USA late 1960s - questions about Drugs, Self Harm, Suicide, Vietnam War

[scully_208]

I have three different scenarios in the one story, set in 1968.

I've tried googling a few things about drafting/enlistment in the Vietnam war, the history of cocaine in the 1960s, and the stigmas around self harm in the 1960s, and I've also looked through the tags on this forum but I haven't really found the answers I'm looking for.

The story is

Comments

[beesandbrews]

Back in those days it was all about pills and pot, and LSD which was becoming quite the thing. Oh, and magic mushrooms. Cocaine didn't really take off as a party drug until the mid-seventies. The pills were uppers and downers; amphetamines and barbituites and known by a colorful assortment of names. Barbituates were 'Reds', Benzedrine or Bennies was one of the amphetimines. They were prescription drugs and easily available. A kid could swipe them off his parents or he could get them off another kid, who knew somebody, who knew somebody back to the source. It wasn't that uncommon for a high school pusher to be the last link in an organized drug trafficking trade

[green_grrl]

Agree with all of the above on the drugs. Various types of speed/amphetamines were very easily available at the time from doctors as diet aids-my mom was prescribed them since she was 9 years old. For that, your character could partner up with a girl who wanted the money for her pills more than the pills themselves. He buys them off her by the bottle, then sell them individually at parties at a profit. For the pot and acid, all he needs to do is go to a park, a club, or a concert where he gets approached to buy, and then tell the dealer he has a lot of friends he can sell to, can he buy a quantity.

[houseboatonstyx]

A suicide attempt might be covered up pubpicly so to speak, but would probably get the girl at least sent to a psychiatrist once a week for a while.

There was a good memoir, title perhaps I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN, of a girl committed to an asylum (schitzo?) who did a lot of selfl cutting and burning iirc. Good accounts. Oddly she felt no pain from it, but did get pain from imaginary things at other times..

[lealila]

For the war: I agree with beesandbrews that he was drafted. Very few people--especially at his age--agreed with the war and protested it. As the war dragged on, less and less boys volunteered. I would put him at his early thirties, depending on what year he joined. It is called Honorable Discharge.

Sorry, I don't really know for the third question.

[lealila]

Meh. My father got his GED at 17 so he could enlist and not miss the war. He really believed in helping the South Vietnamese fight for their freedom against communism. While it may have been rarer, it wasn't unheard of.

[orange_fell]

For the questions about his family, it might help to include what state/region they are from and what race/ethnicity and religion they are.

[scully_208]

California, they're a rich white family with Irish/Polish heritage (grandparents and beyond). Probably Christian or Catholic but not really practicing - church only on easter/christmas etc.

[beesandbrews]

Even if they're "Christmas Catholics" - and if they're Irish/Poles they'll likely be Catholic rather than Protestant, you can't underestimate the impact of 'Catholic guilt' on the family drama. The self harming/suicide attempt would take on a massive aspect. There would likely be a reflexive outreach to the church for support and guidance.

[scully_208]

Good to know. I hadn't even thought about the impact in that respect. Thank you for your help!

[dulcineah1]

Depending on whether the elder brother went to college, and when, he might have gotten a student deferment and avoided the draft for a few years that way. My father graduated from college in 1968 and intended to go to graduate school at that point, but the deferments for grad school were revoked that year and he had to go to Vietnam instead. If he wanted to enlist, he could have done so at any point after his eighteenth birthday, otherwise, if he went to college first and the war after he could have been around twenty-two or something. Was he an officer, or just a regular soldier

[scully_208]

Could he graduate college in '66 (aged maybe 22/23), go to war for two years and come home after amputation (age 25)?

[dulcineah1]

He should be able to do that, yeah. Part of that time would likely be basic training, etc, that he'd do in the US before being sent off to Vietnam. If he has a college degree, the Army might want to make him an officer--that was what happened with my dad, but he turned them down since officers had a higher fatality rate.