The Vietnam War was a complicated, convoluted and undeniably, an elongated war. There were various causes and effects and repercussions both on the home front and abroad. What do people really know and/or think about the Vietnam War? Do people know the real causes for this behemoth of a war? Do people know how American soldiers actually survived and coped in a hostile foreign land? Do people know how this war really ended? Chances are many Americans, especially younger ones, probably don’t know and may not even care. For this reason, Steve Wilken wrote, “Why Didn't You Have To Go To Vietnam, Daddy” and the book can easily be considered the most honest and real book one will ever read the Vietnam War never shying away from the most controversial of subjects.

Front Cover of Steve Wilken's Book © Truesource Publishing

    Wilken wrote this political novel to challenge reader’s views and beliefs no matter to which generation they belong. According to Wilken, he hopes that telling his story, “even at this late date, will help a younger generation understand the forces that shaped their parent's lives.” He wants youngsters to learn from the past so they can better understand and appreciate a past generation and the challenges they faced. He also doesn’t want to see history repeat itself. Wilken, however, feels that this happening with the operation in Iraq.

    This book was also written in order to force readers to question this particular war, war in general, and American politics, including democracy. Wilken doesn’t care to sugar coat or glamorize this war or the trials and tribulations of the soldiers it consumed. He takes a no-holds-barred approach to this war. He hits on uncomfortable subjects such as drug use and abuse and the anti-war and unpatriotic views held by many soldiers. In fact, his views are so vocal and oft-negative that some have accused him of being anti-American and unpatriotic.

     According to Wilken, the title was inspired by a question that children have been asking since the 1960s, “Why didn’t you have to go to Vietnam, Daddy?” He explained in the book how a select group of “have-plenty” could dodge the war while a disproportionate number of “have-not” had to endure the war abroad. The poor, the uneducated and minorities were the most likely to fight and die in Vietnam. He believed that the unfortunate had too huge of a burden to bear based on something as immutable as class, race or ethnicity.

     According to Wilken, drug use was rampant. This included everything from LSD to marijuana to alcohol and anything in between. Casual drug use eventually led to full out abuse by many soldiers. Wilken described soldiers who were essentially high all day, every day to endure their tour. Soldiers used drugs as a form of self-medication, to help cope with all the death, destruction and depravity surrounding them. Drugs were cheap and easily accessible. As soon as a soldier got his check, he could turn it over basically on the spot to score drugs. It was as easy to get drugs as to get basic personal hygiene items. Soldiers would often pass their time doing drugs which helped them escape, at least mentally. Many soldiers continued to indulge drugs in the consequent years to help them erase the memories of yesteryear.

     Based on soldier’s daily experiences, many of them not only began to despise the war but also the people and country that sent them to “Hell on Earth.”  How could the country they had always loved and respected so much have sent them to a seemingly early grave? What was the democracy in that? Many soldiers developed a dichotomous view of America where they still loved “the greatest country on Earth” yet hated how they could possibly be sent to an early grave. Wilken claims that American presidents such as Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, along with a slew of other politicians and big names such as J. Edgar Hoover, were wrong to get mixed up in such a travesty of a war. This war was more about politics and protecting personal interests than anything. A “sugar daddy” United States had to protect its precious, rebel South Vietnamese faction, according to Wilken to stop “the communist boogieman”. With the means in mind, they sacrificed thousands of innocent American lives as well as countless Vietnamese innocents.

      Despite what you may think of war in general or Vietnam in particular, “Why Didn’t You Have to Go to Vietnam, Daddy?” will open your eyes to a real, hard-hitting account through the eyes of a true soldier. Many may not agree, accept or like it but it is nonetheless powerful and offers another viewpoint. It tells what happens when greed, personal interests, youth, naïveté, bloodlust and socio-political forces simmer and boil. In Wilken’s own words, “The Vietnam War was a tragic mistake in American history that never should have happened.  It ripped America apart, and left a generation scarred for life.”