My husband was in the Air Force and stationed in Taiwan. According to him, everybody was using a lot if drugs. Could that have anything to do with the outcome?
The fighting in Taiwan was never as ferocious as it was in Viet Nam and there was lots of downtime so that’s when the drug use mainly occurs.
“My husband was in the Air Force and stationed in Taiwan. According to him, everybody was using a lot if drugs. Could that have anything to do with the outcome?”
When was he there? After about 1968, the quality of many draftees was, shall we say, lacking.
You’re suggesting the American fighting man lost the war because he was on drugs? Please.
In the rear, away from the battle front that was somewhat true...
Out in the field, no way!
I'm reasonably sure that Taiwan was out of range for any targets near us - but if so, it could explain why the Air Force always seemed to hit the wrong treelines - or us.
I was in direct combat on the ground and to best of my knowledge no one ever used drugs - 1. when somebody's trying to kill you and any step you take can be your last, you tend not to want to dull your senses anymore than you have to and 2. Not exactly sure where you'd get drugs, since we always in the field, never in the rear.
Your husband IS WRONG!
I never saw any drug use (other than morphine for the wounded) when I was at Khe Sanh in 68.
Of course I’m talking MARINES here, not wing wipers.
We were all a little bit to busy trying to stay alive and killing the NVA to walk around stoned and stupid.
I knew Vietnam Veterans from different times in the war because my much older brother and his friends served earlier and some of my older friends, my older husband, and other family served more in the middle of the war while my actual age group of school peers and friends served toward the end.
The issue of drugs was different during different time frames and even areas of service according to what they said. My brother said when he was there drugs were not even an issue, just a few people using like any where else on the planet. This country in general was supporting the war and soldiers at this point. In fact when my brother got home he was treated very well, only felt the sting later when lumped with all Vietnam Veterans by the public.
My husband said when he was there drugs were not an issue where he was but he moved around quite a bit and said there were pockets where people were using, especially marijuana since marijuana either grew wild or someone was cultivating it on large scale in some areas. He said the drug usage he saw was mostly recreational, off duty and was not to the extent it had any effect on the military’s ability to do their job anywhere he was at. People were just beginning to turn against the war and the military while my husband was there, he heard about it but when he got back it was getting worse. My husband was blown up by a landmine and was in an Army hospital for over a year and when he was finally recovered as much as he would- Traitor John Kerry and his merry band of mostly fake Vietnam Veterans testified to Congress about our military being like that of Genghis Khan. That was the turning point of the public turning against the military and soldiers in large numbers and acting out on it. Even most of those that did not believe it, did not agree did not speak up against that type of thing, so it seemed to the soldiers that most felt that way.
I have friends that were there toward the very end of the war that say drug use was rampant and in fact soldiers would hide and do drugs instead of going on patrols or whatever they were supposed to be doing. They also said heroin use was out of control as well. In their words, everyone knew the war was basically over- they had no support and many did not see the point of being the last to die. The military in general was completely demoralized at that point, everyone was blaming the military and individual soldiers and those that were there later in the war knew that people were turning on soldiers, didn’t support them, and worse. They got there when it was too late for anything they did to make a difference. They felt no support from anyone, in fact several told me later in college they had girl friends dump them while they were there because they would get sucked in by liberals and believe the propaganda about baby killer soldiers. Some had family that didn’t support them; at their young age it must have felt real good to be there without support, knowing you could die and not make a difference, in fact would likely make some happy if you did die if it helped their agenda. I have to say I do not blame any of them that turned to alcohol or drugs to deal with all that they had to deal with.
I have to say none of my family, friends, classmates came back with any drug issues. None. I knew personally only one person that did and he was an employee of a friend’s father. He had become addicted to heroin and was trying to get his life back together- while still using heroin so you can imagine how well that worked. I do know there were far more issues with that among my age group than others, but not the military people I knew personally.
We also have to realize as the war went on more people were using drugs everywhere, it was becoming more socially acceptable. The military is part of our society so includes some of the bad parts as well. It was also far easier to get drugs in Vietnam, Thailand, ETC than it was here and it was easy enough here.
To blame the loss of the Vietnam War on drugs does not make sense. If the war had been actually fought instead of poorly micromanaged and used for political agendas it would have ended before serious drug use became an issue.
Just my opinion from my own talks with many Vietnam Veterans over the years.