What is Vietnam Syndrome? Oddly enough, there are three interpretations of this term at once. You will learn about them by reading this article.
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was the longest modern war, lasting more than two decades. More than 2.5 million American servicemen took part in the hostilities. Vietnam veterans make up about 10% of the young people of their generation. At the same time, about 60 thousand soldiers died there, another 300 thousand were injured, and 2 thousand are missing. The Vietnamese also killed more than one million military people and more than 4 million civilians.
The reason for the war was rather strange. The Americans feared that the communist contagion would "spread" from Vietnam throughout Asia. And it was decided to launch a preemptive strike.
Horror before the war: post-traumatic stress disorder
The Americans were not ready for war in the jungle, which the locals knew like the back of their hand. Despite the fact that the Vietnamese were much worse equipped than the military from the United States, they compensated for this with ingenuity and cunning. Numerous traps,explosive devices filled with gunpowder from American shells and guerrilla ambushes - all this frightened the Americans, who expected an easy victory and a quick return home.
However, after the military came back to the US, their torment did not end. Americans began to be tormented by nightmares, vivid memories of the horrors of war, fear of loud sounds resembling explosions … Many became drunkards or started taking drugs to drown out the tormenting memories, someone committed suicide … cannot harm the psyche. The so-called Vietnamese syndrome has been described. This is a complex of experiences experienced by the military returning from hot spots.
Vietnam syndrome as a mental disorder
This syndrome is also called "Afghan", or "Chechen". Many psychiatrists have studied the Vietnam Syndrome, and the symptoms and treatment are well documented today. Many US military have been rehabilitated and were able to forget about the nightmare experienced. Well, the experience gained by psychiatrists made it possible to learn a lot about how the human psyche reacts to transcendental experiences.
What is Vietnam Syndrome? The symptoms are quite unpleasant: these are obsessive memories of the war, nightmares, constant thoughts about the experience. Because of such manifestations, a person loses the ability to live normally in society: he wants to forget himself and get rid of painful experiences. As a result, antisocialbehavior, increased aggressiveness, craving for alcohol and drugs.
Nation scared of war
The Vietnam War not only broke the personalities of individual participants, but also led to the fact that America as a whole changed. This war was one of the few where American citizens were directly involved, where they died … And where they lost. As a result, ordinary US citizens have developed a fear of new wars in which their country could take a direct part. That is, the Vietnamese syndrome - the fear of ordinary Americans to be drawn into a bloody war on foreign territory.
You could say that America has never been at war since the end of the Vietnam War. The state's tactics have changed so as not to cause indignation among ordinary taxpayers. Now the US prefers to either arrange "color" revolutions, or send a limited contingent to hot spots where they want to establish their influence.
Because of the national Vietnamese syndrome, Americans will simply refuse to go to defend incomprehensible national interests and risk their own lives. And some politicians argue that the American nation simply fears another military defeat.
Agent Orange
There is another interpretation of the term "Vietnamese syndrome" - no less sad than the previous two. The Vietnamese waged a real guerrilla war against the invaders, arranging numerous shelters in the jungle. Indochina. Therefore, in order to protect themselves, the Americans decided to destroy the jungle, to deprive the partisans of a reliable shelter. For this, specially designed herbicides were used, the most effective of which was Agent Orange, which got its name from the bright markings of barrels.
The herbicide worked extremely effectively: in just a matter of hours, all the leaves from the trees fell off, and the partisans were in full view of the Americans. The mangrove forests were almost completely destroyed, only 18 species of birds out of 150 remained … However, the “Orange Agent” killed not only trees and birds … The herbicide contained dioskin, a powerful poison that causes genetic mutations and cancer in people.
Echoes of War
Agent Orange turned out to be the strongest mutagen. Until now, children with genetic diseases unknown to science are born in Vietnam. Lack of eyes and hands, profound mental retardation, all sorts of deformities… In areas where "Agent Orange" was sprayed, people get sick with oncological diseases much more often. All this, some researchers have given the name - the Vietnamese syndrome.
What is this strange phenomenon, will it be possible to find justice? Americans still deny their involvement in the ongoing horror. Rare public organizations are trying to restore justice, but the official government does not want to listen to them.
