Veterans Help Other Vets Cope With Trauma of War

Veterans Help Other Vets Cope With Trauma of War
July 7, 2009 Reported By: Tom Porter

Mainers have a strong tradition of serving in the military. Indeed the state has one of the highest percentages of veterans in the country, around 16 percent of the population. The Maine Army National Guard meanwhile ranks in the top ten states for frequency of deployments, with thousands being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since the attacks of September 11th, 2001.

According to the Veterans Administration, around 40 percent of those returning from war zones in recent years have sought some kind of psychological help to deal with after-effects of combat. Now, more help is available in the form of a counseling program recently launched in Maine called Veterans Helping Veterans.

On this day, Rob Pfeiffer welcomes a group of veterans into his office in the midcoast town of Camden. For the past couple of months now, Pfeiffer's been holding weekly counseling sessions for vets who feel they need help in putting the trauma of war behind them.

Pfeiffer has over 30 years experience as a mental health counselor, but it's another part of his life story that he feels makes him better-suited than most counselors for this job.

"I was a Marine lieutenant and captain in the Vietnam era, and managed to survive," Pfeiffer says. "I'm a disabled vet -- I got shot. But other than that I came through with an appreciation for what war does to us as veterans, and I think that's the place where we can connect that takes other people longer to do, because we've already got a built-in understanding of what veterans have experienced."

Pfeiffer says that upon returning, he was was unable to talk about his combat experiences for 13 years. Like many returning from war, he bottled up his feelings - something which often only worsens the post-traumatic stress suffered by a lot of vets.

I used to have nightmares. When there's mortars exploding around you 24/7 it's hard not to be twitchy," says Ben, who declined to give his last name. Ben got back from Iraq in 2005 after a 14-month tour.
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Veterans Help Other Vets Cope With Trauma of War