Vietnam War Interview Forum

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>i was wondering, what did the army do that prepared you- as much as they could- for your experiences in the war?


There was a great deal of physical training, sleep deprevation, training to react to threats automatically without tinking about it.  Individuality was deimphasized and working together as a group was stressed.  They trained us to shoot, throw grenades, take care of our equipment and watch out for one another.  

They couldn't teach us to kill or experience the deaths of those next to us.


>did this process of changing you into a soldier help you deal with the war... or could they have done something to make it a bit easier? if so what?


The training was OK.  Once we were in Vietnam you couldn't just raise your hand and ask to be excused - you had to do the best you could with what you had at that point.  New kids were refered to as FNG's (Frieking New Guys) and no one really trusted them until their first fire fright was over.  After that you pretty much knew how they would react.

They could have recognized PTSD sooner and prepared to deal with it instead of denying it existed for so many years.  

>sorry if these are a bit personal, i tried to be as delicate as i could.