{"id":2429076,"date":"2025-04-30T07:28:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T11:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/50-years-after-vietnam-our-troops-remain-demoralized-by-defeat\/"},"modified":"2025-04-30T07:34:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T11:34:38","slug":"50-years-after-vietnam-our-troops-remain-demoralized-by-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/50-years-after-vietnam-our-troops-remain-demoralized-by-defeat\/","title":{"rendered":"50 Years After Vietnam, Our Troops Remain Demoralized By Defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F50-years-after-vietnam-our-troops-remain-demoralized-by-defeat%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2429076&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article commemorates the 50th anniversary of the evacuation of American servicemen and diplomats from South Vietnam during Operation Frequent Wind, which took place as North Vietnamese forces advanced on the U.S. Embassy in Saigon in April 1975.It reflects on how the Vietnam War has shaped American society and military engagement over the decades. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian William A. McDougall notes that while a significant percentage of <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">draft-age men served<\/a> in the military during the Vietnam era,a much smaller fraction saw combat,and the disconnection between military service and the electorate has intensified since then.<\/p>\n<p>The piece discusses the treatment of Vietnam veterans, highlighting how many faced scorn for a war that became unpopular, influencing their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/months-after-closing-beaches-newsom-smugly-suggests-people-hit-the-sand-for-their-mental-health\/\" title=\"Months After Closing Beaches, Newsom Smugly Suggests People Hit the Sand for Their Mental Health\">mental health<\/a> and sense of purpose. In contrast, more recent veterans of the Global War on Terror have received better <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/psaki-refuses-to-guarantee-that-taxpayer-money-in-stimulus-bill-wont-go-toward-abortions\/\" title=\"Psaki Refuses To Guarantee That Taxpayer Money In Stimulus Bill Won\u2019t Go To...d Abortions\">public support<\/a>, although military service has become increasingly niche, primarily involving individuals from military families. The military&#8217;s recruitment struggles today are attributed to a growing disinterest among younger generations and a host of disqualifying factors impacting enlistment.<\/p>\n<p>the article contrasts the initial altruistic motives for U.S. involvement in Vietnam with the eventual loss of public trust due to military failures and scandals, drawing parallels to contemporary conflicts. As the piece concludes, it raises questions about the lessons learned from the Vietnam experience, notably in light of the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, which mirrored the sentiments of the Vietnam evacuation.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Fifty years ago today, the last American servicemen and diplomats evacuated South Vietnam as North Vietnamese military units closed in on the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City. Operation Frequent Wind, as it was called, airlifted more than 7,000 people out of Saigon between April 29 and 30, 1975.<\/p>\n<p>The video and images of those days &mdash; with helicopters pushed overboard U.S. vessels to make way for other aircraft teeming with evacuees, while North Vietnamese forces overran the South Vietnamese presidential palace and U.S. Embassy &mdash; left an indelible mark on the memory of many who had already come to view Vietnam as a futile and wasteful war. As its story drifts further into a past that fewer and fewer Americans know or remember, we would do well to consider how that fateful conflict affected our military and society in ways still felt today.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>A Responsibility of the Few<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>As Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and University of Pennsylvania professor William A. McDougall notes in his new collection of essays <em>Gems of American History<\/em>, about 40 percent of draft-age men served in the military during the Vietnam era (1965-1975), but only 10 percent of draft-age men served in Vietnam, and only about 1 percent of all draft-age men saw serious combat there. Since then, the trend of American wars disconnected from the electorate has only intensified. Less than one percent of the U.S. population served in the twenty-year Global War on Terror. <a href=\"https:\/\/fox28savannah.com\/news\/nation-world\/iraq-war-20th-anniversary-americans-views-on-war-memories-george-w-bush-saddam-hussein-operation-iraqi-freedom-operation-new-dawn-military-army-air-force-navy-marines-veterans-afghanistan-war-on-terror\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Half of Americans<\/a> don&rsquo;t even <em>know <\/em>someone who served in Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>Many Vietnam veterans were only drafted to fight in a war increasingly unpopular with the American electorate, but suffered the added indignity of being maligned by those who dodged the draft or were shielded by their status as students. Though many journalists and historians now claim such stories are either highly embellished or never happened, McDougall recounts that outside a military base in Oakland, California, while preparing for his unit&rsquo;s departure to Asia, protestors from Berkeley gathered and accused the soldiers of being &ldquo;baby-killers.&rdquo; Soldiers who returned were met with scorn and derision, friends and family embarrassed by their loved ones&rsquo; service. It was not until 1982 when the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was inaugurated that the nation held a parade to offer token appreciation for war service.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, we do much better in our treatment of GWOT veterans, given the expected social norm of thanking them for their service, honoring them at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-call-on-pelosi-to-remove-military-style-fencing-around-capitol\/\" title=\"Republicans Call on Pelosi to Remove \u2018...-Style Fencing\u2019 Around Capitol\">public events<\/a>, and supporting veteran-owned businesses and organizations. That said, service in the armed forces is now a niche category in public life &mdash; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/american-military-recruitment-problems-public-apathy-1842449\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a 2023 poll<\/a> found that a majority of American adults would not be willing to serve in the military were the United States to enter into a major war. The share of the U.S. population with military experience <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/short-reads\/2023\/11\/08\/the-changing-face-of-americas-veteran-population\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has<\/a> declined from about 18 percent in 1980 to about 6 percent in 2022, and the share of members of both houses of Congress with military experience has dropped from a high of about 75 percent in 1973 to less than 18 percent today. Military service has become more of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kpbs.org\/news\/military\/2022\/09\/21\/most-military-recruits-come-from-families-of-people-who-served-experts-say-thats-not-sustainable\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">family business<\/a> than a burden shared across society, and is increasingly regional, with the South <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/backgrounder\/demographics-us-military\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">providing a disproportionate number of recruits<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>A Military Demoralized by Defeat<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson limited Vietnam tours of duty to one year (six months for officers), which meant that there was little motivation for soldiers to fight fiercely and win. &ldquo;That is the way to motivate soldiers to take no risks, invest no emotional capital in their country&rsquo;s cause, and indeed resent the fact that they had to be there a single day,&rdquo; argues McDougall. As soon as soldiers gained combat experience, they were sent home and replaced by green, untested rookies. Soldiers approaching their departure date in turn became more risk-averse. That same strategy &mdash; also employed during recent U.S. military efforts in which deployments typically lasted somewhere between seven to fifteen months &mdash; could not help but persuade many soldiers they were engaged in a meaningless &ldquo;forever war.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The most prized commodity for many American G.I.&rsquo;s was marijuana. &ldquo;What really troubled me was the realization that a significant portion of the U.S. military in Vietnam was habitually stoned.&rdquo; A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/articles\/drug-use-in-vietnam\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1971 report by the Department of Defense<\/a> found that half of the soldiers in Vietnam had smoked marijuana, while about a third had used LSD, mescaline, psilocybin mushrooms, cocaine, or heroin.<\/p>\n<p>Many of these veterans, writes McDougall, were never discharged from their addiction, and my father, as a U.S. Army draftee and Army medic, spent part of his eight years in active duty and the reserves working with drug addict veterans. Today, about one in ten veterans are <a href=\"https:\/\/nida.nih.gov\/publications\/drugfacts\/substance-use-military-life\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">diagnosed with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-nfl-insider-breaks-down-top-quarterbacks-ahead-of-draft-day\/\" title=\"EXCLUSIVE: NFL Insider Breaks Down Top Quarterbacks Ahead Of ... Day\">substance abuse problem<\/a><\/a>, which is a little higher than the national average; about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ptsd.va.gov\/understand\/common\/common_veterans.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">seven percent of veterans<\/a> have struggled with PTSD (also higher than the rate among American civilians).<\/p>\n<p>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hoover.org\/research\/how-demoralization-undercuts-recruitment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">demoralization<\/a> and sense of defeat undoubtedly contributed to the U.S. Army <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2025\/02\/10\/the-us-militarys-recruiting-crisis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">failing to reach its recruitment goals<\/a> in 2022 and 2023 by nearly 25 percent (three of America&rsquo;s four major military services<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/future-perfect\/368528\/us-military-army-navy-recruit-numbers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> failed to recruit<\/a> enough servicemembers in 2023). Though the military has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/army-recruiting-up-data-show-trend-began-before-election-current-former-army-officials-say\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">regained some of that ground<\/a> in the last 24 months, an increasing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/page\/202407\/1315266.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">disenchantment and disinterest<\/a> in military service from younger generations presents an enduring problem for recruiters. Add to that the sobering fact that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2025\/02\/10\/the-us-militarys-recruiting-crisis%23:~:text=According%2520to%2520a%2520Pentagon%2520study,factors%2520as%2520a%2520criminal%2520record.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">three-quarters of Americans aged 17 to 25<\/a> are ineligible for service because of physical and mental health issues, high school dropout rates, criminal records, and substance abuse, and it&rsquo;s obvious we have a crisis.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>An Altruism That Breeds Cynicism<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>When the United States first entered Vietnam to support the South Vietnamese, its motives seemed noble, and it held significant public support. America was helping a democratic government resist a neighboring totalitarian regime; it was pushing back against the spread of communism across the globe. We were going to spread principles of liberty, self-government, and capitalism to the developing world. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If anything, its motives were shockingly altruistic, a product of hubris but also of misguided ideals,&rdquo; writes McDougall. But in time most Americans came to believe the South Vietnamese government was inept and corrupt, and that our military was compromised by such disasters as the My Lai massacre, Agent Orange defoliation efforts, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usni.org\/magazines\/proceedings\/1996\/november\/strategic-bombing-always-myth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dropping of three times as many bombs<\/a> on Vietnam as Allied Forces used against Nazi Germany in World War II. This did nothing but erode trust in U.S. institutions.<\/p>\n<p>The comparison to more recent U.S. military efforts is easily identifiable. Our motives after 9-11 were similarly altruistic, seeking to free and empower millions who suffered under the brutality of oppressive regimes. Yet similar to our presence in Vietnam, as the years dragged on, it became increasingly difficult to interpret what &ldquo;mission accomplished&rdquo; looked like, despite the claims of senior military leaders claiming the enemy was almost defeated. <\/p>\n<p>Mission failure, however, was viscerally felt in August 2021 when American civilians and troops flooded Kabul International Airport as part of evacuation efforts in the face of the Taliban&rsquo;s resurgence, imagery that was startlingly similar to what Americans witnessed on their television sets in 1975. As we mark the half-centennial of that terrible day, it&rsquo;s worth asking: what lessons have we learned?<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Casey Chalk is a senior contributor at The Federalist and an editor and columnist at The New Oxford Review. He has a bachelor&rsquo;s in history and master&rsquo;s in teaching from the University of Virginia and a master&rsquo;s in theology from Christendom College. He is the author of The Persecuted: True Stories of Courageous Christians Living Their Faith in Muslim Lands.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last American troops evacuated Vietnam 50 years ago today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":658,"featured_media":2429077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/22530684783_e13c350fb7_o.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[4919,4505,54329,51463,5603],"class_list":["post-2429076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-history","tag-military","tag-morale-2","tag-veterans-2","tag-vietnam"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/22530684783_e13c350fb7_o.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2429076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2429076"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2429076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2429081,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2429076\/revisions\/2429081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2429077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2429076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2429076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2429076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}