Women at war: The crucible of Vietnam

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Highlights 

Physical health of women deployed to Vietnam was influenced by warzone experiences. 

Career military women Vietnam veterans are happier than women in general population. 

Military and non-military Vietnam service women less likely to marry or have kids.

Paper provides insight to mostly unstudied lives of American women of Vietnam War. 

ABSTRACT - Relatively little has been written about the military women who served in Vietnam, and there is virtually no literature on deployed civilian women (non-military). We examined the experiences of 1285 American women, military and civilian, who served in Vietnam during the war and responded to a mail survey conducted approximately 25 years later in which they were asked to report and reflect upon their experiences and social and health histories.

We compare civilian women, primarily American Red Cross workers, to military women stratified by length of service, describe their demographic characteristics and warzone experiences (including working conditions, exposure to casualties and sexual harassment), and their homecoming following Vietnam. We assess current health and well-being and also compare the sample to age- and temporally-comparable women in the General Social Survey (GSS), with which our survey shared some measures.

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