American Military History, Volume 2 by Richard W. Stewart

Since the Army was drawn from the American people and reflected their society, it had to deal with the same social problems that con- fronted the nation as the war lengthened. The polarization of opinion over the war in Vietnam, increasing drug abuse by America's young, and mounting racial tensions within the United States all took their toll.

The widespread opposition to the war in Vietnam that swept col- lege campuses in the late sixties made its way into the Army, where some soldiers participated in demonstrations, formed protest groups, or circulated antiwar literature. While soldier dissent was hardly new to the American military, the dissidence generated by the Vietnam War was more explicit than ever before. Even so-if instances of indiscipline proliferated in Vietnam and a scattering of highly publicized combat refusals occurred-the vast majority of the troops did their duty com- mendably and without demur.