Involvement in war is always a horrific experience for soldiers who are involved in fighting. Getting directly involved in war and watching one’s colleagues die helplessly can significantly impact people. Many war veterans have seen many bad things during the war and most of these things usually come back to them in the form of memories and flashbacks (Shay 129). The post-war experience of veterans affects their life and healing processes even after the end of the war. Many war veterans experience a number of negative impacts that affect their reintegration into their communities and affect their post-war relations. Overall, the Vietnam War had a profound impact on millions of people in the USA and the veterans’ experience resembled that of any soldier participating in military actions and suffering from post-fighting effects like flashbacks, guilt, and negative memories.
Opposition at Home
The Vietnam War fought at the height of the Cold War was a high-stake war, especially for the United States whose main mandate was to stop the threat of the spread of communism. The war that was also seen as a proxy war between the USA and the defunct USSR and faced a lot of opposition in the USA. Many of the groups that opposed the war did so for a number of reasons. The main reason for the opposition to the war was the moral one. Some of the groups that featured prominently in the opposition during the Vietnam War included artists, the clergy, civil rights movements, women groups, labor organizations, and students’ movements.
Effects of the War
The opposition to the Vietnam War in the USA had a serious impact on both veterans who fought in the war and those who resisted the war. Soldiers who fought during the Vietnam War faced two forms of opposition. The first was the opposition at home, which mainly occurred through demonstrations and protests of people viewing their participation in the war as extremely immoral and going against humanity (Appy 196). The opposition at home culminated in distress for soldiers who knew that what they were doing in Vietnam was widely opposed back at home. In the face of violence and death, soldiers fought the war that some of them did not support based on pressures at home. Soldiers who survived the war and came back home were not well received by the society, especially those who had opposed the war, as they were seen as people who promoted immorality in Vietnam. It means that they faced rejection from communities that they came from (Shay 150). The element of rejection combined with trauma from the war weighed heavily on the veterans.
People who opposed the war, despite blaming the veterans for what had happened in Vietnam, carried the same level of guilt since the whole world was blaming Americans for the war and its horrors. The reputation of America as the champion of human rights was largely impacted by the Vietnam War and every American felt the guilt for the Vietnam War.
The Vietnam War, which was widely opposed in the USA for moral reasons, caused a lot of moral injuries to both the veterans and those who opposed the war. The veterans participated in the war as representatives of their country, but it was the same country that had so many groups opposing the war and considering the war as immoral. It morally injured some of the soldiers who felt like they betrayed the morale of their country (Appy 201). Those who opposed the war had a similar moral guilt since it was their government that had gone to war and they could do nothing to stop it apart from protesting. Experiences of the soldiers during the war also amounted to moral injuries, especially in situations when people could not help those who desperately needed their help. In Wilson Hubble’s narration, for instance, the protagonist is a person who was morally hurt by the war as he at some point tried avoiding going to Vietnam, but eventually got drafted and had to go there. He gives various scenarios that show how horrific the war was, including the death of his comrades whom he could not help.
Healing from the War
Some of the veterans could only remember how they had narrowly escaped death under heavy shooting, how they saw their comrades die helplessly, or how they killed innocent unarmed civilians, women, or children. All these memories had serious impacts on the healing process of the veterans, especially in situations when they had flashbacks or memories from some of the things they saw during the war (O’Brian 86). Most war veterans developed personality issues as they could not easily socialize with other people. Most of them got isolated as they had frequent anger outbursts that were related to the kind of trauma they had faced during the war. It made it difficult to understand them even for their own family members. Bill Matson confesses that the war broke him socially to such an extent that even his own children could not understand him.
The healing process for veterans is often complicated by memories and flashbacks from the war. Many veterans are morally injured by things that happened during the war and try to leave most of the things they felt in the past through therapy and services for the community as seen in the two cases highlighted by Dr. Sharon L. Rapp. The two patients get healed at different rates, but they both are doing positive things for members of the community as a way of getting back to live a normal life after years of trauma. For example, in the case of patient 1, he is deeply involved in religious activities as a way of getting healed from the moral guilt that he has been feeling following his participation in the war. He has asked for forgiveness from all people that he feels his participation in the war has wronged and this has helped him heal from the moral injury and guilt he felt. Similarly, patient 2 has been involved in various activities that have been meant to help him heal. Despite the trauma that often comes with memories of the war, doing good things for members of his community have somewhat helped him heal from the war trauma.
Many war veterans suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), especially when they have flashbacks or are near anything that reminds them of the war. War anniversaries or the site of helicopters and planes reminds many veterans of the war, thereby causing them a lot of pain when they remember their suffering during the war.
Chosen Readings
The three readings have been chosen for this study and all of them are important. The readings also show how difficult the war was and how the war divided the American society. The readings also show the kind of sufferings that soldiers experienced both during the war and in the post-war period. The readings paint a clear picture of the Vietnam War and controversies that surrounded it to the reader, thus making them suitable for the reader to understand the Vietnam War and its consequences
Many Americans did not support the war as they deemed the war as unnecessary and some soldiers tried to avoid the war due to resistance back at home. For the soldier who participated in the war, they knew too well that they did not have moral support and goodwill of people back at home. As they faced difficulties in the battle, they had no consolation or compassion that came with moral support back at home. All these were things that affected veterans badly and though they kept on trying to heal, it was not easy as their participation in the war was perceived as a violation of their moral standings. As Wilson Hubble stated, the veteran’s victory was that he survived the horror of the war.

This text was written by Eric Walker who is a writing editor at https://essayelites.com/