3D

Do you think so many vets would end up in prison but for the wars they were involved in? Why?

most came back fine (like my brother) while others went completely to pieces. I have to think that the ones in prison were those that discovered that they liked the violence and the drugs a bit too much. Plus, the stories of that battles in Vietnam show what a brutal, in-your-face war it was - unlike today where a lot of the fighting is done from a distance with drones and artillery

Vietnam was a brutal war and the soldiers were not treated right when they came back and that is enough to make someone turn to violence and crime.

I think there are probably lots of reasons. Back in the late 60s/early 70s, it was common for delinquents and petty criminals to be offered a choice of prison or the Army. Plus, drugs were rampant in Southeast Asia. The life there was so miserable it's easy to see why some might have taken that way out.

Vietnam was a thankless, brutal, callus, and unpopular affair. My brother-in-law didn't appear to have been damaged but years down the road he still showed signs of what they would have been called 'battle fatigue" from the first & second World War...but it was much more than fatigue. He died in 2012 still having nightmares about what he had seen, and cowering at ANY loud noise. I know there were others that just went to piece that could never be put back together. I believe one of the biggest, deepest cuts to these men and women was the attitudes and receptions they received from their own countrymen. All other wars came home to parades and thank you...these people came home to ridicule and jeers. >4 Olivermagnus: is right about the choices that delinquents and petty criminals being given a choice between prison and the Army. Some choice for a 17 year old. Dammed if you do and dammed if you don't. You can bet the house that these kids that chose the Army weren't going to make Captain or General. Soup box going back in the corner now.

I don't think governments do enough for the members of their armed forces, who do, after all, put their lives on the line...