Vietnam vets share experiences

Vietnam vets share experiences
Post-traumatic stress disorder, common among soldiers, is discussed


Sunday, May 4, 2008
By Steve Stein
Of the Journal Star

MORTON - Bobby Ross knows why he has post-traumatic stress disorder.
"It's because of the horrible, horrible, horrible things I saw, smelled and heard over there ... and because I'm here," he said Saturday, his voice trembling with emotion.

Ross and other Vietnam War veterans talked about how they've dealt with PTSD at a conference at Morton American Legion Post 318 held in conjunction with the visit of The Wall That Heals to Morton.

The wall, a half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., is on the grounds of Jefferson Elementary School through midnight tonight.

Ross organized and runs LRRPnet, an online support network for veterans with PTSD.

LRRP is the acronym for Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol, special four- to six-man teams whose mission in Vietnam was to find enemy troops and bring back that information to commanders.

PTSD is a mental condition caused by an individual's exposure to an event or series of events that are not normal. It is not always caused by the horrors of war.

PTSD could afflict a person who survives a traffic accident that kills others.

Symptoms include flashbacks, nightmares, disassociation with reality, avoiding emotions, relationships and situations reminiscent of the traumatic event or events, and exaggerated startle reactions.

Ross calls the disease "a diabolical black snake" because he hates snakes. He sees the symbolic snake in his dreams every night.

His symptoms haven't manifested themselves only in his sleep. He recalled beating up a restaurant co-worker because he thought he was Vietnamese (he actually was a Filipino) and putting a gun in the face of another motorist after a minor traffic incident.

Ross was taking three dozen medications a day until 2004, when he retired from a career as a music producer and performer in Nashville to live on a farm in his native California.

"Now I survive on Wild Turkey whiskey and cigars," he said.

John Hosier of St. Louis, a combat photographer who has earned a doctorate degree in Asian studies, also became emotional when discussing his battle with PTSD.

"Divorce, alcohol, drugs, jail, attempted suicide ... I've done them all," he said.
Larry Stimeling, wall chairman for Post 318, also suffers from PTSD.

"After you shoot a man in a battle, you get a rush of adrenaline," Stimeling said. "But five minutes, five months, maybe 15 years later, you realize that man had a family and was doing what he was asked to do by his country, just like you. Then it starts tearing at you."

The veterans who spoke Saturday don't think enough is being done by the U.S. military to help those afflicted with PTSD - including the troops fighting now in Iraq and Afghanistan - and they believe veterans should take part of the blame.

"When there are budget cuts, one of the first things that goes is services for veterans because we don't bitch loud enough together," Stimeling said.

Ross said ordinary people can help the current troops who are home from war zones.

"When I came home, I felt that America hated (me)," Ross said. "If you see a soldier, thank him or her for their service to our country. You don't know how much that helps."

Steve Stein can be reached at 686-3114 or stevestein21@yahoo.com.

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/050408/TRI_BGH8UGV1.036.php

U.S. Army Lost and Found Listingshttp://www.vietvet.org/armylf.htm


If you go into the Army Lost and Found message site, you will find thousands of entries of Vietnam veterans looking for their "brothers" and children looking for information on their fathers. Mixed in a some posts from wives trying to help their husbands reconnect, gain support for claims and trying to understand.

Google results in search are Results 1 - 10 of about 194,000 for vietnam veterans with SafeSearch On

Some of the sites are organizations like the Vietnam Veterans of America, others are unit sites. The Vietnam veterans were the first generation to reach out over the net.

When they went to Vietnam, they went alone. They came home the same way. Each one was given a DEROS date. Date of Expected Return from Overseas. It was a year except the Marines. They had 13 months.

Individual Rotations
In previous wars, soldiers traveled to the war zone and 'home again in groups. This allowed a socialization to develop which did not occur in the Vietnam war. The group journeys home allowed for a debriefing, a chance to process the experience, and reassimilate into civilian life.

In an effort to reduce psychiatric and readjustment difficulties, a new system known as DEROS (Date of Expected Return From Overseas) was introduced. DEROS allowed for each GI to know when he was scheduled to return home. The average tour of duty was 12 months, except for Marines who had a 13 month tour. Because in previous wars, those combatants with the greatest duration of combat had the highest incidences of breakdowns, it was felt that the Vietnam soldier could hang on for his 12 or 13 month tour, he would be less exposed to psychological problems; thus the DEROS system.

What the system created however, was an individualized experience. The soldier arrived in Vietnam alone, and because of the continuing rotations in and out of the country, he was denied the opportunity to participate in unit cohesiveness. Subsequently, unit morale was lacking along with the support systems necessary for a soldier in combat. Upon completion of his tour, he frequently endured a solitary plane ride home and no one with whom to share the mass of mixed emotions he was experiencing. What should have been a return trip filled with joy and anticipation was instead one filled with a barrage of anxiety and confusion.
http://www.vetsoutreach.com/ptsd-history.html

They went through training and then left the people they trained with, entered Vietnam greeted by strangers who looked at them as a liability. They called them FNG, F-ing New Guys. Virgins in the jungles of Vietnam were expected to do stupid things and get the others killed in the process. Once the others got to know the FNG, they were accepted as brothers and they bonded. They watched over each other and they trusted each other. But then a brother would get killed, get rotated home under DEROS or get wounded. This was always in the mind of the grunts and they held back from full connection.

When they came home, they were sent back to home alone. They lost contact with the brothers their lives depended on. They were back in civilization and expect to put it all behind them. Most of them thought they could because it was only one year out of their lives. The problem was that one year changed them for the rest of their lives and no one told them it would.

They were trained to kill but none of them were trained to heal.

Disconnected from the brothers they were risking their lives with, this makes what they accomplished all the more amazing. They began groups like the Vietnam Veterans of America, Rolling Thunder and Nam Knights. They banded together to get the Vietnam Memorial Wall built in Washington. They used the power of their numbers to make changes in the way veterans are treated by the VA when it came to their signature wounds of PTSD and Agent Orange. They were turned away from the established organizations like the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, so they started their own. What is really unique about them is that they fought the government so that all veterans would be taken care of, even the ones who wanted nothing to do with them. Now the Vietnam veterans are the heads of these organizations.

Now they go to Iraq and Afghanistan in units and return in units. They are no longer alone serving with strangers and when they come home, they have someone to stay in touch with. The problem is the National Guardsman and the Reservists who are repeating the process of returning back into civilized life, to home and family and to jobs they had to leave. They have only a slightly easier time staying in touch with the brothers and sisters they served with because they are from the same area.

As more and more veterans return from Iraq and Afghanistan, their wounds are shining a spotlight on the wounds the Vietnam veterans have endured for over 30 years. Now there are reports from every news organization across the nation about PTSD and TBI. More and more Vietnam veterans are discovering what has been wrong with them all these years because of this. Years ago the media regarded the suffering of the Vietnam veterans as not worthy of reporting on and now they are contacting the Vietnam veterans to share their experiences so that they can help the nation to understand the new generation and what they will face 30 years from now. The question is, how many have we lost because no one did what they are doing now?


Sr.Chaplain Kathie Costos
IFOC
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington