent events to emerge. The American-Vietnamese war proved to be a time of great conflict and disruption for the American people due to the violence of the war and the anti-war movement. Ehrhart’s involvement in the anti-war movement played a major role in other Americans lives because, as a spokesperson for the anti-war movement, Ehrhart mentioned how everyone didn’t agree with the antiwar protest. The anti-war protest became violent because older veterans from the war or rednecks would refer to Ehrhart as a coward, fraud, or sell out because Ehrhart was a veteran who no longer viewe... ... middle of paper ... ... problems… perhaps even suicidal feelings (Goodwin 1).” Soldiers were traumatized by the war and the trauma caused many soldiers such as Ehrhart to stress for change. In regards to the role of the antiwar movement was depicted in ways to exemplify how it effected the people in Vietnam and America. In both countries citizens suffered because of the war. The war had traumatic effects on both countries. The bombing of North Vietnam was devastating for the vietnamese. Americans were also effected because citizens were dying in Vietnam and citizens were dying in America due to some of the anti-war protests. Ehrhart described the horrific scenery that he witnessed during the war and during the anti-war protest in Washington D.C. The effects of the war caused people in both Vietnam and America to rebel and do things that resulted in unnecessary civilian casualties.
The Vietnam War was a controversial conflict that plagued the United States for many years. The loss of life caused by the war was devastating. For those who came back alive, their lives were profoundly changed. The impact the war had on servicemen would affect them for the rest of their lives; each soldier may have only played one small part in the war, but the war played a huge part in their lives. They went in feeling one way, and came home feeling completely different. In the book Vietnam Perkasie, W.D. Ehrhart describes his change from a proud young American Marine to a man filled with immense confusion, anger, and guilt over the atrocities he witnessed and participated in during the war.
As the war progresses, Caputo requests to go to a line company in the middle of November. This is a change from the “office” position he currently held where he was largely responsible for counting casualties. At this point, the romanticized visions Caputo had of war have been completely shattered and he goes into this transfer being fully aware of this. This change in viewpoint becomes even more clear when compared to the beginning of the novel where Caputo was intrigued by the romance and action of war. While readers would expect more action and typical war stories in this section of the book, Philip Caputo writes anything but. Caputo writes, “It went like that for the rest of the month. It was a time of little action and endless misery…Almost every hour of every night, the radio operators chanted, ‘All secure. Situation remains the same’ (1996: 240). Caputo repeats the phrase “All secure. Situation remains the same” five times throughout this single paragraph. Because of this, readers see the dull and mundane side of war that is often not talked about. In addition, Caputo continues to comment of the large amounts of waiting throughout the autobiography. When most think of the Vietnam War, they picture the “main events”. Similar to the numerous documentaries we watched in class, some of the main points of the war include: The first Indochina War, The Gulf of Tonkin, and the Tet Offensive. These documentaries all focused on these monumental events and because of this, the public perceives this war as the sum of these events. However, what many fail to consider the large gaps in time between these events. It is in these large gaps that little action occurred and most of the soldier’s time was spent waiting as Caputo depicted in this scene. In connection with
The 1960’s was a time society fantasized of a better world. However, the horrors of the Vietnam War soon became evident; the mass amounts of death occurring because of the war became a reality. It created a “movement”, especially in American colleges, in order to stand up for what they believed to be “right”. By 1970, many Americans believed sending troops to Vietnam was a mistake, however there were also various individuals becoming increasingly critical of the student antiwar movement
James A. Baldwin once said, “The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose” (BrainyQuote.com). In the 1960s, “the man” was youth across the country. The Vietnam war was in full force, and students across the country were in an outrage. Society needed an excuse to rebel against the boring and safe way of life they were used to; Vietnam gave them the excuse they needed. Teenagers from different universities came together and formed various organizations that protested the Vietnam war for many reasons. These reasons included protesting weapons and different tactics used in the war, and the reason the U.S. entered the war in the first place. These get-togethers had such a monumental impact on their way of life that it was famously named the Anti-War Movement. When the Vietnam War ended, The United States did not have a real concrete reason why; there were a bunch of theories about why the war ended. Through negative media attention and rebellious youth culture, the Anti-War Movement made a monumental impact in the ending of the Vietnam War.
War has been a constant part of human history. It has greatly affected the lives of people around the world. These effects, however, are extremely detrimental. Soldiers must shoulder extreme stress on the battlefield. Those that cannot mentally overcome these challenges may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sadly, some resort to suicide to escape their insecurities. Soldiers, however, are not the only ones affected by wars; family members also experience mental hardships when their loved ones are sent to war. Timothy Findley accurately portrays the detrimental effects wars have on individuals in his masterpiece The Wars.
Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried, portrays stories of the Vietnam War. Though not one hundred percent accurate, the stories portray important historical events. The Things They Carried recovers Vietnam War history and portrays situations the American soldiers faced. The United States government represents a political power effect during the Vietnam War. The U. S. enters the war to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam. The U.S. government felt if communism spreads to South Vietnam, then it will spread elsewhere. Many Americans disapproved of their country’s involvement. Men traveled across the border to avoid the draft. The powerful United States government made the decision to enter the war, despite many Americans’ opposition. O’Brien’s The Things They Carried applies New Historicism elements, including Vietnam history recovery and the political power of the United States that affected history.
He supports his claim by giving statistical facts of how many veterans exposed to Agent Orange during their time at war requested examinations and counseling by Veteran Affairs. Scott then states that men of all wars, not just the Vietnam War, struggled to gain support in treatment for war related injuries. He thoroughly supports Spake’s claim of psychological distress within his article by stating that when at war claims of distress were low, but once home, mental and physical anguish intensified. Scott’s purpose is to explain, inform, and describe the mental trials of Agent Orange exposed war veterans in order to make readers aware of the hardships the men faced. Scott creates an informative tone for readers of higher education and an interest in psychological disorders and war
Due to the volatile conditions of the Vietnam War, the protestors believed that they should not be involved in a war that they cared so little about. Public opinion heavily swayed during the war as only one senator dissented from the overwhelming opinion to fight the war (Amter 45). However, as President Johnson escalated the war and the Draft increased by 25% in 1968, those youths being conscripted were infuriated (Dougan 118). Not only this, the North Vietnamese began a ruthless offensive on American soldiers by merciless attacking our bases. This resulted in US victories, but also US casualties (Dougan 116). Also, the marines stationed at the bases began to use offensive attacks to deter Viet Cong assault against the wishes of General Taylor (Karnov 443). With these new less defensive strategy, Nixon announced plans to start operations in Cambodia, and to increase the bombings overall in Southeast Asia (Dougan 180). Some missions even began t...
It has been known that the Vietnam War affected many American soldiers who were involved in the war physically and psychologically. The Vietnam War was one of the most memorable wars in history. Many Americans’ lives lost for no objective at all. Chapter 10 informed us about how the Vietnam War started and what really happened during that time. It also gave us background information about Vietnam Veterans and nurses who were involved in the war and what they went through during the war. I had the opportunity to interview a Vietnam Veteran also.
Engaging in the war in Vietnam brought a whole different set of "American Views" to the topic of war. This time the country did not support the war like we've seen in the past. Mostly by young people, the war effort was criticized and Americans staged massive protests. The Vietnam War's controversy spurred a great many sources of protest, against our government's use of power, how far we could stretch the rights of free expression, and primarily against the violence of the war itself.
The impact of the Vietnam War upon the soldiers who fought there was huge. The experience forever changed how they would think and act for the rest of their lives. One of the main reasons for this was there was little to no understanding by the soldiers as to why they were fighting this war. They felt they were killing innocent people, farmers, poor hard working people, women, and children were among their victims. Many of the returning soldiers could not fall back in to their old life styles. First they felt guilt for surviving many of their brothers in arms. Second they were haunted by the atrocities of war. Some soldiers could not go back to the mental state of peacetime. Then there were soldiers Tim O’Brien meant while in the war that he wrote the book “The Things They Carried,” that showed how important the role of story telling was to soldiers. The role of stories was important because it gave them an outlet and that outlet was needed both inside and outside the war in order to keep their metal state in check.
There was nothing that affected America in 20th century like the vietnam war,It tore the nation apart .It was a costly war which took three million lives . The main reason it has so much impact on america was that some people were for the war but so many were against it .The younger nation ,especially the young men who were drafted ,did not...
The Vietnam War was a very confrontational issue amongst numerous Americans during the 1960’s and 70’s. Many young Americans did not agree with fighting in the Vietnam War. In the essay “On the Rainy River,” by Tim O’Brien explains the struggle of a 21 year old American man who has been drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. The essay proposes the narrators predicament of not wanting to go to war and displays his reasons why. The narrator states that “American war in Vietnam seemed to [him as being] wrong [and he] saw no unity of purpose” (40). One main reason that the narrator and many Americans did not see any importance of the Vietnam War is because know one had a clear understanding of the reasons why the United States of America was fighting it. O’Brien creates a strong argument of why the 21 year old man does not want to go to war because of its strongly supported use of values and emotions, credibility, and logical reasoning.
In order to fight, they had to learn how to speak the Vietnamese language and they learned how to use the weapons that they were using (Friedel).The United States had to work hard in order to fight in Vietnam. The United States was in favor of South Vietnam (fallstrom).They wanted to help them beat the North (Friedel). The United States believed that Vietnam shouldn’t be a communist country. President Johnson was tired of the war and believed bombing North Vietnam would help end the war (locker). But indeed it didn’t end it. The war didn’t end up ending until two years after the United States left the war (fallstrom). At the end of the war there was about 58000 Americans that had died (fallstrom). Many soldiers came back with “physiological trauma” and had to go to therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Vietnam syndrome (freidman). The causes of the war led to very emotional times for not only the families and loved ones but by the soldiers who had to face the horrific war. All-in-all despite the horrible outcomes for the soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Vietnam syndrome, the United States helped South Vietnam and North Vietnam become unified into one
War is no child 's play, but unfortunately, we have had times in our past when the youth of our great nation had to defend it. Combat is not an easy for anyone; watching death, the constant ring of gunfire, the homesickness, fearing for your life, and witnessing bloodshed daily, this will begin to take its toll. The minds threshold for brutality can only handle so much and eventually will become sickened by these events. This sickness is called Post-traumatic stress disorder. As shown through the characters of The Things They Carried, soldiers of war may begin to show PTSD symptoms before the war is over, and may continue to fight the disorder after the war has ended.