PTSD 

       POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can develop after being exposed to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave
physical harm occurred or was threatened, causing a severe and ongoing emotional reaction, or an extreme psychological
trauma.

VIETNAM VETERANS HELP RETURNING IRAQ SOLDIERS DEAL WITH SHOCKS OF WAR.
    Neil Kenny, decorated for his service in Vietnam, plays big brother to Jeremiah Workman, a medal winner in Iraq struggling with the psychological effects of combat
 By Jennifer Miller--Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
              January 30, 2008 edition

WASHINGTON- Marine Sgt. Jeremiah Workman wasn't born yet when his friend Neil Kenny received the Navy Commendation Medal for dragging dead and wounded soldiers out of combat in Vietnam. But he has a good idea what it must have been like.

  In 2004, during the second battle of Fallujah in Iraq, sergeant Workman pushed through exploding grenades and machine-gun fire to rescue 10 trapped marines. His bravery earned him the Navy Cross, the military second-highest honor. Yet today Mr. Kenny and Workman share more than medals. They came home from war with severe psychological wounds - anxiety, anger and depression. More than their Marine brotherhood and shared valor, it is the the painful legacy of combat that has now forged a singular bond between them. "I can tell him everything" Workman says.  "I don't trust anybody. He's one of the few people I can talk to".

Their relationship is symbolic of a grass-root movement by Vietnam veterans to help soldiers returning from Iraq cope with the mental rigors of war and ease the transition to civilian life. Across the country, both groups of Vietnam veterans and individual former soldiers are pitching in to help console, counsel, or just be a voice on the end of the phone to those who have served in the Middle East.

Throughout history, veterans of one war have always helped those of another. But, rarely has the homecoming experience of two sets of veterans been so different, and the bonds between them so deep as those from Vietnam and Iraq. One reason is that many Vietnam-era soldiers understand the trauma that some of today's returning fighters are going through and want to help them in ways they feel they never were. Kenny is currently mentoring five Iraq veterans. When he looks at today's young soldiers, he see a mirror image of himself returning from Southeast Asia at 19. That's where I was, "he says. I don't want to turn my back on them."

On the surface, Kenny and Workman seem like strange barracks fellows. Thirty-four years separate them in age, and their personalities have significant differences. Workman is from a small Ohio town and carries himself with a quite strength. Kenny grew up in the projects on New York's Lower East Side. He wears overalls and sandals, and booms everything  in a New York accent. He used to have a ponytail, a hair style that offended Workman's Marine sensibilities.
Not surprisingly, Workman doubted Kenny's intentions when the two men met last year in a bookstore in Quantico, VA., where Workman now lives. Soldiers tends to flock to Work because of his medals. But a few minutes into the conversation, he and Kenny discovered a friend in common: a young marine, Jason Dunham, who was killed in Iraq in 2004. They ended up going to dinner and the moment they sat down, Workman says, he knew Kenny was different. "I'd known this guy for 20 minutes and we're talking [about] really serious, deep stuff, " he says, " It was just strange."
One topic they discussed was post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Kenny has battled PTSD for 40 years and receives full disability pay from the military for his condition. He says this admission "sealed" their friendship.
Workman has received intensive therapy and medication for PTSD since returning from Iraq. He says these remedies help, but he feels frustrated with the care he gets through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. " All these doctors that went to school for however many years - they've never been to war" he says. They're reading about PTSD out of a book.

Though Kenny isn't a trained therapist, he gives Workman practical advice on how to deal with problems based on his own experiences.  "I tell him what he shouldn't worry about and - what he can let go." Kenny says. " But I don't try to run his life. Their relationship now goes beyond counselor - confident: They have become fast friends. The men talk several times a week on the phone. They get together whenever possible, for a family Christmas or a Broadway show. " He's like a father figure to me." Workman says, then jokes. " But it's not like we go out golfing together."
Others see the importance of old and new veterans forging bonds too. Dennis Fetko, a behavioral psychologist and Vietnam veterans, still struggles with psychological problems from his service in Southeast Asia. As both a therapist and patient, Dr. Fetko believes that doctors who empathizes with their patients can provide greater support. He counsels soldiers returning from Iraq through the American Combat Veterans of War, which helps vets transition to civilian life. working with Veterans Affairs in San Diego. the group runs "warrior debriefing." in which Vietnam veterans address returning marines, as well as a counseling program for PTSD.

Most of initiatives take place at Camp Pendleton in California. Bill Rider, the Vietnam vet who founded Combat Veterans, says he want to create a new culture in the Marine Corps. "A stigma runs rampant through the military, if you've suffered trauma." Mr. Rider says "if you can't suck it up, then you're a weak person." This often prevents soldiers from seeking help. Workman agrees. For a long time, he didn't reach out. He saw other soldiers coming back from war and he thought, "We're marines. We kill people, step over dead bodies. This is what we do." Meantime, he was drinking heavily and bottling up his anger. It wasn't until he became a drill sergeant at Paris Island, S.C., and threatened to kill another soldier that the military sent him for a mental evaluation. He says it was only his medals that prevented him from being a total outcast.
Workman and Kenny agree the Marine Corps is more responsive to the psychological state of soldiers today than it was even three years ago. This is due in part to the older generation of vets helping young soldiers.
Workman attended a conference where a sergeant major stood up and announced that he had PTSD. "This was a respected, muscular, jar-head marine." Workman says." Everyone in the room was floored".
Even soldiers who aren't struggling with clinical problems often find unusual support in their veteran predecessors. Miko Watkins, an Army nurse, talks about how lonely and disconnected she felt after returning from Iraq  in 2003. On a windswept day, she stands beside the Vietnam Veterans Women's Memorial in Washington, D.C. "My commanding officer thought coming here would be cathartic." Ms. Watkins says. Earlier, Watkins had listened to nurses from the Vietnam era share their stories and she recounted some of her own experiences in Iraq. "I don't speak about it very often, because it just brings me to tears," Watkins says, glancing at the bronze memorial - a tableau of three nurses caring for a wounded soldier. "The Vietnam veterans here understand me, even if I can't explain it fully." She pauses. "I should have done this a long time age."
Army Capt. Laureen Otto, who also attended the storytelling event, served as a trauma nurse coordinator in Iraq and sit on the memorial board of directors. While Ms. Otto has always gotten along with older veterans, her connection with the Vietnam generation changed markedly after she came back from war. "It was immediate." Otto says. "And I no longer ask them what it's like in Vietnam. We both just know."

Howard K. Smith, a 1945 war correspondent reporting from the frontlines about emotional battle
fatigue that many soldiers were experiencing, stated," Although there is no obvious physical
wounds, combat fatigue is the most awful features of war.

In relation to combat stress; Combat trauma have more of a debilitating effect on combat soldiers
than physical injuries and wounds. Injuries and wounds heals and veterans move on with their lives.
Not so with PTSD.

During the Civil War combat stress was referred to as Soldier's Heart...WWI, Shell Shocked...WWII,
Combat Fatigue. The Vietnam war designated the problem as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD). Presently and for the foreseeable future PTSD will represent the most debilitating situation
veterans from past wars and veterans from the Middle Eastern Wars will have to contend with.

PTSD has no outward or visual appearance but mentally destroyed the soldier and his family. PTSD 
also destroy his ability to maintain steady employment, or a cohesive family relationship. An affect
that is linked to self-medication, drug use, robbery and homelessness is the result for the majority of
200,000 plus veterans sleeping on the streets of this nation today. These are the (once) young men
and women trained by the military how to kill and how to survive in combat, but who's training them
how to live with Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD) after combat.

Returning Veterans to the war zone has proven to be an invaluable therapeutic tool that benefits
veterans who had the opportunity of making return trips to their place of battle where the trauma
was initiated. 
Now that Warriors Mind Training has been introduced to military use, VETS BACK TO WAR ZONE will
include this program as a useful tools for VBTWZ's project.

                 Vets Back To War Zone

Thousands of America's once young soldiers never had the opportunity to reconcile with the trauma
experienced during combat in their early lives. Some go through years of therapy and medication
only to find that after 30 years or more, they still struggle with their demons and so does their families.
Due to this struggle, many marriages are often terminated through divorce. Sometime violent erupts
and much worse scenarios are played out.

 Psychoanalysts and Psychotherapists as well as Organized Tour Officials, Organized
veterans Tour Spokesman along with veteran returnees themselves have expressed the following positive and beneficial results from return trips to the war zone.

              VETS BACK TO WAR ZONE.

  Returning PTSD Rated veterans to former Battlefields:
  Korea,Vietnam and Middle Eastern Battlefields when
  premissable.              
 VBTWZ's Trips are for Theraupetic PTSD Benefits.

REV BOB (USMC) TAKES MRS SMITH TO VIETNAM AFTER 40 YEARS (see their story at: www.echo29.polkvoice.com)

Rev. Robert Smith, said " I can say I have been through PTSD therapy 15 years ago. A friend of mine who is also a
VN Vet and works for the VA led me through it. It truly was cathartic. However, actually being there was more than
I ever expected. Just seeing those places again and knowing I was in the vicinity was overwhelming. I cried deep
sobs for my fellow Marines and myself. It felt good. I think I have finally come home. I highly recommend it. I wish
I had the money to be able to pay for every vet that would like to go. It would be money well spent.

Contact:   Robert Smith, USMC.. (visit) http://echo29.polkvoice.com 

                                                                 Rev. and Mrs. Robert Smith (caves of Cu Chi)
                                                                 After 40 years.

Contact:
vbtwz@earthlink.net
www.vetsbacktowarzone.org

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Jim Dowling 196th. Recon Blt  said "  I just returned from 2 weeks in Viet Nam. Saw Saigon, Hanoi, Hue, DaNang and
other less noted areas. I was first there Oct 70 -Oct 71 with the 196th. Recon Blt. So was I there during the move from
Chu Lai to Da Nang. This trip was much more pleasant than the first. Driving down from Hue we came to the top of the
Hai Van Pass (on Hwy 1, N. over looking DaNang), below was Danang Harbor, the city and the western ridge where the
196th was based. I recognized the ridge and location where the battalion was located. It was a moving moment. It became
a point of reference in which I could balance the new information I was taking in on this trip. When we got to DaNang I
took a taxi and searched out the battalion Headquarters. I Found it! That's the good news, bad news is, that it is an Army
Base with a guard out front. The area was as I recall, looking east, rice paddies below the base going all the way to Hwy 1.,
then there was the big white Buddha, then the bay. Most of that open space now has trees, there are lots of new homes
and shops along Hwy 1. I could not see the billets of the battalion as there was much mature vegetation. On the hill tops
there has been a reforestation program with pines and other trees. Vietnam did not begin to prosper until after 1986.
That is when the gov. opened up a some-what free enterprise system. It is impressive to see what they have accomplished.
Yet the gov. has not opened it up to the extent of China, but it is coming. The trip was very therapeutic for me. Before,
when I would think of Viet Nam I would think of the war. Now when I hear the word Viet Nam I think of the people and culture.
The war has now move a bit back in my mind and doesn't take up as much space ( I can put things into a better perspective),
but it is still with me every day. Before I went on the trip I did some reading. It was an eye opener and helped understand
what I was looking at. It also told me how blind we were as young kids shooting people and we had no idea why. The books
are an eye opener. A book that give a complete history of the war and is so well written is "Fire In the Lake" After reading it,
one can say that the war was lost when Diem was put in power in the 50s. Another book is "Viet Nam Now". It is a current
update. Other items of interest: Chu Lai was an army base but it is now closed. Nothing going on there. China Beach has
the Furama Resort, outstanding hotel. I hope this is of some help. If you have the opportunity to make the trip, I think it
ill help put closure to one of the most adventurous years in our lives. Merry Christmas"
Jim Dowling <innkeeper@gerstleparkinn.com>
San Rafael, Ca USA - Sunday, December 22, 2002 at 20:28:01 (EST)        

  Thanks to Jim Dowling for a most vivid expressed assessment of his present day
war zone.

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