I don't have any hard evidence (I think the book Kill Anything That Moves gets into this a bit but I haven't read it), but I have a strong suspicion that many of those stories about Vietnam Vets being fucked up after wasn't so much about "I had to see my buddies die", but was more about "I massacred a bunch of innocent people over there". But they will never come out and say the later. Like I'm sure the former is also true to an extent. But I think the US troops in Vietnam acted more like the Wehrmacht on the eastern front than like, noble warrior gentlemen or whatever.
I don't have any hard evidence (I think the book Kill Anything That Moves gets into this a bit but I haven't read it), but I have a strong suspicion that many of those stories about Vietnam Vets being fucked up after wasn't so much about "I had to see my buddies die", but was more about "I massacred a bunch of innocent people over there". But they will never come out and say the later. Like I'm sure the former is also true to an extent. But I think the US troops in Vietnam acted more like the Wehrmacht on the eastern front than like, noble warrior gentlemen or whatever.