Vietnam Vet pointing the way to healing PTSD

Perry Lewis, left, and Sgt. Tom Roehm are holding an 18 1/2-foot Burmese python Mr. Lewis stumbled upon while serving in Vietnam. Mr. Lewis accidentally slid down the steep incline of a 20-foot cliff and landed in a large pool at the bottom — on top of the python. Mr. Lewis said he tried to keep the snake from squeezing him to death when Sgt. Roehm led the rest of the squad to his rescue. ‘We were able to capture him alive and carried him back up the mountain to be sent back to our base camp,’ Mr. Lewis said. ‘That story is as real as if it happened yesterday.’

Vietnam Vet Offers Help To Other Vets

Leslie Parnell
Daily Record Reporter

In honor of a fellow Vietnam veteran who recently died of Lou Gherig's disease, Perry Lewis of Point Man Battleground Ministries will begin classes in the Plain View area for veterans who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Both Mr. Lewis and his late friend have battled PTSD.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Web site, www.ncptsd.va.gov, 30 percent of Vietnam, 10 percent of the Gulf War, 6 to 11 percent of Afghan war and about 12 to 20 percent of Iraqi war veterans have suffered from PTSD.

"Statistics have become quite staggering to the number of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from PTSD and mental disorders," Mr. Lewis said.

PTSD is caused when a person experiences a traumatic event, something horrible or scary that a person sees or that happens to the person, the Veterans Affairs Web site said. About 60 percent of men and 50 percent of women experience a traumatic event in their lives, the Web site said.

The disorder can cause a person to have recurrent and intrusive recollections of the event, including images, thoughts or perceptions. A person with PTSD might also have dreams about the traumatic event, relive the event through illusions or hallucinations, experience intense psychological distress at exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble the event, or suffer physiological reactivity on exposure to internal or external cues, according to the Web site.

Some signs of PTSD include depression, isolation, avoidance of feelings, survival guilt, difficulty falling or staying asleep, irritability or outbursts of anger, difficulty concentrating, hypervigilance and exaggerated startle responses, the Web site said.

Mr. Lewis and his friend, Sgt. Tom Roehm, the man for whom the class is dedicated to, served in Vietnam together.
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