First Place Essay “Homefront Heroes” By Cadet Rhapsody Espritu Farrington Army JROTC
A child had said this to his mother, who was struggling to describe what their father was like after he had come home from the Vietnam War, “You know Mom, Dad was killed in Vietnam, it just took him forty years to die.” Everyone has a role to play in maintaining a strong and functional country. Duty to our country does not only mean joining the military and going off to fight in a war, but instead duty to our country is a complex concept that can only be fully understood when peering into the lives of service members’ family’s experiences and lifestyle. Many military families undergo a different type of war, a war that happens in their own home. Lessons such as the importance of being independent, considerate, adaptable, and resilient can all be learned from these military families. On November1, 1955, the Vietnam War began, involving several countries including Communist China, the Soviet Union, Laos, Cambodia, South Korea, the United States of America, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (the Communist regime in North Vietnam), and the Republic of Vietnam (actually democratic nation in South Vietnam). The main cause of U.S. involvement in the war was the widespread fear and threat of communism. With exact dates unclear, in 1965 the United States entered the war with three thousand five hundred Marines near Da Nang. During the time the U.S. was involved, about two million two hundred thousand men were drafted. Soldiers, untrained citizens, and young men were all fighting against the spread of communism and serving out their honored duty to their country. The U.S. feared that if Communist Vietnam in the north took over democratic Republic of Vietnam in the south, then other countries would fall into a domino effect and convert into a communist form of government. This type of government was unwanted because it was the opposite of a democracy, it is a type of political and economic system that controls major productions and natural resources, which allows the government to possess higher control over their citizens. Many U.S. soldiers stayed in Vietnam for long periods of time as the U.S. finally began to withdraw troops in 1973. As soldiers were being deployed to Vietnam, their spouses' and families had to prepare for their absence. As military wives and mothers they must keep up their end of things at home, such as raising their children alone. With their husband’s long absence, many families struggle with separation and maintaining healthy relationships (Syringa Cinema, 2018). A particular married couple, Terry Allen Jr., and Jean Allen, had experienced such struggles and many more as “the needs of a military career would dominate their marriage” (Public Broadcasting Service) during the time of the Vietnam War. As separation was a known stress factor within a military marriage and Jean had felt the sense of hopelessness as Terry’s deployments became more frequent and eventually elongated as the U.S. became involved in the Vietnam War. In February 1967, Terry was off to join his comrades in the Vietnam War, leaving Jean and his three children back in Texas. Jean’s isolation and postpartum depression grew as Terry “seemed to focus too heavily on the operational side of life in the country” (Public Broadcasting Service), resulting in the start of an unhappy marriage. As the Vietnam War was going on many Americans became anti-war. Jean’s exposure to their views left her in doubt of not only the integrity of the U.S.’s involvement in the Vietnam War, but also her marriage. Her doubt further grew like a poisonous vine that had slowly creeped up and around her leg, continuing to consume the rest of her body. Eventually, doubt took over and her isolation and depression were relieved after Jean had “an affair with a local rodeo clown and wrote a "Dear John" letter to Terry telling him the marriage was over” (Public Broadcasting Service). Although it is unclear, Jean was an independent woman that was able to raise three young children alone while still working a full-time television job. Her success in keeping up her end of things 8
