VietNamNet Bridge – Returning to Vietnam as veterans of the Vietnam War, bearing many wounds in their souls, these Americans  may have felt apprehensive but the open hearts of Vietnamese people relieved their pains and helped them regain their lost souls.

From the left: American veteran Joe Caley, Dr. Edword Tick, Dr. John Fisher and writer Nguyen Thi Minh Thai.

Besides other activities, Soldier’s Heart organisation recently brought a group of American veterans back to Vietnam to cure the wounds in their souls.

The group was led by Doctor of Psychology Edward Tick, Soldier’s Heart director, who has spent years to research the impacts of wars on American veterans.

The Vietnam War which ended several decades ago, has left not only physical but spiritual wounds on veterans. Dr. Tick wrote about this in his book “War and Soul”.

Dr. Tick, writer John Fisher and two veterans – Al Plapp and Joe Caley, participated in a talk with VietNamNet, hosted by writer Nguyen Thi Minh Thai.

Nguyen Thi Minh Thai: The first question is for Dr. Edward Tick. After the Vietnam War and after other American wars in general, a syndrome called “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – PTSD” was found among veterans. How have you dealt with the syndrome and why did you name your organization “Soldier’s Heart”?

Dr. Edward Tick: First of all, I would like to thank VietNamNet Newspaper for inviting us to join this online talk. This is a great chance for us to heal the wounds of war.

Firstly, I would like to say something about PTSD.

When US soldiers returned from the Vietnam War, a very cruel war, most of them suffered from deep wounds. They were painful and faced a lot of difficulties in re-integrating into the community and fine-tuning their lives. Most of them got physical wounds but the wounds in their souls were more serious. They were obsessed by the things they caused in Vietnam.

The major symptoms of this syndrome include insomnia. Some people couldn’t sleep and were chased by nightmares, even in the daytime. They took alcohol and drugs as medicines. Many veterans’ families were broken up because veterans-husbands couldn’t control themselves. They behaved abnormally and thus, they hurt others, especially their relatives. Many people even did violence to others and broke the law.

There are around two millions of American who suffer the PTSD syndrome, including veterans from the Vietnam War and other wars. Some women who are victims of family violence or sexual harassment are also PTSD patients.

Veterans asked for the government’s assistance and hospitals’ treatment methods for many years and also for many years, the government and hospitals told them that they were okay. However, veterans said they couldn’t re-integrate into the normal life or became normal citizens and they needed help.

Thanks to the voices of Vietnam War veterans and some women, the US recognized PTSD as a psychological disease that needs to be cured.

Accurately, PTSD is the disease of people who are plunged in sorrow and lose control. In a long time, it was considered as a mental disease and treated the same way with mental diseases. They were told that this is a whole-life disease and veterans have to learn to live with it, not cure it entirely.

I’m not a veteran but I have many friends who are veterans of the Vietnam War. I didn’t want to accept that they will never recover from PTSD and I hoped that I could do something for them.

I worked with veterans before 1980 and I researched this syndrome before the US government recognize it. I’ve traveled around the world to learn about spiritual wounds caused by wars and how people in the world, including Vietnam, face them.

I saw how the Greek and Africans? bring their soldiers back to normal lives and heal the wounds in their souls and their hearts.

I realize that all cultures in the world have known about spiritual wounds for a long time. For all cultures, wars are always terrible things, which cause pains for everyone. There are up to 80 names in the world to call wounds in the souls which are caused by wars.

According to many cultures and beliefs, human beings have souls and the souls may be hurt or lost when people face terrible circumstances. The souls can be brought back to bodies by love or reconciliation. So we work together, with Vietnamese friends, to bring back the souls of US veterans to their bodies.

I decided to research the PTSD as spiritual wounds and I call it the Post Terror Soul Distress.

I would like to finish my answer by a story that we witnessed in this trip to Vietnam. We met a Vietnamese veteran in the Mekong Delta in early October, who fought for 25 years in Vietnam’s wars against the Japanese, the French and the American, Mr. Nguyen Van Ho.

A veteran in my group asked him: “I only stayed in the Vietnam battle field for one year but my whole life is wounded. You fought for 25 years but you look very healthy and happy. How did you achieve this?”

Mr. Ho said frankly: “The difference between us, because of which you can’t heal but we can, is that in the U.S., you seek the reasons that cause wounds here, and he pointed to his head, but in Vietnam we seek them here, and he pointed to his heart. If you do the same and do it together with us, we can all recover and return home to live peacefully after the war”.

Nguyen Thi Minh Thai: Dr. Edward Tick’s answer has touched our hearts and I believe that his words on the PTSD (Post Terror Soul Distress) are correct. In wars, the wounds suffered by hearts are really terrible. So we come here to reconcile usingour hearts and love. I understand that was the reason for him to name his organization “Soldier’s Heart”.

So the next question is for Dr. John Fisher, a writer and a veteran. You were in Buon Me Thuat in our most memorable moment – 1968. When you returned to the US, I think you suffered the PTSD syndrome. As your soul was seriously hurt, you have become a writer. Is that correct? And is it your way to escape from the war in your heart?

Dr. John Fisher: I fought in Ban Me Thuot and Dac To in 1968. That was a terrible time for me. I was called up for military service, I didn’t go to Vietnam voluntarily. When I returned to the US, I didn’t feel that I had gone to Vietnam to do something useful for my country. I went to Vietnam and I didn’t understand why I went there.

I returned home when I was only 21, when my American was not peaceful. Many marches took place in the country to protest and support the war. I was very confused and lost my direction. I was not proud of my participation in the Vietnam War. The only way I thought of that time was running away. I traveled around the world.

During my trips, I met some experts and they told me about the PTSD syndrome. I understood my situation and I decided to return home to study, to take a PhD diploma to be able to seek a job so my past as a veteran didn’t harm my life.

But sometimes, memories about the war still maltreated me. I could only lie down on the floor to feel the pain and cry alone and wait until the obsession passed.

In 1991, my nephew was called to the army in the Operation Desert Storm in Iraq and I suddenly became a different man. My job was unchanged but my private and social life seemed to return to the wartime with nightmares and painful memories. My family was no longer in peace. My wife asked for divorce after several years. My 20-year marriage with two children ended.

I knew that I needed help but I also knew that I was willing to be treated like an insane person. I began learning other methods of psychological treatment for my symptoms, without using medicines. I wanted to research my disease by taking note of everything that happens to me and I began my writing career.

The was the first book I wrote in five years, entitled “Angel in Vietnam”. I felt better after I told some stories but it was not enough and I decided to return to Vietnam.

I came back to Vietnam once or twice and I wrote a new book about a US soldier who came back to Vietnam 35 years after the war. The book is named “Not Welcome Home”. Most of the details in the book really happened to me.

But my friends told me that I didn’t totally recover after writing that book and I needed further treatment to the wound in my heart. That was in 2005 and I met Doctor Edward Tick.

He told me that he was going to publish a book entitled “War and the Soul”. Hearing the book title, I uttered “Oh my God! Do you want to tell me that I lost my soul in the Vietnam War?”

I read the book twice in only four days of the Thanksgiving Holiday and I understood that I lost and  was losing my soul.

Since then, my itinerary has changed. I and Doctor Edward Tick went to Vietnam and Greece. I’ve joined the Soldier’s Heart. The trips to Vietnam have made me happy and I think that I’ve been cured, both in my soul and my heart.

Nguyen Thi Minh Thai: I’m strongly impressed by your story. Firstly, the US may have lost a veteran who was in pain because of the war but it has gained a writer. Secondly, your book is entitled “Not Welcome Home” but we always welcome you back to Vietnam. why don’t we learn your treatment methodology: writing down everything and print them into books to relieve our pains and for others to read.

This time veterans Al Plapp and Joe Caley also return to Vietnam, for the first time after the war. Why didn’t you return to Vietnam until now? Were you worried about going tback to Vietnam?

Veteran Al Plapp: Actually, in my heart, I’ve returned to Vietnam many times. I’ve just retired so now I have time to come back Vietnam.

Veteran Joe Caley: I tried to dodge the memories about my 365 day in Vietnam. To avoid it, I didn’t read books, didn’t watch films or television. I gave up everything that connects me to the world around?.

I return to Vietnam because I’ve met a group of friends who pay attention to myself, not to a veteran. The Soldier’s Heart organization is interested in me so I want to join it and to pay attention to the soldier inside me.

Actually, I’ve been worried for the last 40 years, not only before this trip. I wish I could find the words to describe the meaning of this trip to me. I really think that this is a “regeneration”. I was obsessed by what we did in the war and that Vietnamese people may hate me but this trip has made me feel peace of mind.

VietNamNet