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Vietnam War
Drugs
Combat
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 7
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SSG Carlos Madden This is a very informative article. The use of drugs to keep service members in the fight failed to take into consideration the long term effects of not treating or recognizing the need to treat combat stress. In no prior war had the use of drugs to accomplish this been more prevalent. The use of drugs served as a refuge from the horrors of war but it didn't stop there. The destabilization of forces continued for a extended period of time, perhaps even until today and had ripple effect was the escalation of drug use extending into society.
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Capt Seid Waddell
CPT (Join to see), I think that the drug revolution of the hippies in the '60s and '70s is the primary genesis of the drug culture today, and many draftees came in to the military as dopers from the beginning. In Viet Nam drugs of all sorts were available on the black market - some have said that the enemy made certain that G.I.s had a plentiful supply at all times in order to debilitate them.
However, it is also true that our military supplied drugs for operational reasons. I remember Darvon being dispensed like aspirin for pain and Dexedrine to keep you alert.
The military may have inadvertently added to the drug problem, but they most certainly were not the cause of the drug culture of the day, which continues to the present. You can thank the hippie culture for that one.
However, it is also true that our military supplied drugs for operational reasons. I remember Darvon being dispensed like aspirin for pain and Dexedrine to keep you alert.
The military may have inadvertently added to the drug problem, but they most certainly were not the cause of the drug culture of the day, which continues to the present. You can thank the hippie culture for that one.
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CPT (Join to see)
Capt Seid Waddell - That's true however a study conducted on service members that at the time of the Vietnam war showed that 20% of forces used drugs before deployment and that number rose to 40% after deployment. The reasoning given for the increase was directly related to the environment of being surrounded with those using drugs during deployment and the issuing of them to troops.
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Capt Seid Waddell
CPT (Join to see), agreed. I think that peer pressure had a lot to do with it. The type of performance enhancing drugs the military handed out was qualitatively different from the recreational drugs favored by the stoners though.
I have no doubt that the PE drugs the military handed out had unanticipated side-effects, just as did Little Boy, Agent Orange, and depleted uranium anti-tank penetrators - but immediate tactical advantage frequently displaces possible long term effects in the minds of the strategy planners during active conflicts.
I have no doubt that the PE drugs the military handed out had unanticipated side-effects, just as did Little Boy, Agent Orange, and depleted uranium anti-tank penetrators - but immediate tactical advantage frequently displaces possible long term effects in the minds of the strategy planners during active conflicts.
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COL Ted Mc
CPT (Join to see) - Captain; I think that you probably already know this, but if you don't then you should. Daesh is using the same type of "pharmacological enhancement" on its members as the US military used in Vietnam.
Of course Daesh isn't really worried about "long-term side effects".
Of course Daesh isn't really worried about "long-term side effects".
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Interesting read. The science of performance enhancing drugs has only gotten better. There have been plenty of articles on the usage of amphetamines on college campuses and the over diagnosis of add/adhd in children. There has also been several articles on the usage of smart drugs in professional settings and every week an athlete gets caught using PEDs. Pharmaceuticals is a big business.
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Well, I can only say this. After reading this article I can only speak for myself. I was in Nam from March of 1969 to August of 1970. During that time, I was attached to two Marine combat units, B 1/3 and F 2/1 and I was never given, administered or issued any drugs in the field by anyone except when I got malaria and once when I got wounded. The only time that I saw any drug abuse was once we were in the rear, if there was such a place, like Quang Tri or on In-country R&R at China Beach. That is when I saw many Marines smoking pot, taking speed or acting under the influence of alcohol. I never experienced any of that while on Patrol in the bush along the DMZ , Dong Ha Valley and Laos and we would usually be out in the bush on Search and Destroy missions for months at a time. That's all I know!
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