In what ways do you feel a soldier's experience of war is different today than it was during the Vietnam era?
Created: 03/04/20
Replies: 10
Join Date: 10/15/10
Posts: 3442
Join Date: 08/19/11
Posts: 214
The main difference is their return and the public's reaction. When my brother returned from Viet Nam, he was told to remove his uniform to avoid anger from the folks at home. He didn't ask to be involved in the war. Now the men are volunteers and people thank them and applaud them. Such a stark difference. Shame on the past...just another black mark in the history of this country.
Join Date: 10/13/14
Posts: 176
Today there is no draft. A soldier goes to war because he volunteered to serve his country, and not because he was forced to give up his life, even though temporarily, to serve. The moral of the troops is higher today, thus making the soldier's experience very different from the Vietnam experience.
Join Date: 06/25/13
Posts: 347
I do not believe we will ever treat our coming home servicemen the way we did the ones in this war. I think today they use more missiles and navy help. There is no draft, so the servicemen have elected to be there. Being part of a war, however, cannot be fun and these young men are going though a lot more that they ever expected.
Join Date: 08/05/19
Posts: 17
I think one of the big differences is the amount of contact a soldier has today with the world outside of the conflict zone. In the past, soldiers had to wait months for letters or any kind of communication from their loved ones. They carried around a few photos and had no idea how anyone was doing back home. Now, even in very active war zones, soldiers have access to satellite phone/internet. My brother served in Afghanistan and he was able to call his wife and kids almost daily. I think that would have to have some (most likely positive) impact on how a soldier experiences war today.
Join Date: 05/17/12
Posts: 94
Agree with the above comments. Well said. The Viet Nam War however, was an unpopular war and the men and women who were part of it were therefore unpopular! They didn't chose to go, they were drafted, told to go. They returned, unpopular, looked at with disdain and anger. What we did and didn't do for our veterans is unconscionable.
I do not think this will happen again. The soldiers returning are supported even if the war is unpopular.
The effects of war physically and emotionally will probably remain the same. "War is hell!"
Join Date: 01/06/20
Posts: 27
I agree with a couple of the other members above that the public reaction was so much more different for returning Vietnam soldiers. Today's soldiers are often publicly approached in airports or in the DMV line with greetings of "thank you for your service!" That was unheard of in 1960s and 1970s America! A Vietnam vet would be happy not to be spit upon or called a "baby killer." It's a shameful commentary on the state of American society at that time. I've always felt such pain for Vietnam vets. We should've done better as a nation, and the nation let them down.
Join Date: 04/21/11
Posts: 281
Today’s conflicts are in the Middle East where the climate is hot and arid. In contrast, jungle warfare in Vietnam climate was in a humid tropical environment. That climate contrast requires different strategic programs to fight the enemy.
Another difference is that logistics and military materials and equipment are more sophisticated now than in the 60s and 70s.
Join Date: 03/13/12
Posts: 548
We do not have a draft today, but many of the soldiers still did not have much of a choice. Limited options and mostly limited income led many to "volunteer." The difference might be that the soldiers today may be even less likely than the soldiers in the Vietnam Era to believe that they are stopping communism or whatever the label is for the latest enemy.
Join Date: 08/12/16
Posts: 246
Just so many people didnt agree with the whole Vietnam War and therefore the soldiers coiuldn't really see a comrade die and think that it was for a valiant cause...so many questions of why? Senseless loss of life, very hard for most people to comprehend and accept.
Join Date: 08/15/11
Posts: 4
Currently, I don't believe we see the atrocities of war. I was in the ninth grade at the time and remember one of my friends showing me photos from her brother that depicted the brutality and carnage of the war. Photos of combat were on the nightly news, along with photos in all the newspaper.
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