Vietnam War Suicide

Vietnam was very gruesome and took half a million lives. These lives consisted of men that were drafted into the war by the Selective Services. These lives were mainly of a minority, or of lower social class. Protesters were against the draft because of the unfair rules.

“I thought the Vietnam war was an utter, unmitigated disaster, so it was very hard for me to say anything good about it” - George McGovern. There are numerous controversial topics dispersed among the subject of American history due to the amount of unethical decisions that have been made in order to improve the lives of the people or keep America out of the clutches of war. Throughout American history, historians have debated the ethical impact that the Vietnam war had on the United States. Although some people may believe that the Vietnam War achieved the goal of avoiding communism and protecting the people, the overarching idea is that it was an unjust war because of the countless lives that were lost from the participating countries, the

We all have our highs and lows. For the men who served in Vietnam the lows outweighed the highs. Looking through the psych lens at the chapter “Speaking of Courage” shows the fact that the Vietnam War devastated many soldiers mentally. The soldiers that made it home from the war were mentally scarred for life. Norman Bowker kept his feelings bottled up inside and never shared them with anyone.

Ted Engelmann describes in his article “Who Are Our Fathers?” his own post-war experience, “I can honestly say that I was in an angry fog as a result of the war. I could function, but I had little direction or purpose. For several years I was very angry and could not talk to anyone about my feelings” (165). After experiencing combat there is a lot of trauma and ill effects to cope with.

One of the common mental health problems returned veterans faced is depression. Deployed and returned veterans had a higher suicide risk compared to general population. Veterans with depression often experience symptoms such as deep feeling of sadness, hopeless, inability to focus, and loss of interest. These kind of symptoms are prevalent among veterans however, soldiers with PTSD and depression can lead to suicidal. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US, resulting in 38,000 fatalities (in 2010), making it a significant public health priority. The recent study from VA 's Suicide Data Report, 2012 found “U.S. veteran suicide rates to be higher figure, 22 suicides per day, or 8,000 per year.” The VA study also recorded 11,000 non-fatal

News of atrocities such as the killings at My Lai, lost the US its claim to having high moral standards, and its status as the world 's defender of freedom and righteousness. Nearly 700,000 Vietnam veterans suffered psychological after-effects. Many of these veterans also were not really ever even properly thanked for their service. The leaders the Vietnam War played a major role in the events that took place.

Soldiers were asked to do horrific things that were against their nature and slowly it broke them. The Vietnam War is infamous for the slow moving terrain and the PTSD it caused

Being in war for a long time can make you numb to the people dying around you. People that just got there will most likely be paranoid or have anxiety. Those symptoms show posttraumatic stress disorder. The flashbacks, guilty feelings and nightmares are what happens a lot of times while there in war. Flashing back to the same place over and over would be the worst nights ever.

During the Vietnam War the soldiers, whether or not they wanted to be there, many of them developed mental illnesses. The things they would experience would cause burdens on them for the rest of their lives. “Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried tranquilizers until he was shot in the head outside the village of Than Khe in mid-April.” (The Things They Carried) Lavender carried tranquilizers until he died, because he was scared.

A study in 1993 found that more than 830,000 Vietnam veterans suffered from symptoms related to PTSD to one degree or another upon returning home,” (Moran). Soldiers who return home from war typically suffer from related symptoms. Most soldiers who are affected are not acted on quick enough. “From 2005 to 2011, military spending on

Expanding my Knowledge: Veterans and Suicidality In 2011, veterans between 18 and 24 years of age who were enrolled in a VA health program killed themselves at a pace of 80 per 100,000. In shocking contrast, their non-veteran counterparts completed suicide at a rate of 20 per 100,000 in prior years (Morrison, 2014). These numbers beg to question the cause of increasing rates of suicide for veterans and how mental health workers can assist veterans in reducing lost lives. Coll, Weiss, and Yarvis (2011) wrote that while many veterans return home with little to no adjustment problems, about 15 to over 30% of veterans will return with mental and physical health disorders (e.g. TBI, physical disability, etc; Covell, 2011).

Eventually, the French were defeated and the United States continued to get involved with Vietnam. Thousands of troops were sent to Vietnam and millions of Vietnamese were killed as well as the poisoning of entire regions. The war had essentially destroyed both North and South Vietnam. The Vietnam War is very infamous and it has had many consequences on the U.S society and Asian Americans for years to come.

The Vietnam War was the first war in American history during which medical researchers detected traces of post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans. Today, there are countless American soldiers who suffer from trauma associated with their experiences in war. One approach that the human mind takes to counter painful memories is to repress their experiences. Soldiers will subdue real life occurrences that trigger these memories, which is the purpose for all the shifts and gaps in Going After Cacciato.

When soldiers go back home, if they make it home, they’re still haunted by regret, guilt, and depression. People experience it in their own ways and cope with it differently. War changes people. It’ll takes away someone's humanity and replaces it with holes, instability, and mental defects. Whether you’ve lost a significant other, lost your will to live, or lost your future, civilians and soldiers both indulge in losses when involved in

These Americans saw their friends, families, and neighbors return with injuries or in caskets and it would fuel their anger and distain for the war. This is why one individual might have been strongly opposed to the Vietnam War while another person from the same family or circle of friends may have supported the