The Soldiers That Fought During Vietnam War
- Alfred Ern Escorpiso
The policy of the draft was to have men require them to volunteer to fight for the war when it is needed and they’re lacking of soldiers. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Selective Service System (SSS) in 1940 to administer the draft. All men are eligible for the draft. On their 18th birthday, all men must register to the draft within the 30-day timespan, starting their birthdate. Even if you are undocumented or a citizen of the country, all men, at the age of 18, is eligible for the draft and will stay in the draft system until they’re 25 years old. Out of the U.S. soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War, 25% were drafted and 66% of those soldiers who were drafted where Black Americans. Out of all the soldiers that fought in the war, 89% were Caucasians, 11% were Blacks and 1% was the other ethnicities. Out of 58,209 soldiers that died in the war, 86% of the men were Caucasians. 76% of the men who was sent to the Vietnam War came in between a lower and middle class background. From the soldiers that was sent to war, 79% of them had earned a high school education or higher. Studies shows that based from the 2000 census, 4 out of 5 men that claimed to have served in the Vietnam War didn’t serve at all.
People have tried legal ways in order to become exempted from the draft.
Anyone who had money, mainly the wealthy people, went to school to get their Bachelor’s Degree, but stayed in school to get their Master’s Degree or PhD and went to Medical School or Law school to avoid being drafted in the war. Some people have done drugs before taking their physical to show that they may have mental health issues and shouldn’t be drafted in the war. Others got married at an early age with the “love of their life” in regards to not leave for the war, but this excuse was only good until 1965. Other people decided to either sign up to become a National Guard or get themselves enlisted due to the policy of not allowed to serve twice. Because a lot of people didn’t have the money or couldn’t think of another idea, they decided to move away from the U.S. and migrate to Canada. The only setback of this is that you are not able to come back home anymore or you will be arrested for a long period of time. Another way the men avoided being drafted was resisting to serve or burning away/tearing up the draft paper that they received from their mail. Some decides to pay the local draft board or bribed them so that they are not going to be serving in the war. Others manipulated or falsified their medical records to “prove” that they have a contagious disease or they’re too ill to serve.
Every story that we hear, we mainly hear about the nightmares and the terror from the men that was given to them through the war. Women has the same experiences as well, where they have to see bloody faces and dismembered bodies of the soldiers and children. There were around 5,000 and 7,500 women served in the Vietnam War and 80% of them were nurses. 2,000 women were based from surrounding countries like Guam, Philippines, Japan, Korea and Thailand served in the war and 250,000 were based from the U.S. When researchers surveyed 4,129 women, they were all tested positive with PTSD symptoms due to the wartime experiences and mass casualty experiences and assistance of a patient dying. Every person that was either drafted or decided joined as serve to the war, the drafters had 5 days maximum to protect themselves from the war. They never understood what the purpose of the Vietnam War and why they are getting involved. When these men stepped into the war zone, their only goal was to survive and can’t do anything when one of their buds die, but to put it into a blanket and haul them. They were “forced” to watch the horrendous deaths that their comrades faced and the witnesses has no choice, but to stand there and watch them get taken away from them violently. After they were sent home from serving in the Vietnam War, most of the soldiers felt confused of what just happened. They try to process every single event that has occurred to them because they don’t have a clue of what just happened to them. They started to wonder who they really were and what was their purpose to live now because of these traumatic events that they witnessed. It became hard for them to interact with other human being after they came back home to the point that they are more comfortable to talk to men more than women due to the war because they were only able to see men when they were serving.
People have tried legal ways in order to become exempted from the draft.
Anyone who had money, mainly the wealthy people, went to school to get their Bachelor’s Degree, but stayed in school to get their Master’s Degree or PhD and went to Medical School or Law school to avoid being drafted in the war. Some people have done drugs before taking their physical to show that they may have mental health issues and shouldn’t be drafted in the war. Others got married at an early age with the “love of their life” in regards to not leave for the war, but this excuse was only good until 1965. Other people decided to either sign up to become a National Guard or get themselves enlisted due to the policy of not allowed to serve twice. Because a lot of people didn’t have the money or couldn’t think of another idea, they decided to move away from the U.S. and migrate to Canada. The only setback of this is that you are not able to come back home anymore or you will be arrested for a long period of time. Another way the men avoided being drafted was resisting to serve or burning away/tearing up the draft paper that they received from their mail. Some decides to pay the local draft board or bribed them so that they are not going to be serving in the war. Others manipulated or falsified their medical records to “prove” that they have a contagious disease or they’re too ill to serve.
Every story that we hear, we mainly hear about the nightmares and the terror from the men that was given to them through the war. Women has the same experiences as well, where they have to see bloody faces and dismembered bodies of the soldiers and children. There were around 5,000 and 7,500 women served in the Vietnam War and 80% of them were nurses. 2,000 women were based from surrounding countries like Guam, Philippines, Japan, Korea and Thailand served in the war and 250,000 were based from the U.S. When researchers surveyed 4,129 women, they were all tested positive with PTSD symptoms due to the wartime experiences and mass casualty experiences and assistance of a patient dying. Every person that was either drafted or decided joined as serve to the war, the drafters had 5 days maximum to protect themselves from the war. They never understood what the purpose of the Vietnam War and why they are getting involved. When these men stepped into the war zone, their only goal was to survive and can’t do anything when one of their buds die, but to put it into a blanket and haul them. They were “forced” to watch the horrendous deaths that their comrades faced and the witnesses has no choice, but to stand there and watch them get taken away from them violently. After they were sent home from serving in the Vietnam War, most of the soldiers felt confused of what just happened. They try to process every single event that has occurred to them because they don’t have a clue of what just happened to them. They started to wonder who they really were and what was their purpose to live now because of these traumatic events that they witnessed. It became hard for them to interact with other human being after they came back home to the point that they are more comfortable to talk to men more than women due to the war because they were only able to see men when they were serving.