Decades after the war, veterans return to Vietnam to help other vets heal

Decades after the war, veterans return to Vietnam to help other vets heal

By PAUL FATTIG (Medford) Mail Tribune
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) - When Michael Phillips returned to Medford from Vietnam in 1971, the Army veteran didn't exactly march back into society.

"When I got back, I didn't associate with my family, I didn't join the VFW or anything," he said. "I came close to getting married several times but each time managed to mess it up. I partied a lot, but it was very hard for me to get close to anybody."

"I thought I was invincible because I had survived the war," he said. "But my PTSD was causing severe depression."

In the Army, Phillips was a specialist fourth class who drove in a combat convoy in Vietnam and into Cambodia.

He has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, which he and counselors say led to drug abuse and homelessness over the years.

He spent two years in therapy for PTSD at the VA's Southern Oregon Rehabilitation Center and Clinics in White City, and it is the reason he is returning to Vietnam on Nov. 3.

"I'm not going back there with a lot of feelings of guilt or anger," he said. "I'm going back there to learn how to help other veterans heal, although I anticipate there will be moments when I have my issues."

Phillips will be among 20 people on the trip, including eight veterans, their spouses and several others with ties to Vietnam or the war.
read more here
http://www.katu.com/news/local/67760317.html