The Copious Amounts of Drugs Used in the Vietnam War Explained 

Politicians doing drugs and declaring war on drugs is the most politician thing ever.

My dad's a Vietnam Vet. He said his division had two types of people, drunks or pot heads. He was a pot head, and said the weed was super cheap and everywhere. They would smoke at the base, but never out on patrol. After getting back to the states, he couldn't get weed and started drinking like crazy. This would lead to worse things. Thankfully hes doing good now.

I'd like to congratulate Drugs, for winning the War on Drugs.

The only war crimes I've committed on Marijuana are against entire regiments of Doritos

my highschool teacher was combat vet, was kinda a joke for everyone to ask em what vietnam was like. he would tell everyone, "imagine being on acid and watching your friends explode around you" i said "because war is so crazy it's like being on acid?" he said "no, because we were on acid. we knew we were gonna die and no one wanted to die sober."

A Vietnam vet that I used to work with would talk about how he would take 2 bottles of Jack Daniels out on patrol with him. He would drink 1 and bury the other, since they tended to patrol the same areas again and again, but would then forget where he buried the bottle the last time he was there quote "Theres bottles of Jack Daniels buried all over Vietnam, I never could find where I had buried them."

My Dad was a WWII medic. He said he was on a ship heading for battle. Some were weeping, some were shaking. They were scared. It isn't like the movies. The Sargeant went around passing out white pills and told everyone to take them so they wouldn't get sea sick. My Dad and a few others were untrusting. They acted like they took them but didn't. He said the ones who did had a change in demeanor shortly after. They were aggressive and puffed up and ready to fight. When the doors opened, they charged out yelling. I'll never forget that story. He didn't say alot about the war, but he remembered that.

As a Vietnam/Cambodia combat vet I am very familiar with drug problem in the Nam. My drug of choice was Beer as about every 3 days they shipped us in 80 cases of beer and soda. When I reached the field in Feb 1970, it was 6 months before I saw a base camp. My second choice was Pot, usually laced with Heron. Whew!!! I am 72 years old and I have 3 brain cells left. Two of them have been married for 73 years and hate each other and the third brain cell I have left is looking for the drugs I left in the Nam.

So way back in the early 1980s, both my brother and I happened to be home during Xmas leave. My brother was an MP stationed in Germany at the time and I was serving in the Pacific fleet with the US Navy. One day during the holidays, my brother and I began talking candidly about the drug cultures in our respective branches of service. Heroin and hashish were a big problem for the US Army stationed in Germany at the time, whereas it was pot for the Navy on the west coast. My brother asked me if I smoked pot and I admitted that I did. In fact, the pot culture was so overwhelming in the Navy at the time that we often smoked several times a day (note that there's a difference between taking a hit or two on a joint as it gets passed around and getting stoned off your ass). You got up in the morning and someone lit up a joint. You piled into the car for the daily commute to the Naval Air Station and someone lit up a bowl. You headed over to the galley for lunch and someone lit up a joint. You headed home in the evening....more of the same. So a couple nights later, out of nowhere as we were sitting around the dining room table about to have dinner, my brother blurts out "Mike smokes pot!!!". Now, my brother has always suffered from "Middle Child" syndrome and this was evidence attesting to his affliction. My father, who joined the Navy back in 1934 and served until 1964, was ladling out mashed potatoes at the time and simply remarked "Oh hell, they were smoking pot in the Navy before the War".....and he meant the SECOND WORLD WAR....that's when I knew my Dad was cool.

It's childish how many people tell themselves alcohol isn't a drug.

My cousin served in a rifle company in 67-68 in Vietnam...in letters to home he complained about patrol members being "messed up" (or the equivalent) on drugs..a danger to the platoon and themselves...assuming he meant heroin...he returned to civilian life at a meat packing company outside of Milwaukee, WI...decided this wasn't for him, re-enlisted, ended up as Command Sergeant Major in Special Forces , he died in his early 60's, probably a victim of Agent Orange...what irony, soldiers trying to self-medicate to get through this war, with the slow-acting cancer of the Military-Industrial Complex helping finish off the survivors... returned

US soldier on Dexedrine: ARGHHH Me on Dexedrine for ADHD: Ah, I can do the washing up today

I worked with one Grunt who was in Nam. He said there was plenty of drug use back in base camp. He said all the stories about smoking pot in the field was bullshit. He said the gooks could smell that shit a mile away. If you were caught smoking shit in the field you just might have a "accident" that stopped your habit of endangering you squad/platoon. He showed me the Silver Star he received for rescuing a wounded buddy in a firefight. So, I think it's safe to say he wasn't bullshitting me.

My dad was a First Lt. in Vietnam in 1968. I asked him about drug use and he said no one in his platoon did any of that, they drank beer and some liquor but no weed or anything harder. He told me later that he personally was too scared to even drink, he was afraid they'd be attacked and he wouldn't be able to function. It had to vary widely depending on the unit you were in and what year it was.

My dad did three tours. He said they drank beer and whiskey, smoke weed and opium, shot heroin and morphine, and amphetamines. They were also popping benzos and barbs to sleep. They would also take pills called white crosses to keep the awake and moving on long treks through the country. My dad came home a full blown alcoholic at 24 yrs old, he drank day and night, and took speed so he didn't have to sleep because he had terrible horrifying nightmares.

I was in a USAF squadron in Vietnam. Some of our crew members were alleged to have smoked weed but I never saw it being done. If it was done it was "off base" and away from prying eyes. The use never came up as a problem during operations. In early 1971, we were all briefed (actually WARNED) that during our yearly flight crew physical, the Air Force flight surgeons would test for drug use. If they found it, we would be court martialed. I always wondered if THAT was the reason George Bush picked his own doctor to do HIS flight physical during that period. (George Bush was not in Vietnam but served in the Texas Air National Guard, when those threats were issued.) Regarding booze, we could buy an (imperial) 5th of vodka or whisky for 1.50 US. You BET everyone drank like fish. I remember our commander and Operations Officer were ALWAYS drunk, certainly off duty and, who knows, while on.

My father was an Army Combat Engineer, who apparently experienced some terrible things. He became addicted the very strong, cheap heroin available in Vietnam. He was eventually caught and sent to Leavenworth, which likely furthered his PTSD - back then they didn't really understand addiction and how to handle it.

The only massacre I believe a marijuana user is capable of is a large pizza by themselves. Blaming marijuana for that incident felt like a convenient way of avoiding the more harmful drugs the government itself was providing to the soldiers to keep them fighting.

In Nam my unit used alcohol and drugs to settle down when we came in from the bush. We never used when on patrol because we were too scared of messing up or being smelled by the VC. Atrocities happened because of fear, revenge, and a few lunatics, not chemicals.

I agree with you as far as the last example goes I seriously doubt marijuana had anything to do with the My Lai massacre. I smoked weed, and I knew, and know many people who do, and one of the last thing it does is make you violent. Might make you eat too much. Anyone who tells you it does is because the person is violent to begin with.

My uncle went into the war a alcoholic, and left with a "drinking problem," he said he tried cannibis knocked him out until the point he found himself floating down a rice paddy on an inflatable mattress during a fire fight. Mind you he was the platoon medic. RIP CHRIS DENNIS, GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

I was in the Marines from '74 to '76 (long story) and one of my good friends who had been over in 'Nam said he got off the plane....a person handed him a bowl, then the next thing he remembered was getting back on the plane to go home. Take that with a grain of salt, but we peed in the bottle every week the whole time I was in and everyone in my Company did everything we could get our hands on..pretty much...but nobody ever got busted by the drug testing. When I was doing my exit interview during discharge I asked the civilian woman doing it about the drug testing and how nobody ever seemed to get busted? She laughed and said 'The Commandant of the Marine Corps doesn't believe that about 90% of his men are using drugs...so they ignore the tests thinking they're not accurate'. She then asked if I used anything illegal....of course I laughed back with a hearty affirmative. Crazy time.

I wouldn’t call it drug abuse. The forced fighting and killing was the abuse. The drugs were their life savers and escapes from the hell they were forced into. I volunteered for the military so I can’t imagine being forced from your car bed and thrown into a foreign hell zone. I cry for the young men who were forced into the military and didn’t come home

I can't imagine being high on weed or LSD and going into combat, it would be a living nightmare.

My grandfather was heavy machine gunner in Vietnam, he told me how him and his unit took LSD and always shot off rounds from the heavy mg loaded with tracers and they liked watching the bullets fly through the air while they were on it. And he said that position he held was never attacked because of it

You have to remember the context. The CIA was supporting and encouraging the war lords in the highlands of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand (parts of which made up the "Golden Triangle"). The form of payment was transporting the drugs the warlords controlled via the CIA airline Air America from the back country to the troops in Vietnam as well as the rest of the world. So one part of the government was supporting and dealing in drugs to directly addict the other part of the government: the military. Think that is bad? Well it still goes on today in Afghanistan, Iraq and several other countries. Our government condones, itself deals, and supports drug dealing while running "a war on drugs". Read "The Politics of Heroin" by Alfred McCoy for a worldwide view of our government's involvement in the drug trade.

My Dad would never "do drugs", hated it, yet he drank like a fish and was addicted to prescription pain killers, the Army had prescribed them for combat injuries. Back in the states his civilian doctor routinely changed his pain killer prescription, so as not to be addicted to one drug. Not sure how that really worked out.

Fun Fact: Vietnam war vet Peter C. Lemon earned the Medal of Honor while fighting off NVA troops while high on marijuana Edit: For more information, here's a link to a video that tells his story ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-14dwhEVMnng.html

I love when I hear you speak, and I can hear little hints of your Australian background shine through. It's good to see an Aussie representing us on a larger platform for military history

The fact he said druggo makes the channel even better 🇦🇺

I once took acid and played rising storm. Man was it one of the most confusing and terrifying gaming experiences I’ve ever had. I’m pretty sure everyone else thought I was an idiot.

The most interesting thing about drugs in the Vietnam war was that a large number of troops regularly used heroine yet had no addiction after leaving the war. Speaks volumes to how addiction is really formed and maintained.

My dad was in Vietnam 70-71. Said he seen everything from weed to heroin. He had nothing to do with those but did drink alot. But not so much the day before they were to go out. Wanted to stay as sharp as possible.

Was there drug use by military personnel in VN, yes, but, I ask you, would you get in a car with a drunk driver, would you go out on a ambush, recon, search & destroy mission with the guy who was suppose to watch your six high on dope? You must remember, the number of troops in VN peaked out at about 480,000. You had at least 100,000 in Saigon and the Pentagon East. You had another 100,000 at CamRanh Bay and many others elsewhere. On any given day there was no more than 40,000 or 50,000 beating the bush searching for the enemy. You can thank guys like Oliver Stone and his Hollywood buddies for the images they displayed and conjured up regarding the soldiers in VN. I spent 68 months in RVN and fought along side of people like Lew Millett, William Tyler and and mostly with indigenous peoples/soldiers. The soldiers in VN fought valiantly under extreme harsh conditions, but, the real battle they faced was the one when they returned to CONUS, and for that, you can thank Hanoi Jane, John Kerry and their likes.

Speaking of massacres will you do a video on south korean war crimes in vietnam? We always hear about My Lai but sk allies did similar atrocities too more often than us sometimes.

Excellent videos mate...you and Mark Felton make the best war history vids on youtube. Your title sequence is top notch also.

I'm surprised Peter Lemon was mentioned in this video. He was a combat soldier in Vietnam who frequently used marijuana and during a late night base attack, he managed to fend off numerous NVA soldiers with small arms, his knife, a shovel and his bare hands, all while under the influence. He would receive a medal of honor for his actions, possibly being the first medal of honor recipient that earned it while high.

My dad served in 67-68 in the US Infantry and said Vietnam wasn't anything like it would later be remembered. In fairness he admits he served early when both morale and discipline were higher. No one did drugs openly and insubordination was not tolerated. He can't speak to what came later of course. When he visits with other Vietnam vets he will listen to how these other guys will talk about events and things and he'll just nod and say "oh yeah, uh huh" and then later tell me that he has no idea what they are talking about as it was a side of Vietnam he did not experience. He also reads accounts of actions he was involved in via other people's memoirs and says that it doesn't reconcile with his memory of events. I personally believe that what different soldiers experienced was genuinely unique to their tour dates, locations, actions, units, etc. In addition, some of the Vets are obviously suffering from mental and physical issues (one close friend was really messed up by Agent Orange for example and sadly his mind isn't all there sometimes) and that is also a factor on their recollections. My father thankfully did not come back with a lot of baggage, so to speak. As far as My Lai...I don't believe that was drugs. In my belief that was men pushed beyond the breaking point. In Vietnam at large, but more specifically with the soldiers involved in My Lai, these guys saw over and over and over what was being done to them by the Viet Cong and constantly told they would get a chance to unleash that anger, hurt and frustration on the enemy responsible. But that didn't happen. Ambushes, booby traps, etc and then the VC pulled out and you were looking at civilian peasants you knew were aiding the enemy (they had no choice, honestly) and there wasn't a damn thing you could do about it but keep marching after an enemy you never really got to fully engage with. Eventually, the soldiers snapped under the strain and attacked the civilians at hand as proxies for all the others they could not get retribution on. My Lai is an example of what is so harmful to a soldier's psyche when you try to fight a war as a political police action. That is just my two cents.

I can definitely see amphetamines or methamphetamines playing a role in kicking off a massacre, but weed? they're more likely to try placing orders for pho

A Vietnam vet told me that the reason why he and every soldier he knew smoked weed or did heroine was because there was literally no other way to cope with the war. He said it was literally so hot and wet and uncomfortable and they were so exhausted and scared for their lives that the only way to keep going was to get high all the time. I don't blame them at all. I would have done the exact same thing. I think that if the soldiers didn't have drugs to help them cope during the war then they would have had way more mental breakdowns and possibly more panic attacks. They wouldn't have had the drug to take their mind off the reality they are in. Drugs or no drugs vietnam was a horrific and tragic war that no American should have gone to.

The entire time I was in Iraq, the only member of my unit to die from air duster abuse was a 60 year old Full Bird Colonel. I never heard of a single other soldier having done it. True story.

I served with the First Team in Vietnam. While I wasn’t at the My Lai incident, I can almost guarantee that marijuana had nothing to do with it.

My Canadian uncle was a medic in Vietnam he had access to all kinds of medical supplies he said that everyone was either drunk or on drugs or both he was part of something called a sog team going into very scary situations he said u had to take something or your senses went into overload. He told me that he was a pothead and needed downers to face patching up his mates. He said cannabis was everywhere it kept you sane and alert and relaxed at the same time.

The heat, the humidity, the drenching rain, the mind shear, the constant engagement of all your senses in assessment and perception of danger, The reality of there, you being there, no escape from there, much not at face value. And you are a teenager without much life experience to draw from to judge your circumstance. You are part of a team but alone. Others depend upon your actions and your survival depends on luck, your choices, and.in how your group conducts itself. At any instant everything can be obliterated. You must choose, even when you are trying not to choose. And you wake up still there.

In spite of all the psychedelic surrealism, some say Apocalypse Now is actually one of the most accurate depictions of the vietnam war from a soldier's perspective

My brother was there in 68, he became addicted to crystal meth. He and another we’re going around selling it, got caught, and spent 6 months in the brig. He drank a lot, and had pulmonary lung disease from agent Orange. He finally started getting compensated for it, then died at age 65. His Moto was, shot at and missed, shit on and hit. My family welcomed him home dearly. He will be missed.🇺🇸

I served as a Company Corpsman USMC 3RD Marine Medical Battalion. The wounded were given legitimate amounts of morphine. Any Marine or Sailor on self- administered drugs was a threat to the entire operation. Get them out of country, was the best solution. There was the availability of hard drugs like heroin, but the users stood out. No one wanted them around. They put us all at risk.

Still gave the world some great music related to Vietnam and drugs, Purple Haze From Jimi Hendrix, White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane and Charlie Brown from Sapat

I was in Vietnam 1967 door gunner on a helicopter gunship I never witnessed any drug use I did hear about maintenance guys doing pot but never saw it after getting out of army 1968 couldn't find a job except going back to Vietnam working on helicopters I was shocked by all the drug use especially heron you could find it anywhere for five bucks as far as atrocities I did witness a lieutenant pilot shoot at fishermen in the ocean his reasoning being he wanted to kill someone before going home I complained about it but nobody gave a shit

I spent 11 1/2 months 68-69 in Northern I Corps. People were fighting the war there day and night. I never saw or heard of anyone using drugs or alcohol in combat. Those were problems with rear area guys who were bored.

One of the greatest history channels out there, never take anything for face value and make sure you know all the facts before you upload videos 👍🏻

In 1970-1971 I was a marine in vietnam and I never saw anyone using illegal drugs. It was common to drink alcohol when it was available, which wasn't often where I was stationed, and how much you could drink was limited. It wasn't smart or safe to get drunk and not be aware , especially at night and if it was your time to provide security. People knew that if they got caught using any type of illegal drugs their military career was over and they were definitely going to the brig. No doubt there were some who did it and didn't get found out.

I would suggest that the My Lai massacre was most likely wired out Speed users and strung out junkies, but then, any US politician at the time, and a fair few today, will blame any act of violence on marijuana, even though it makes most users very calm, peaceful people. Hell, alcohol causes thousands more incidents of violence than marijuana ever will!

When my older brother returned home from Vietnam, he told me (I was a teenager then) stories about loading up Jeeps with cases of beer for patrols, and drinking beer all day. After returning home he became a cop, and was known to smoke pot on duty. As the years passed, his stories started to include accounts of illicit drug use. I'm guessing that being caught high on duty was a dishonorable discharge offense because he and others like him always stipulate that they only smoked off-duty. But that doesn't jibe with the drinking on-duty. The difference was that alcohol was part of military life, and it was normal to have beer in vending machines on-base into the '80s, even stateside. Alcohol wasn't taboo, only being drunk on duty was. But any amount of illicit drugs was contraband. Add to this the fact that the Nixon administration changed the definition of "narcotics" to include pretty much every substance that they had just outlawed, including pot. Regulating drunkenness not alcohol had a self-moderating effect, but making all drugs "hard drugs" had the opposite effect, the cost of getting caught was the same for pot and heroin, so why not go for the gusto if you do get high? Not long ago my brother, high on VA-supplied oxycodone and alcohol, told a story about parties in which the GIs would make a witch's brew of whatever illicit drugs they had, put it all in a pipe and smoke it. According to him, this included heroin and LSD.

I had a friend that was drafted during the Vietnam war. He was the only one in his group that was sent to Germany. He told me that he had very little memory of his experience because he was stoned most of the time. Nobody cared what was going on with the troops in Germany during the main conflict. I also met someone who was one of the initial "advisors" sent to Nam. He said that they were so F..ked up that they stole and tried to fly a helicopter. He said the last thing he remembered was just getting off the ground then BOOM.

I can't believe the My Lai situation was the result of pot use. It was the result of unrelieved stress. You tease a dog long enough, and he finally snaps.......

Excessive drug taking and alcohol are an escape from the situation we’re in. Been there in civilian life. I can’t imagine how a soldier must feel in a guerrilla war.

My dad was stationed on Okinawa in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. I remember him talking about a dozen Green Beret Special Forces who were arrested for smuggling large quantity of heroin from Vietnam to Okinawa and the US. Because they were in the Special Forces they would frequently travel to Vietnam and their luggage was never searched. This “privilege” to travel via USAF transport planes without being questioned or searched made them the perfect drug smugglers.

My mom's uncle, RIP, came home from Vietnam with a horrible heroin addiction. It may have stemmed from him being injured when his chopper went down, I was told he was a door gunner. My great aunt was fortunately able to break his addiction not too long after. Him and my grandpa never spoke about their experience in Vietnam though. My mom even says my youngest brother looks like he did when he was younger, he's a big dude like my great uncle was.

My father was, by all accounts, a sweet, shy young man before he joined the Marine Corps and went to Vietnam. I never knew that man. I knew a man who was a severe alcoholic, cocaine/heroin and pill user who molested my brother and I, pursued any self destructive behavior and ruined 2 or more families and their children. He was discharged from the Marine Corps for continued and chronic drug use and immoral behaviors. Thank you Vietnam. Thank you US GOVERNMENT.

I would love to know where you got that stat about 1% of American soldiers suffered mental breakdowns compared to WW2 at 10%. Thats an interesting stat. I love all of your videos, they are informative, entertaining, often original, and well put together. Thank you for your hard work!

As a USMC infantryman in Viet Nam, served almost 2 yrs in combat, Feb. 68 to Oct 69, from PFC to Sergeant, I can state, that even though there was marijuana use while in a secure area, NEVER did I see, hear, or ever smell any drugs while on operations. No Marine would allow it, discipline and morale in Marine units never defeatist. Liberal, but proud of being a Marine.

What an interesting topic of discussion. Very fascinating. One of my favorite history channels!

Also got to remember that most pot was a lot milder high back then. Most unseasoned people could smoke a joint casually and not be couch ridden and drooling on yourself like a lot of the heavy stuff you can find today...

You briefly touch on an interesting point in this video about breakdowns. The mad vietnam vet trope is something of a complete myth, they actually had a really high employment and quality of life rate after the war compared to what is imagined.

When I was in the USAF in the mid 70's drug use of all kinds was rampant. And alcohol was so prevalent - freely available all over the place. The enlisted clubs regularly held nickel beer nights and squadron activities always included dozens of kegs of free beer. The barracks were like a shopping mall for all sorts of drugs.

My family has lived this. My father served in Vietnam It was psychologically devastating for years. He was a heroine addict and was refused help.Just like 70% of the other soliders labeled dishonorable so the government wouldn't have to pay them.

Aye man I loved every bit of this video great job

I was in Vietnam 1967-68, and i think that drug use was a reflection of our peers. the drinkers and druggies were the same ones as their peers outside the military. Putting on a uniform does not change things too much..

I joined the Army in 1979 and had a joint left when I got to Basic Training. I smoked it with my buddies in the reception center, then proceeded to make a 0% on a 20-question multiple-choice Military Intelligence quiz, lol. Later in AIT for the Chemical Corp, they would show us films of the effects of LSD on Service Members, which did affect their performance😵‍💫, wildly.

Such a crazy situation to be in, imagine not being able to focus on your enemy because your too focused on the lack of your last fix.

An older gentleman I am friends with who served in Vietnam said everyone got loaded on opium or alcohol to forget about their circumstances any chance they got. He said the people you really had to watch out for were the ones who stayed sober and enjoyed the killing.

I guess you could say it was a war on drugs

I was there 67 and 68. Marines. Drinking, yes when beer was available. Pot, sometimes. But neither was used in the field because that would have been suicidal, obviously. Never saw or heard of hard drugs.

Your channel always teaches me something new.

My former coworker was am Army Huey pilot from '68-69. I asked him how the thai sticks were (weed dipped in opium) and he started dying of laughter. "Why the hell do you know what that is!? Ah man havent heard that name is years!" He said he did many many drugs over there

I had two brothers in Vietnam at same time, One Army , One Marine , Both said weed and beer was everywhere and used like it was nothing. Both said it seem like they wanted you be either drinking or smoking when You where in base camp,

The fact that the senator tried to blame Cannabis for a massacre is ludicrous! The last person to kill anyone is the guy who’s stoned.

This is a good and fair piece of journalism ... I grew up on a Hippie commune and seen what Vietnam did to returning vets from the war second hand ... it was very sad 😥

I didn't drink, smoke pot, etc., but after my tour and to this day I am impaired. Fear breeds solutions, right or wrong.

Oof so high in the Vietnam War. Literally 😂🤣!

Those men saw things most people will only read about. AND came out victorious. If they were under the influence, so be it. I support it. Most doctors treat you like a project anyways in prescribing drugs to patients until it works.

I was talking to a man who had been in Saigon, and he said that on any given night most of the soldiers were so drunk or so high they didn't know what they were doing. He said the whole thing was so senseless. ... When I was in Germany 1977 - 79 we faced a very similar profile of drugs. There was high quality, cheap heroin. A lot of hash. There was some really good stimulant sold legally on the German economy but illegal on post. But the major drug was alcohol. Every soldier in our company drank a lot. There was only one guy in our company who didn't drink to excess. On every Friday evening there would be a line of soldiers going to the package store, and a line coming back. The military was stupid enough to make alcohol plentiful and cheap. A 40 oz. bottle of Bacardi Rum cost $2.90. If I was a battalion commander I would have considered making alcohol much more difficult to get. Alcohol caused a lot of problems. I was one of the worst.

As a child I remember speaking with a neighbour who fought in the trenches in WW1. He told me that when at the front Navy Rum was given freely to give them Dutch Courage.

I served in Vietnam in '72. Drank like a fish when not on patrol. Got back to the world and the cost of alcohol was about 2 to 3 times more than in country. Took me several weeks to not buy a case of beer for the day. Money ran out to fast and I like to have green in my pocket. I don't think I became a alcoholic but darn close.

"We don't have a drug problem, everybody has it" -Robin Williams.

My dad told me that when he was in the Marines in Vietnam, guys would have bonfire parties where they would be amped up on "moo juice" (meth) and just dance around in circles breaking stuff.

I was an infantry soldier in Vietnam but there was only one time during which drug use became a problem to the fighting efficiency of my company. A new commander came in, cracked the whip and cleaned things up. If you were in the field you couldn’t involve yourself too deeply in drugs or alcohol in that hot climate or it would show in your attitude. Sadly, pot parties or just plain alcohol was responsible for various incidents of poor performance.

I was a dog handler and I got to work with many units and the drug use in Vietnam 70-71 was not as extreme as y’all portrayed in this video. Sure there were incidents where soldiers would over indulge, but there was a brotherhood of being in Nam and most of that bond served to throttle the extremes of most situations. Yes, and most of the soldiers did it in their off time and usually on base and at night. It was not tolerated in the bush, can’t mess up because buddies are depending on each other to cya. BTW, drugs have always been a part of warfare, even in ancient times. It was the extreme carnage of the Civil War that programmed drug use for pain and shell shock. No surprise that post WWII saw advancements in warfare through pharmacology.

Fun Fact! The Band that sings 'Come on Eileen' is named after Dexedrine, their name being Dexy's Midnight Runners.

Thanks for publishing this. I never heard of any of this until traveling to Vietnam and going to the American War museum.

In 2018 I worked for a housekeeping company and while there I met a vietnam vet named Ace. His stories were crazy he said he did a insane amount of heroin there and back at home. Unfortunately it definitely effected him as when I worked with him he was crazy slow and half the time forgot how to do things. It's crazy how the stuff can wreck you. Even decades after

Not directly related, but I'd love to hear more about the Australian side to the Vietnam conflict and why us Brits weren't involved - you would think as Commonwealth we would have been by your side but weren't!

My Mom said that a Vietnam vet she dated told her staying high was the only way he saved his sanity.

I could not understand the heavy drug used during the Vietnam War until one of my employees explained it to me, that it kept him alive. We're not talking about monotony of camp life and squalid conditions in the field. After hearing his story, I concluded, they'd done drugs or quite possibly would have killed themselves to get out from their duty. He related that he spend 2 years of his life in the "DMZ" Demilitarized Zone between North and South Vietnam. He showed me pictures. After constant shelling 24 hours a day not a blade of grass survived intact in the DMZ after constant years of pounding. Hunkered under rock stacked shelters, where they'd duck into when the shelling started again. After one year they let him have R x R and then shoved him right back there for another year's duty. He showed me a lot of pictures and pointed out all the men, he saw blown up in front of his own eyes = about 65% of everyone he served within those two years! He said with the Drugs besides making the existence barely possible, the "Light Shows" at night with the munitions blowing up and the incoming rounds were incredibly beautiful on the drugs. Like they say don't condemn a man unless you've walked in his shoes. After seeing these self-made pictures and hearing his stories, I saw that he was incredibly strong to have survived those two years with his mind in tack, and not have committed suicide along the way. A true tough guy, and lucky to be alive. Over a 10 year period, he was one of my top 2 producers for me of all them men that worked for me. I remember one time him coming to work with a bronchial flue and 103 F temperature. I told him no work today, and he told me sorry, I'm working. I had to order two of my men to physically throw him in his own pickup and drive him north to his wife at the farm they were renting. I told them to tell his wife NOT to let him return to work for at least 3 days, or I would fire him upon seeing him. He was that valuable to my team.

The Vietnam war wasn’t a war. It was a police action much like what we’ve been doing in the Middle East. A war is an all out no holds barred event with an objective not a rule filled pick and choose battles with no objective. The Americans were hamstrung in Vietnam and after almost a decade you wouldn’t want to fight a war that wasn’t meant to be won.

I thought the voice sounded familiar. I watch so much of your Star Wars content!! I’m gonna be watching more of this channel now

It's not a popular thing to talk about but I know of a lot of soldiers in the middle east wars who were using heroin on the field of battle. When they came home they kept using. There are some dangerous junkies on the streets of our country, combat tacticians with an opiate addiction.

My uncle fought at keyson (not spelled correctly) he told me he shot this VC sapper seven time in his words he was a walking pile of goo but was so high that he kept coming even when he was on the ground with no hope he was still trying to fight until he was stopped with a head shot my point is drug where used on bothsides

That last one about weed is ABSOLUTELY AND COMPLETELY BULLSHIT!😂😂😂🤣🤣😍🤣🤦‍♂️ Great channel, probably one of my favorite!