Social Attitudes Toward Vietnam Veterans Essay - 1562 Words

Social Attitudes Toward Vietnam Veterans I have always been interested in the Vietnam War and the results of â€Å"the longest war in America.† Therefore, I have decided to examine the social attitudes toward Vietnam veterans. Since I feel so passionately about the way that Vietnam veterans are viewed, the purpose of my paper is to inform others about the way that the veterans have been criticized and misrepresented. Personally, I hope to gain a further understanding of the attitudes and views towards Vietnam veterans, especially since my father is a veteran. After reading my paper, I hope that my audience will walk away with more respect and reverence for those that fought in the Vietnam War and gave their lives for their country. My†¦show more content†¦For example, many of the soldiers did meet â€Å"on Parris Island† for training and often â€Å"passed the hash pipe and played [their] Doors tapes† while in Southeast Asia. Although this ballad may not be the most appropriate source for my pa per, it was still beneficial to examine since it brought out strong emotions in me about the Vietnam War and has made me even more interested in the subject. An interesting book I discovered in the library, which is appropriate in regards to this class, is titled American Rhetoric and the Vietnam War. The author writes that Vietnam was America’s longest and most controversial war. Thus he adds, â€Å"Public controversy gives rise to public rhetoric as surely as the sparks fly upward, and this may help to explain why the Vietnam War was the stimulus for so much rhetoric, with so much passion, by so many people, for so many years† (Gustainis xv). The author has devoted sections of the book to rhetoric in support of the war, rhetoric opposed to the war, and some portrayals of the war that were presented to the nation through the mass media. Another book that I have discovered is from a different viewpoint and is perhaps more effective. The book, Homecoming, is a history, in the veterans’ own words, of what it was like to return to the United States after the most controversial war in the nation’s history. This book embodies both ethos and pathos since it does notShow MoreRelatedComparison Between War History And The Vietnam War1514 Words   |  7 Pagessouthern Vietnam. Four years had elapsed since the start of withdrawing operation by the US battalion from Vietnam. Approximately 2.5 million Americans soldiers among them officers, counselors, nurses, physicians and other units of personnel s in the US served in the Vietnam warfare. It was time to return home though the warfare was ending; its effect was still clear in the minds of the veterans (Barry et.al, 2009). Instead of finding love on their arrival at home, the Vietnam veterans were bombedRead MoreAnalysis Of Tim O Brien s The Vietnam War Essay1123 Words   |  5 PagesTim O’Brien, a Vietnam veteran, wrote his award winning novel Going After Cacciato in response to the Vietnam War. In his novel, the protagonist soldier Paul Berlin, must maneuver through the harsh elements of Vietnam in pursuit of a simpleton gone A.W.O.L. During his journey, the young soldier faces sickness, brutality, and death. Berlin uses his rich and imaginative inner world to distract himself and attempt to make sense of the grim realities of his physical environment. Weaving fact with fantasyRead MorePaper1475 Words   |  6 Pagesshould be investigated in relieving many of these symptoms. One specifically mentioned was a treatment that helps to â€Å"bolster soldiers’ resilience to traumatic experiences during the treatment† (Fajarito, 2017). Positive attitude, active coping, healthy li festyle, enhancing social support, spirituality, self-efficacy, and cognitive reappraisal all should be included in reinforcing resilience. For improving soldier resilience, the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program had been recommended, and mayRead MoreThe Media and the Military in the Vietnam War1593 Words   |  6 PagesThe media and Military The War in Vietnam was the first real â€Å"television† war, meaning it was the first conflict where the U.S. military found itself attempting to control a media which was not fully supportive of the country’s involvement. (79) It was also the first â€Å"open† conflict where the media was deployed in force without restriction. (79) The media saw a need to cater to those who opposed the war for the first time. The conflict was taking place in a remote area, and apart from conscriptionRead MoreEssay on The Government Denial of Agent Orange Claims5840 Words   |  24 Pagesinvolvement in Vietnam has been surrounded by controversy since the 1960s. Many felt that controversy would end with the withdrawal of US troops in the 1970s. The troops came home and were not welcomed with the fanfare that surrounded veterans of previous wars. Was the controversy surrounding Vietnam a â€Å"dead† issue now that the troops were home? The answer is no. The controversy continues to this very day. The issue of whether or not the US should have gotten involved with Vietnam is still undecidedRead MorePost Traumatic Stress Disorder ( Ptsd ) Essay1453 Words   |  6 PagesAmong those who served in the Vietnam War, 84.8% of those diagnosed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder still show moderate impairment of symptoms, even 30 plus years after the war (Glover 2014). As of today, the Unites States has 2.8 million veterans who served in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, of those it is estimated that 11 to 20% currently suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. As of 2013, a total of 12,632 veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars are currently diagnosed with Post-TraumaticRead MoreLyndon B. Johnson and Vietnam War Era Essay3125 Words   |  13 PagesHow did the American culture advance from the Vietnam War Era? Cornelia Roberts-Pryce Chamberlain College of Nursing HUMN-303N-14171: Introduction to Humanities Spring 2013 * Introduction to the Community: Identify the community you will be using for this paper and provide a brief description of the community. Your community should be the area where you live or the area surrounding your work setting. * Windshield Survey: Assess your community by doing an informal windshield surveyRead MoreThe Vietnam War As A Metaphor For American Society1946 Words   |  8 PagesVietnam Veterans Many acts have been committed throughout history during times of war. There many more committed even after. However, there are few that were quite as blatant as what happened during and after to the veteran soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War. Truly what was done to them was a crime. There are many reasons that the war was often forgotten and pushed into the annals of the past. The most prominent reason why is that it was, to be honest, so unpopular that the general public protestedRead MoreFilms Dealing With The Vietnam War1762 Words   |  8 Pagesinnate ability to represent, alter and, therefore arguably subvert memory. Moreover, as Sturken states â€Å"†¦cinematic representations of the past have the capacity to entangle with personal and cultural memory.†1 In the case of films dealing with the Vietnam War, this capacity proves central to the creation of cultural memory regarding the event. The films’ diegesis, its represented reality, which is constituted of sound and images, engages in a process of interaction with established historical narrativesRead MoreAmerican Society And The Ending Of The Vietnam War1415 Words   |  6 Pagesconform to the rest of society regarding opinions on foreign policy or military action as a means to gain g reater social and political acceptance . The rise of the anti-war movement largely marked the end of the idea that patriotism was the â€Å"passport to equality† and acceptance. This is deeply explored by Jefferys-Jones in his 2001 book Peace now! American society and the ending of the Vietnam War. He looks at three groups- students, African Americans, and women- as groups that came into their own in