Lew Puller was the son of Chesty Puller, the most decorated soldier in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps. His legendary father fought in five wars and rose from private to three star general before health problems cut short his career. With him as a role model, it was perhaps inevitable that when the time came, Lew would enthusiastically head to Vietnam. This Pulitzer Prize winning autobiography tells the story of Lew Puller's relationship with his father, his own service in Vietnam and of his heroic attempt to rebuild his body and spirit after being dismembered by a booby-trapped howitzer round. He lost his legs and his hands were badly mangled, but he managed to hold together his marriage, help raise a son, earn a law degree and run for Congress.
Then, in the wake of losing the election, his always problematic drinking escalated to the point of genuine alcoholism and he attempted suicide. He went through rehab and became involved in things like the Vietnam War Memorial project, which helped him deal with his emotions about the war.
Unfortunately, right before I finished the book my mom informed me that in 1994 Puller committed suicide. This book and many others that I have read about the Vietnam war really got me interested in the war. It made me think more about the emotions and psyche of the U.S. soldiers instead of all of the glory and action of war. It made me wonder why you never heard of so many cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) before the Vietnam war.
One reason I think cases of PTSD have soared up is based on the amount of time soldiers have between war and going home. In Korea and both World Wars soldiers had months to decompress after battles before they got home. In Vietnam and even the war in the Middle East soldiers go from killing people to home within days. Being around an environment of war and one of "normal life" are completely different. It takes years for these soldiers to recover because they have virtually no transition which, I think, increases PTSD and amplifies the symptoms.
Also, I think it might have to do with the soldiers not having a clear objective and just receiving commands to kill for no apparent purpose. In World War 2 it was obvious to every American that the Nazis needed to be taken down. Even the Russians agreed that Nazis were no good. However in the Vietnam war many of the soldiers had no clear understanding of their presence. They didn't know what they were fighting for. I believe seeing your comrades perish knowing that they have family just like you is severely traumatizing.
So now I have some questions for you.
If you didn't believe in the cause of the war you were currently assigned to fight, what would get you through it? What would you be fighting for?
If you were in a similar situation as Puller, do you honestly think that you would have the strength to be as successful as he was before he committed suicide?
13 comments:
In response to question two, I do not feel that I could have been as strong as Puller was after the war. Not only did he have to see his friends and others die, but he also left unable to walk or use his hands. The fact that he was still determined to keep everything together and even earn a law degree and run for Congress is amazing to me. Right now, I could honestly say that I would have been very depressed and unable to cope with everything, but then again you never truly know unless you are faced with that kind of situation. I do believe we find strength and learn the most about ourselves in times of weakness.
I agree. If I just came back from a war I would have to live with the violence I saw, plus I will never walk again, I would find it hard not to be depressed. It truly is amazing that he did what he did after all that he went through
For question one, it really does not matter whether or not you believe in the war or not its not going to change the fact that you have to fight. And when the fighting does start you won't care because you're not fighting for a cause, you're fighting for the guys next to you, and you have confidence he's fighting for you. Because if he is thinking I don't agree with the governments decisions on this matter you both die.
For one, I partly believe with russell, but sometimes when there isn't a friend who is close to you, then one should fight for his own survival. The thought of returning home may also influence the thought to not give up.
For two, that's such a tough question because I believe that true strength and courage like Pullers' does not actually come into play until we are put into such a situation.
I personally don't believe in any war so if I was forced to fight, I would use the fight for my own life to get through the war as well as all of the people. Fighting around me. I wouldn't fight to kill, only to survive without sounding to cliche or dumb. Might as well fight to live if you have no choice but to be placed in that situation.
To answer question 1, if you signed up to be in the service than you better believe in what your doing. We have an all volunteer army meaning that no one is currently forced to fight in war. The people fighting in battles now have chosen to be in that position. They have signed their lives away and decided that they want to serve their country. By doing so, they don't automatically earn the right to pick and choose what wars you get to fight in. You signed up to do a job, no one forced you to do that job, if all of a sudden you suddenly feel "you dont believe in it" then there will be consequences. As a soldier your job is to take orders and carry them out, your job is not to decide what wars are worth fighting in. In conclusion, you would be fighting for your country, as that is what you agreed to do.
Russel: I also partly agree with you. Fighting for the person beside you is what I feel like I would be fighting for.
Eric: It really is situational, I have just been thinking to myself if I could have that kind of strength to get through that experience. It's tough to say.
joe: Yeah but in wars that last over a long period of time there are ideas and opinions that switch. For example the current war in the middle east. At first America was all set on getting the terrorists that blew up the twin towers. Now most people couldn't even tell you why we're there. One reason is to change the way people are living for what the American government decides is a good way to live. This could cause soldiers to no longer believe in the cause. During the war in Vietnam around the late 60's opinion of the war changed in the public's eye and in the soldiers' eyes. When you sign up for the army your tour isn't a huge amount of time, so people basically do choose the wars that they fight in. You don't just join without knowing the current situation of your country. My question is based on when the objective of your presence changes and you no longer believe in the what you're being told to do, what keeps you motivated to kill people you don't think deserve the death based on the reasons behind the orders to kill them.
I agree with Russell. i would be fighting for the guy next to me. there is a very close bond between people in the military. they have complete trust in each other. this is because their life is sometimes in the hands of the guy standing next to them.
Aight, I gotta go with Joe. Kenny if you want to know why we fight this war, read my blog. The terrorists are still out there. The only reason that it seems like know one knows why we're there is because we aren't fighting a country, its a bunch of people living in the mountains. There are no large scale victories. That we can print in the newspaper most battles are fought by small special operations groups who will never get recognized. The real military is just there as a peace keeping force. And when you are in a fire fight you can't be thinking about if who you are fighting deserves death. Grow a pair they want to kill you more than anything, so you better be ready to fight back.
You're obviously going to defend yourself if they attack you. But when it's all said and done, you're going to go home and inevitably think about what you've done. It's easy to say "i just killed them because they wanted to kill me" but when you actually take a person's life for a cause you didn't find worthy I imagine it will eat at you. A lot of the first part of your response I totally agree with and understand, we are going for terrorists, but that's not the whole of what we're doing down there. And when the soldier doesn't agree with the motives he has to deal with that moral situation. Your argument leads into a good transition to PTSD. You kill because you have to, but the moral consequences of your actions can lead to this disorder. This is a reason why I believe the occurrences of PTSD have risen in the Vietnam war and the current war in the Middle East.
In my opinion you are correct in the fact that you kill because they want to kill you and you want to not only defend yourself but you also need to defend your team. But as an outsider it's hard to imagine the thoughts of these soldiers before during and after these battles if the purpose of their being there has become unfavorable in their eyes.
Dearest Kenneth,
In an attempt to answer this question I pondered on the situation I was in. Right now, I'm sitting on my comfortable American made couch, watching America's favorite sport (football), and eating America's favorite food (chicken wings). My upper-middle class attitude takes for granted these various freedoms stated above and doesn't take into account how these freedoms are able to happen. Because of the work of the many American soldiers fighting overseas, I am allowed to exercise my right to eat chicken wings. These soldiers can find the strength in knowing that they are protecting American citizen's rights, which is the whole reason they are in the military. Soldiers are the glue that allows our freedoms to stick on us. (Please take pity on me for using this horrible metaphor).
I'm not saying rationalize the reasons you killed the people, but its your job you have to as hard as it sounds just do it. And you can get PTSD from car accidents, its not just war. Also PTSD was first diagnosed in the Vietnam war that does not mean it never happened before then kinda like cancer, WWII fighters had it but they didn't know what it was.
Also during the "vietnam Conflict" as they call it now, there was a draft in place. People could not choose whether they went to war or what they would fight for. In those days i believe it was ok to not want to be there because there was a perfectly good reason, being forced to do something you may not believe in. But now that we do not have the draft, it does not matter what you think, you signed up for it, you do what you signed up to do no questions asked.
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