Why were Vietnam Veterans treated so badly after the war?

People did not take the time to think that the men and women of service were doing their jobs.  They felt disgraced that we were losing a battle that they did not believe in to begin with.  The American public did not know what it was like to fight in such a horrific war.  Vietnam was subject to a large amount of bad media attention.  There were always reports of villages being massacred and women being raped and murdered. The media did not report that this was done by a small majority. Many of the veterans never received their promised salaries or pensions.  The public believed that the vets were making the experiences worse than they actually were to make the government like bad.  With all this, the public felt they had to lay the blame on someone and that someone being the military not the government.