American Soliders Returning Home

The government didn't test Agent Orange on soldiers, it was a byproduct of using it to remove vegetation that gave cover for the Vietnamese. It was a mistake that it caused side effects in soldiers (and an even bigger travesty was what it did to Vietnam and the Vietnamese). That doesn't mean it was a sinister plan to test what Agent Orange would do.

You sound like a conspiracy theorist. Soldiers come back from war changed because war is a traumatic time. I think killing someone or hearing bullets fly every hour would change anyone. Plus, being away from family, friends, and intimate relationships can have a huge effect on a person. They're in a completely different environment and they are forced to adjust. Depression, boredom, fear, anxiety. All these emotions will change a person when they're constantly pushing on you. The government is not experimenting on our soldiers. We are not so inhumane as to do such a thing. Sure the government can be a little shady at times, but this idea is just crazy.

I don't think the goverment dare to perform these kind of tests today. First of all it would be hard to cover with all the press in the area, second of all it would be hard to make the soldiers participate in something like that, people don't just trust each other today.

While I'm sure that soldiers are exposed to potentailly dangerous chemicals while on duty, I don't believe that the US government is actually doing it on purpose as an "experiment". For an experiment to give reliable results, it has to be done in a controlled environment, Iraq or any other war zone is a pretty far cry from being controlled in any sense, especially a scientific one. I personally think that most of the mental problems suffered by soldiers are caused by being sent away and having to watch people die, especially if you are the one that kills them; and you are always aware that people around you may try to kill you at any time. That's pretty stressful stuff to go through, then you get shipped home and people expect you to act like your the same as before you left. I've never had to go through that, but I'm sure if that was my life for several months or years and then I got dropped back into my old life, I would be a very changed person and would have a really hard time readjusting. The real miracle is that more of our returning soldiers don't have problems. As for Agent Orange, the government screwed up by not testing it properly before having soldiers use it, and then finding out later that it was so bad for them (trying to cover it up, didn't help their case either). But it's not like some US scientist said, "Hey, lets spread this plant poison all over our own troops and see if it gives them cancer..."

Our military is being experimented on regardless where they are deployed. When my husband was in, during bootcamp they gave him a bunch of shots, he was only told what half of them were for! It took us a few years to conceive our son, he was going bald, gained a bunch of weight (he was really fit still, like he could run really well). He looks and feels so much better since he got out!