Recently, more information is coming out of Russia with respect to the estimated numbers of wounded soldiers involved in the war with Ukraine. Of course, the total number of actual Russian war wounded is not disclosed by the Russian authorities. After the war’s first month, the Russian defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, reportedly announced 3,825 wounded, a figure Russia has never updated. The Central Intelligence Agency, in an article published in January 2024 in Foreign Affairs, estimated that Russian dead and wounded soldiers numbered 315,000. The actual number may lie somewhere in between. Nevertheless, the fact is that such a large number of wounded veterans are returning home means that the Russians have a major political problem.
Now let’s go back to a very unpopular Vietnam War and similar reactions by the American government as to the number of returning wounded Viet veterans. As in Russia, American participation in the war in Vietnam became less and less popular as the war went on. Although there were protests initially against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the early months, Putin’s regime quickly imposed severe restrictions, including imprisonment, against its opponents. While open demonstrations by anti-Vietnam war protesters were condemned by many in the U.S. administration, and by Presidents Johnson and Nixon in particular, they did represent a significant degree of opposition as the war went on. The Pentagon underplayed the actual number of American deaths and injuries for some time, only to release more information towards the end of the war.
With the numbers of returning wounded, the U.S. military health care facilities became overwhelmed. The same can be said for the Russian situation where accounts from doctors and the wounded suggest that Russia lacks essentials for treatment — everything from sufficient evacuation vehicles to hospital beds to drugs in military run medical facilities nationwide. The walking wounded will increasingly be seen everywhere among the civilian population, creating a PR nightmare for both governments. Both wars involved a type of warfare that resulted in horrendous physical injuries, including those involving amputations.
Without providing actual numbers, the Russian administration recently disclosed that about 54 percent of wounded veterans classified as disabled have suffered amputations. As for Vietnam, by 1969 more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel were stationed in Vietnam. As of the current Census taken during August 2000, the surviving U.S. Vietnam Veteran population estimate is a little over one million. It is difficult to obtain the actual number of physically or mentally injured veterans, except to say that they are in the thousands, many still being treated in VA facilities. U.S. Wings notes that 58,148 were killed in Vietnam, 75,000 severely disabled, 23,214 were 100% disabled, 5,283 lost limbs and 1,081 sustained multiple amputations. This most likely doesn’t include those suffering from traumatic stress disorders (TSD).
After the American military left Vietnam, there were no ticker tape parades for the returning vets as most Americans believed the war had been a mistake and preferred simply to forget about it. In Russia, many of the injured are not openly celebrated and Russians appear “not ready” to see amputees, which satisfies the chosen approach by the Russian propaganda regime. However, as in the case of Vietnam, the increasing appearance of injured Russian vets within their communities cannot but affect their families and the population at large. Moreover, they appear to be treated as heroes or not at all. Efforts are being made to keep them out of the public eye, much like what happened in the U.S. during the Vietnam War.
The Kremlin, military analysts and some medical personnel say, wants to avoid a repeat of the antiwar movements that forced a halt to the Soviet Union’s earlier wars in Chechnya and Afghanistan. What will happen to the injured Russian vets is anyone’s guess at this time, particularly as the Ukraine conflict is continuing with no end in sight. If it is anything like what happened eventually to many American Vietnam injured vets, the future doesn’t look too good.
FROLITICKS 
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