TREATMENT OF WAR VETERANS
The United States of America has involved herself in several fights since her independence in the year 1776, such as the civil war, the world wars, the Vietnam war, the Korean war, and Iraq, among others. In this paper, our focus is majorly on the Vietnam war, world war two, and the veterans of the two wars. It is approximated to be 16 million Americans that participated in world war two, and up to date, 300,000 American veterans are still alive. (Schaeffer, 2020). The Vietnam war had approximately 2.7 million Americans involved in the war, while fertilities rose to 58,000. The veterans of the Vietnam war were 43,000 by the year 1998. The paper also focuses on how the veterans of the two wars were treated by the American government and the general public, which was unequal. (VA research, 2018)
Beginning with the Vietnam veterans, the government of the United States did not show appreciation to the soldiers. It did not organize the victory parades and homecoming rallies as expected, which was done to other veterans. The government also failed to make a good plan on how to ensure that the veterans were compensated. They were paid little as compared to the other war veterans. The government also did not mind to great a plan on how the veterans were to going to be employed. Vietnam war veterans face challengers again in medication when they arrived in the American soil. Several soldiers were facing health complications such as injuries and other diseases such as cancer and diabetes, which came as a result of an herbicides Agent Orange which was used in Vietnam. They were left alone to be tormented by their actions in Vietnam; some had to end their lives because of their physical, psychological illnesses and complications such as Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. It was the responsibility of the American government to take good care of the Vietnam veterans because they were majorly the volunteers from law class families who could not access proper medication. There are those who we affected emotionally and those struggling with drug addiction, which the government showed no concern about them. They were left to suffer on their own, and the government responsible for their conditions did not recognize their challenges. War veterans when they arrive, they are given the scholarship to proceed with their education; this is what the Vietnam veterans received but in not full scholarships. They were given 126$ instead of 300$ for their college education.
The public did not welcome the veterans warmly. The community did not seem to care for them. The young men returning from the war were welcomed in a different society from the one they had left; they were expecting to be embraced by their old friend and could not wait to tell the stories of their experiences. Their expectations turned out to disappointments when their friends isolated them and did not even show any interest in their stories of the battlefield. Generally, the public viewed that as baby killers because of their actions in Vietnam of burning down the homes of Vietnamese. The cold reception by the people made the soldiers feel isolated and unwanted. It also happened that the veterans of world war two and those of the Korean war turned against them what the Vietnam veterans did not expect. They expected appreciation from them because they understood the combats, but they looked down upon them, claiming that they never brought back victory.
The reason behind all the cold receptions the veterans received is that they did not win the war and that they were fighting a war with no course and became unpopular. This is what the public claimed; again, the African Americans were not happy with the war since the war diverted the attention of the fight for their civil rights. (Cengage, 2020)
The veterans of world war two of the United States, as compared to the Vietnam veterans, were warmly welcomed by the state as well as the public. They have were named the heroes and the “Greatest Generation.” The government granted them high earnings, and access to excellent medical services and unprecedented benefits such as money for their education and housing. The public also showed respected to the veterans of the world war and paid tribute to the fallen soldiers of the world war. They branded them the name “Greatest Generation” as stated earlier. World war two veterans who were disabled as a result of war were given special grants to aid their daily activities. There are also the individuals who were traumatized by the events that happened in the battlefield, these veterans were taken to special hospitals that specialized majorly on such illnesses. Veterans have also been known to be affected by the drug addiction, they struggle a lot in fighting the addiction. Therefore, to Cather for this people, the government came up with a strategy of rehabilitations which was offered to the veterans. The government of the united states again initiated a program of offering home loans to the veterans in order to ease the financial burdens of the veterans. In order curb the rate of unemployment on the soldiers, the government also initiated a program on solving the problem of unemployment among the veterans. (Ciampaglia, 2018) Education on veterans was another program which was offered to the veterans so as they could be absorbed in the employment sector.
The reasons for the world war two veterans receiving a special favor by the government of the united states and the public is because of the victory they brought home. They were also cheered and appreciated for the good reputation they earned their country.
From these experiences of the two wars and the veterans, united states of America have discovered better and more efficient ways of acknowledging and appreciating the veterans of war. Among this strategy, the famous one and the most anticipated is the award of honor by the president. This ceremony is one of the ways of showing appreciations to the veterans. (McKelvey, 2019).
The veterans of both the world wars and the Vietnam war are all special and that they deserved equality when it comes to compensations from the government. Though they Vietnam soldiers seemed to have been fighting a war without a course, it was not their mistake as they were obeying the orders of their commander in chief of the armed forces and they deserved compensations just like other veterans.
. August 2, 2020.
Ciampaglia, D., 201 References
VA research., 2018 Vietnam Veterans, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, https://www.research.av.gov/topics/vietnam.cfm. August 2, 2020.
Schaeffer, K., 2020. On 75th Anniversary Of Veterans E-Day, About 300,000 American WW II Veterans Are Alive, Pew Research Center. https://www.google.com. August 2, 2020.
McKelvey, T., 2019. Are Us Veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan And Vietnam Treated Equally?, BBC News. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-us-canada-48779253. August 2, 2020.
Cengage., 2020. Coming Home: Vietnam Veterans in American Society, Encyclopedia.Com, https://www.encyclopedia.com8. Why Were Vietnam Veterans Treated Poorly When They Returned? History, https://www.google,com/amp/s. August 2, 2020.