...Over 58,000 Americans have died in the Vietnam War. We may have won the battle, but it was only the beginning. Many survivors have been traumatized for what they have seen, done, and experienced. Ron Kovic happens to be a well-known Vietnam Veteran, who is paralyzed from chest down. He wrote a book called Born on the Fourth of July to show his point of view on what truly happens during the Vietnam War. Kovic tells us that people do not know what war really is until they experienced it. After he returns back home from the war, he thought he would be treated as a hero but people saw him completely different, as if they were disappointed in him. His concerns with today’s generation are that there will possibly be another war like Vietnam but with Afghanistan and to warn the young adults who are joining the military what they are exactly signing up for. After Kovic was release from the military, he wished that he could have heard a person who got injured from War to tell him what really happens, and that is his goal today. Ron Kovic became a protester today because, how he was treated in the hospital,...
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...Life of a Vietnam War Veteran “Sorry kids, Mr. Watson will not be able to come in this year and talk to you all about his experience of the Vietnam War. It’s too difficult for him, to express the pain he went through during the war and after”. As Mrs. Harvey explain to all of us y Mr. Watson is unable to make it this year I sat there wondering why. What made it so difficult not only for him but for all Vietnam veterans to share their experiences with other people. And I am writing this paper to find what why it is hard for these veterans to share and also what kind of conditions do they go through when coming back home. I am not completely unaware about Vietnam War veterans. I know a few things about life of a Vietnam veteran. For example, I know that they are usually suffering from some type of mental health issue. Also many of them are afraid having cancer due to Agent Orange. I am aware that they don’t like to share stories of the war to society or even close ones. Most importantly, I recognize that these men are going through many problems due to that war. Janda 2 Although I did have a general knowledge of Vietnam War Veterans, I wanted to further enhance my knowledge of the topic. The greatest way I felt to got more edcucated abouit this subject was to interview James Watson, Vietnam War Veteran. I have never really understood the motivation and necessary of their problems. I wanted to know how Vietnam War Veterans becomes so changed due to the war. The conditions...
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...Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Vietnam War Veterans COMM/156 4/14/2013 Professor Marsha Parker PTSD is an anxiety disorder classified as a mental illness caused by exposure to terrifying or life threatening events. During the time of war, people get exposed to devastating experiences such as sexual abuse, witnessing murder of family members or familiar people, and other horrors of war. As a result, the victims suffer from mental disorders since the horrible experiences are forever ingrained in their mind. Bearing in mind that bad memories are rarely erased, the experiences can be compared to a horror movie that is often played in the mind and constantly frightens the victim to death. On one hand the victim celebrates survival but on the other hand the experiences haunt one through night mares or flashbacks. The victim remains constantly on edge and is easily startled. Some common feelings include intense guilt and some time numbness- all signs of posttraumatic stress disorder (TMP, 2012). A research finding by Bruce Dohrenwend and colleagues from New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia’s Letter Carrier School of Public Health, shows that traumatic experiences during war predicted the onset of PTSD in Vietnam veterans (Mikulak, 2013). We will examine the PTSD in Vietnam War veterans. Human existence has been always exposed to traumatic incidences of various kinds. For instance, attacks by lions or even the twentieth century terrorist attacks to...
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...about war veterans we often talk about the battles they fought or the training that they went through. However, this is a very small aspect of veterans military life and experience. There are so much more interesting and fascinating topics to talk about when discussing war veterans. The war veteran I’m researching is John Aguilar. He is a native minnesotan who was a war medic or corpsman during the vietnam war. In this interview and essay, many fascinating aspects of his past military life are talked about including what he did as a medic and his own astonishing war experiences. There are many fascinating things to consider when remembering or discussing military veterans. When remembering vietnam veterans, it is important to consider the effect boot camp has on soldiers, injuries that soldiers have during war, and how veterans are treated by civilians when they come back home. When discussing military related experiences, the effect boot camp has on soldiers is hardly considered or talked about. The following quote from an article on...
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...Annotated Bibliography Topic: War Related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Sub Topics: Chronic PTSD in Vietnam Veterans PTSD in Iraq War Veterans SOURCE 1: What is PTSD? Retrieved on 13 Nov. 2011 http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/what-is-ptsd.asp UNDERSTANDING PTSD Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that can occur after you have been through a traumatic event. A traumatic event is something horrible and scary that you see or that happens to you. During this type of event, you think that your life or others' lives are in danger. You may feel afraid or feel that you have no control over what is happening. Anyone who has gone through a life-threatening event can develop PTSD. These events can include: * Combat or military exposure * Child sexual or physical abuse * Terrorist attacks * Sexual or physical assault * Serious accidents, such as a car wreck. * Natural disasters, such as a fire, tornado, hurricane, flood, or earthquake. After the event, you may feel scared, confused, or angry. If these feelings don't go away or they get worse, you may have PTSD. These symptoms may disrupt your life, making it hard to continue with your daily activities. How does PTSD develop? All people with PTSD have lived through a traumatic event that caused them to fear for their lives, see horrible things, and feel helpless. Strong emotions caused by the event create changes in the brain that may result in PTSD...
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...the first campaign that the [civilian] news media was allowed to go over and take pictures,” James Sikes, a member of 100th Frist Advance Infantry, recalled his first moments back on American soil after being medical evaluated from Vietnam. James Sikes was born in the early cool February of 1954 to a family of sharecroppers. Growing up, the Sikes Family was considering “poor white trash.” And James could never have understood why people treated him like that. Growing up, he grew to hate the world and everything...
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...A Cold War, Indeed Lisa Lloyd Kaplan University The Vietnam War, otherwise known as the Cold War, was one of the worst of so many tragic experiences for the United States, (U.S.) during the 20th century. It is odd how differently this horrific war is viewed through various eyes. The following is the account of what comes to the minds of three individuals when asked about the Cold War. Vietnam Vet, Bob Hutson stated “that was the nastiest war I’ve ever been in. It was definitely brutal, and I don’t know of anything good that came of it.” (B. Hutson, personal communication, December 14, 2012). Mr. Hutson discussed and explained in great length and detail, the traumatic incidents occurring in blood shed that he witnessed during the war. During a second interview held with a young coworker, I realized how uneducated younger generations are on the events of our past, to include Vietnam. “I don’t know a thing about the Vietnam War,” was the young man’s reply. (B. Raynor, personal communication, December15, 2012.) He is 26 years old and could not recall actually studying this particular happening in U.S. history, and added that “he was sure it was briefly mentioned.” (B. Raynor, personal communication, December 15, 2012). An expression was presented to me by Rick Harwood, fifty year old nephew of a Vietnam veteran. It was one that I had never heard, but immediately found interesting. Harwood’s Uncle John served in Vietnam, and Harwood remembered him...
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...Cultural Competency among Our Heroes Dana Smith NUR 531 June 22, 2015 Instructor: Donna Rose Cultural Competency Among Our Heroes Fear of the unknown. We as a people have the propensity to respond based on our fears due to lack of knowledge or information. We must realize that the effect of any given action (or lack thereof) does not change because we do not know. For example, if we never read the warning on a package of cigarettes and never had anyone to tell us that smoking cigarettes will lead to cancer, it does not stop cancer from taking root. Let’s say that we don’t watch the news and we are not internet surfers to know what’s going on around us and a comet is headed towards the earth. The earth is about to be destroyed. Our not knowing is not going to turn the comet in another direction nor stop it from coming and destroying planet earth. We will simply die, not knowing what or how it happened. So not knowing or being aware can cost a person to lose on a small scale and on a large scale (with the larger being your very life). Not knowing can be a roadblock to learning and intelligence. Being smart, competent and on top of your game leads to success in any given area. Incompetence or ignorance can lead to failure, death, poverty, and all kinds of damage spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, and socially (in relationships). Some people think of incompetence as stupidity, or simply not caring about a particular thing. Many use...
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...Nicole Perrone Marian Gagnon 9 February 2015 English Composition A great deal of service members have been to war in the past decade. Over half of these soldiers have been deployed more than once. Deployment does not only effect the soldier, but also his family, friends, and doctors. War affects everybody and it changes some people’s outlooks on life in general. There are many different situations that soldiers and their families must face upon returning from war. Psychological and physical difficulties due to the intensity and horrors of warfare have been recorded in history since the Trojan war and in all American wars. Even though the physical damage may heal, the mental stresses do not lessen over time. Psychological disorders from deployment ranges from insomnia to poor dieting. Mental illness has become so common in returning soldiers that there is officially a name for it which is, “post Deployment Syndrome,” and affects many different people who are around the returning soldier. Like war, PDS symptoms affect everyone around them. There is no specific way to test and see if someone has a mental disorder, so they are tested through direct interviews. Almost half of a million U.S. troops have been affected by PDS and can have any of the following symptoms: polytrauma, combat stress, blast injury, hypersensitivity, PTSD, post concussive syndrome. No matter how mentally strong each soldier is, PDS is very hard to avoid. Soldiers have to deal with the aftermath of killing...
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...the numbers are as follows: • Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF): About 11-20 out of every 100 Veterans (or between 11-20%) who served in OIF or OEF have PTSD in a given year. Gulf War (Desert Storm): About 12 out of every 100 Gulf War Veterans (or 12%) have PTSD in a given year. • Vietnam War: About 15 out of every 100 Vietnam Veterans (or 15%) were currently diagnosed with PTSD at the time of the most recent study in the late 1980s, the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS). It is estimated that about 30 out of every 100 (or 30%) of Vietnam Veterans have had PTSD in their lifetime. (How Common is PTSD? (n.d.) Many have tried to come up with an effective treatment to help our service members suffering through PTSD. Although there are many types of treatment therapy and medication, this article will focus on using forms of meditation like Transcendental Meditation (TM) or yoga to help veterans suffering through PTSD. Veterans with PTSD There are many forms of treatment, the most common being a combination of therapy and medication. However as in all treatments in psychology, not all people respond well and others don’t find it effective. This causes many veterans to stop seeking treatment altogether. Some don’t even choose to report that they suffer from PTSD. PTSD which affects about one in five veterans, is typically triggered by the experience of a terrifying or life-threatening event. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares...
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...document subtitle] DeVry University 1/7/2015 Vietnam and the 20th Century Experience 7 January 2015 Understanding History When reading through history it is important to understand the past before you can understand the present. There isn’t a way to know how we got to where we are, without knowing where we’ve been. So when dealing with participants in history it is vital that we thoroughly understand where a specific person came from and what they have done. If we were to study individuals without knowing prior context for example the French in Vietnam; if you begin reading in the middle of our textbook in chapter two you would believe the French were going to be in Vietnam for the long haul and were not going to accept defeat. But in all reality, by the end of chapter two the French had all but surrendered and were overpowered and America was forced to come into Vietnam. From there into Chapter three, its hard to find French presence in Vietnam. So without knowing prior context from chapter three on you would have almost little to no clue that the French had tried to take back Vietnam under a nationalist puppet government. This is why it is so very important to know the context of prior history. I do not believe many people in my age group even know the French were involved in Vietnam; I for one had no information about Vietnam other than it was an unpopular war America was in that left many veterans out in the cold because there was no support. After reading...
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...started and how it has evolved over the years to become the entity it is today, serving our nations veterans. I will also discuss how the Veteran’s Administration has been plagued with many scandals throughout its existence, from when it was known as the Veterans Bureau during the early 1920’s and also the many issues that the Veterans Administration has dealt with over the years to include those that were involved and their official capacity in wrong doings. This paper will look at how the Veterans administration has tried to make changes to support the increased number of Veterans after many of our past wars and some of the difficulties veterans from the Vietnam War have faced to receive care and benefits that were exposed to Agent Orange. I will also looked at the many problems veterans have faced over the years to include most recent allegation that the VA has gone through since the earlier part of this year and the changes that has taken place to correct the problem. According to an article written by CNN, during the end of the Revolutionary War Congress was supposed to pay those veterans that were disabled during the war, but the service members individual states were left up to the task, leaving only a few thousand to receive any type of payment pay. Congress establishes the Veterans Bureau which was to help administer assistance to veterans of World War I. In 1921 President Harding appointed Colonel Charles R. Forbes as the head of a newly established...
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...Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Necessary Improvements the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and United States Department of Defense Must Make Abstract Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental anxiety disorder, affects 13% to 20% of armed force members returning from Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) (Hoge, et. al, 2004), in addition to a large population of Vietnam Veterans. Within the past 32 years, awareness of this disorder has escalated and the realism of the severity of this disorder has been noticed. Efforts to screen and treat PTSD in military veterans have been established by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Screening is conducted once military personnel return from deployment and treatments including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, Exposure Therapy, and medications are used to relieve the symptoms of PTSD. These screening and treatment methods are evaluated and s suggestion for improvement is made. Necessary Improvements the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and the United States Department of Defense Must Make With Regards to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder In current political debate, the United States is arguing where budget cuts should be made and how the U.S. should go about spending money. The U.S. military is consistently brought up in these considerations. In such considerations, topics such as downsizing the military and the...
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...7. How was social media (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, other) used to enhance the storytelling or promote the story? The use of social media is an integral component that adds depth to the article by providing the audience with an immersive experience through the use of Spotify, a popular online streaming service that allows people to create and share playlists. In the article, “Echoes from the Jungle” by Mike Hixenbaugh and Joanne Kimberlin, Spotify is used as a digital “jukebox” that provides the reader with music from the early 60s to the early 70s. What’s more, the piece cleverly uses music to demonstrate the social and political turbulence caused by the Vietnam war. In addition, the section “Memories of Vietnam” features 58 video interviews...
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