Many nurses served in Vietnam, and it is important to note that Vietnam was the first war in which MEN were allowed to nurse. Ironic, isn’t it, to think of how reverse discrimination resulted in hundreds of male nurses (I’m assuming hundreds rather than thousands, since not that many men were nurses during WWII and Korea) could not work as nurses. Even though the need was dire for trained healers, and even though there was an abundant supply of men who could serve as soldiers, male nurses were not permitted to work as such until Vietnam. Talk about stupidity and idiocy.

In fact, there was an episode on the popular TV show MASH, where the subject came up. It wasn’t the main storyline, but there was a male soldier who said he was a nurse, but couldn’t work as one in the army. The military instead, forced him to pick up a gun and learn to kill, rather than allowing him to be at the bedside of the injured and sick, and save lives.

So this little background scenario brings me to the subject at hand. The American Journal of Nursing has a nice story in this month’s issue about Vietnam Women’s Memorial. It’s been a long time in coming, but is finally here.

According to the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation (www.vietnamwomensmemorial.org), more than 265,000 women-almost 90% of them nurses-volunteered for service in the U.S. military during the Vietnam War era. About 11,000 of these women were stationed in Vietnam. The average army nurse serving in Vietnam was under the age of 24, and 65% had less than two years of nursing experience. They found that their own fear of being in a war zone was quickly replaced by the need and desire to care for others.

Kettlewell, like many nurses who served in Vietnam, faced overwhelming trauma and danger and witnessed a great deal of death. Most nurses were young and inexperienced-unprepared for seemingly endless pain and tragedy. And unknown numbers returned with PTSD and painful memories of caregiving situations. This past year, the 15-year anniversary of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial recognized the heroism and sacrifices of these women with a candlelight ceremony, storytelling, a reading of the names of those who died in Vietnam, and other events.

If you go to the article, you can also click on icons for images and podcasts. Nice story, AJN!