The Deepest Wounds Of War

In 409 BC, the Greek historian Herodotus described an Athenian soldier who had no physical battle injuries but suffered permanent blindness after seeing the death of a fellow soldier. It has been reported down through the ages and given a dozen different names from "combat stress reaction" to "the 1,000-yard stare" to "survivor syndrome." For Sergeant Bryan Hamilton, it would eventually be recognized as "post-traumatic stress disorder" or PTSD. After serving two combat tours in Vietnam, Bryan Hamilton returns to his small hometown in rural central Pennsylvania in search of some sense of normalcy. Although Bryan believes he is the same quiet, clean-cut young man that departed for military service some three years earlier, his family is increasingly convinced the Bryan they once knew may be gone forever. Bryan's only salvation may be Cindi Roget, the pretty young liberal coed he meets at University Park, the main campus of Penn State University. Although the two have absolutely nothing in common, they fall in love and prove once again the old adage that opposites really do attract. About the Author: R.T. Budd served combat tours in Vietnam with the 1st Air Cavalry Division (Airmobile) and the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal). Forty years later he freely admits that "the deepest wounds of war need not be physical." The damage to the psyche may not be visible, but it is just as real as the blood that is spilled. Budd lives with his wife of 38 years near Hershey, Pennsylvania. http: //SBPRA.com/RTBudd

U.S. military conflicts abroad have left nine million Americans dependent on the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) for medical care. Their "wounds of war" are treated by the largest hospital system in the country—one that has come under fire from critics in the White House, on Capitol Hill, and in the nation's media. In Wounds of War, Suzanne Gordon draws on five years of observational research to describe how the VHA does a better job than private sector institutions offering primary and geriatric care, mental health and home care services, and support for patients nearing the end of life. In the unusual culture of solidarity between patients and providers that the VHA has fostered, Gordon finds a working model for higher-quality health care and a much-needed alternative to the practice of for-profit medicine.

War and PTSD are on the public's mind as news stories regularly describe insurgency attacks in Iraq and paint grim portraits of the lives of returning soldiers afflicted with PTSD. These vets have recurrent nightmares and problems with intimacy, can’t sustain jobs or relationships, and won’t leave home, imagining “the enemy” is everywhere. Dr. Edward Tick has spent decades developing healing techniques so effective that clinicians, clergy, spiritual leaders, and veterans’ organizations all over the country are studying them. This book, presented here in an audio version, shows that healing depends on our understanding of PTSD not as a mere stress disorder, but as a disorder of identity itself. In the terror of war, the very soul can flee, sometimes for life. Tick's methods draw on compelling case studies and ancient warrior traditions worldwide to restore the soul so that the veteran can truly come home to community, family, and self.

Amnon Ben-Yehuda, an Israeli native, joined the HAGANAH underground at age 13 and at 17 he joined the PALMACH, the shock troop branch of the HAGANAH. During the War Of Independence In April 1948, at a historic battle in Upper Galilee at a place called Nebbi Yusha, he miraculously survived a serious shot to the head. He ultimately recovered from short-term loss of sight and speech, but remained limited with his right hand. The twenty-two men killed in that battle were buried at the battle site in a common grave that had become a national monument for the heroes. After graduating from U. C. Berkeley in 1952 he ended up with a career in the computer field, serving some 18 years with NCR’s Computer Division; six years as GM of the Special System Division and two as GM of the Micrographics System Division. He was president of a small software company for two years before retiring to deal with his emotional wounds of war. At the battle’s 40th anniversary ceremony by the gravesite in 1988, Amnon delivered a eulogy for the fallen heroes, many being his childhood friends.

There’s no real homecoming for many of our veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They may go through the motions of daily life in their hometowns, but the terrible sights and sounds of war are still fresh in their minds. This empathic, inside look into the lives of our combat veterans reveals the lingering impact that the longest wars in our nation’s history continue to have on far too many of our finest young people. Basing her account on numerous interviews with veterans and their families, the author examines the factors that have made these recent conflicts especially trying. A major focus of the book is the extreme duress that is a daily part of a soldier’s life in combat zones with no clear frontlines or perimeters. Having to cope with unrecognizable enemies in the midst of civilian populations and attacks from hidden weapons like improvised explosive devices exacts a heavy toll. Compounding the problem is the all-volunteer nature of our armed forces, which often demands multiple deployments of enlistees. This results in frequent cases of post-traumatic stress disorder and families disrupted by the long absence of one and sometimes both parents. The author also discusses the lack of connectedness between civilian society and military personnel, leading to inadequate healthcare for many veterans. This deficiency has been highlighted by the urgent need to treat traumatic brain injuries in survivors of explosions and the high veteran suicide rate. Bouvard concludes on a positive note by discussing some of the surprising and encouraging ways that the chasm between civilian and military life is being bridged to help reintegrate our returning soldiers. For veterans, their families, and especially for civilians unaware of how much our soldiers have endured, The Invisible Wounds of War is important reading.

"Accompaniment means to walk with those who suffer. I learned how to accompany refugees in war zones in El Salvador, offering protection against military attack with my physical presence. I learned how to be accompanied when my work in Central America became the catalyst for my own healing from years of emotional, sexual and physical abuse, primarily at the hands of my mother." Linda CrockettCombining the personal narrative of a survivor of incest with stories from El Salvador’s bloody civil war in the 1980s, The Deepest Wound demonstrates that victims of sadistic childhood abuse share common ground with survivors of political torture. It explores the social conditions that foster private and public war zones, and the cultural dynamics that impede healing from individual and collective trauma.Offering the concept of "accompaniment" as a new paradigm for healing, Crockett challenges readers to consider complex issues such as touch within the therapeutic alliance, the delicate and dangerous dance of relationship between survivors and supporters, and the difficulty inherent in accepting even basic medical treatment. Teaching those who accompany her lessons absorbed from Salvadoran peasants about healing from trauma, Crockett offers new hope for survivors and for those who walk with them.

Drawing on in-depth interviews with service women and men, Nancy Sherman weaves narrative with a philosophical and psychological analysis of the moral and emotional attitudes at the heart of the afterwars. Afterwar offers no easy answers for reintegration. It insists that we widen the scope of veteran outreach to engaged, one-on-one relationships with veterans.

In 1983, when Evans came up with the vision for the first-ever memorial on the National Mall to honor women who’d worn a military uniform, she wouldn’t be deterred. She remembered not only her sister veterans, but also the hundreds of young wounded men she had cared for, as she expressed during a Congressional hearing in Washington, D.C.: “Women didn’t have to enter military service, but we stepped up to serve believing we belonged with our brothers-in-arms and now we belong with them at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. If they belong there, we belong there. We were there for them then. We mattered.” In the end, those wounded soldiers who had survived proved to be there for their sisters-in-arms, joining their fight for honor in Evans’ journey of combating unforeseen bureaucratic obstacles and facing mean-spirited opposition. Her impassioned story of serving in Vietnam is a crucial backstory to her fight to honor the women she served beside. She details the gritty and high-intensity experience of being a nurse in the midst of combat and becomes an unlikely hero who ultimately serves her country again as a formidable force in her daunting quest for honor and justice.