Civilians do not like to hear about killing, and combat soldiers do not want to talk about it. There is no euphemistic way to talk about killing, and there is no eloquent way to describe a violent death. So, in order to cope, soldiers have invented their own private language to talk about these subjects.
Fear of upsetting family might have kept World War I veterans from talking about their experience. Any country with a military force has a population of retired military. When people have served in the armed forces without experiencing a war, they may not have issues with discussing their military service.
After returning to the United States, many veterans continued to support American military involvement in Vietnam. Even though they had not accomplished all of the U.S. goals, they still felt proud of their service to their country. They believed that they had done their duty and fought bravely for a good cause.
Perhaps the cruelest aspect of the war was the treatment of the returning soldiers. Unlike the hero status given to the returning soldiers form World War II, the soldiers that served in Vietnam were portrayed as baby killers, psychos, drug addicts and war mongers.
In the same CBS poll, 94% said Vietnam vets should have received the same respect. Ninety-seven percent in a 1979 poll agreed that veterans who served during the time the Vietnam War was going on deserved respect for having served their country in the armed forces.
CBO found that: On average, Vietnam veterans in 2018 had roughly the same income as nonveterans their ages: $63,300 and $65,000, respectively. For veterans and nonveterans age 71—the modal, or most common, age of veterans—average income was also about the same.
It is a recognition of what the Vietnam veterans endured during the war and coming home. "When you see a vet, walk up to him and say, 'thank you for your service and welcome home,'" said Roberts.
As of 2015, more than 1,600 of those were still “unaccounted-for.” The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) of the U.S. Department of Defense lists 687 U.S. POWs as having returned alive from the Vietnam War.
Marital adjustment and divorce rates
Related to impaired relationship functioning, a high rate of separation and divorce exists in the veteran population (those with PTSD and those without PTSD). Approximately 38% of Vietnam veteran marriages failed within six months of the veteran's return from Southeast Asia.
However, the more common usage distinguishes between those who served "in-country" and those who did not serve in Vietnam by referring to the "in-country" veterans as "Vietnam veterans" and the others as "Vietnam-era veterans". Regardless, the U.S. government officially refers to all as "Vietnam-era veterans".
These numbers have come about due to the extensive research of various mortality indexes and sources by the American War Library which concluded that about one-third of those who served in the Vietnam War are still alive today.
Veterans returned from Vietnam not with their battalion or company, but alone on a plane after their 365-day tour. Many of them were anguished by their countrymen's condemnation of their war, felt abandoned by their government, and suffered grievous physical and psycho-spiritual injuries.
▶ Vietnam Veteran ages range from 55 to 97 years old.
They say many Vietnam veterans were not recognized because the VFW was not sanctioned to accept them. The U.S. Congress officially recognized Vietnam veterans as veterans of a foreign war in 1966. That was five years before Bantos returned, two years before Kaufman.
Death rates from disease-related chronic conditions, including cancers and circulatory system diseases, did not differ between Vietnam veterans and their peers, despite the increasing age of the cohort (mean age, 53 years) and the longer follow-up (average, 30 years).
Disability Benefits Not Subject to Marital Property Division
Under the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act, VA disability payments are exempt from being treated as marital property and cannot be divided as part of a divorce.
Is a divorced spouse entitled to VA disability benefits? No. Under federal law, VA disability benefits are not marital property which courts can divide in a divorce. However, the VA disability payments are not invisible to the court, and do count as income when calculating child support or alimony.
Symptoms of PTSD have been shown to directly affect not only spouses or partners but also children within the home. These symptoms have the potential to negatively affect relationship quality, increase marital distress and hinder intimacy.
During the Vietnam War Monika Schwinn, a German nurse, was held captive for three and a half years - at one time the only woman prisoner at the "Hanoi Hilton". The following missionaries were POWs: Evelyn Anderson, captured and later burned to death in Kengkok, Laos, 1972. Remains recovered and returned to U.S.
997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam. 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam. 31 sets of brothers are on the Wall. Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons.
Thank you to all of our veterans and active duty military for their service to our country. Thanks to their family and friends as well for the sacrifices they make. Stay safe and wishing you the happiest holidays! Thank you to each and every veteran that has proudly served our country.