Conv-PTSD and a Vietnamese Psychiatrist

AFVN Group Conversations

From: Dick Downes (To Jim White)

Dated: June 22, 2015

Subject: IRONY: A fellow vet told me today that there is a young Vietnamese/American man working in the PTSD Clinic.

I remember when we would yearn to be older. Then the period when we claimed to be younger (esp. the female population). Now we brag about how old we are. Full circle.
There's a lot more I could say about my brothers and sisters who suffer from PTSD - or battle fatigue as your generation called it. I don't want to start a pissing contest in respect for what you did for your country and this group; but there's a big generational difference. You are 12-1/2 years older than I. What a difference a decade makes.

From: Guy Slater

Dated: June 21, 2015

Subject: IRONY: A fellow vet told me today that there is a young Vietnamese/American man working in the PTSD Clinic.

Thanks Jim, but they know I'm nuts! I always go to the clinic with my "PTSD: Don't leave home without it!" hat. Drives some of them nuttier than me.

From: Dick Downes

Dated: June 22, 2015

Subject: IRONY: A fellow vet told me today that there is a young Vietnamese/American man working in the PTSD Clinic.

You are... presuming too much. It was a young man with no accent at all. Perhaps you are confusing your VAs?

From: Dick Downes

Dated: June 20, 2015

Subject: IRONY: A fellow vet told me today that there is a young Vietnamese/American man working in the PTSD Clinic.

IRONY: A fellow vet told me today that there is a young Vietnamese/American man working in the PTSD Clinic.

From: Jim White

Dated: June 23, 2015

Subject: IRONY: A fellow vet told me today that there is a young Vietnamese/American man working in the PTSD Clinic.

Dick, You were able to put a return (blank line) between your paragraphs. I tried to do so and ended up with "posted." (I may eventually develop PFSD (the "F" standing for "Facebook Trama.)

From: Dick Downes

Dated: June 22, 2015

Subject: IRONY: A fellow vet told me today that there is a young Vietnamese/American man working in the PTSD Clinic.

The irony (perhaps incongruity would be a better word were this a grammar contest) is that he's assigned to the PTSD clinic, Jim. The majority of those patients are VN vets subject to flashbacks. Anywhere else in the facility would be fine.

From: Jim White

Dated: June 21, 2015

Subject: IRONY: A fellow vet told me today that there is a young Vietnamese/American man working in the PTSD Clinic.

Irony is going for an increase in your PTSD rating and having a Vietnamese female psychiatrist doing the evaluation. Said I wanted a different shrink, "no offense, ma'am, but the reason I am being re-evaled is because of service in Vietnam." New shrink didn't think I needed a higher eval.

From: Guy Slater

Dated: June 23, 2015

Subject: IRONY: A fellow vet told me today that there is a young Vietnamese/American man working in the PTSD Clinic.

Jim, for your wife I wish there was healing and peace to be found. "When were you in Nam?" "Last night." That is often my answer, along with many others. Just screwed up, boiling eggs, and forgot about them. Until the pan ran dry, the eggs exploded, and I regained myself with four dogs trying to comfort me. I know what, but not how, your wife feels. In 2008 I was working for the Army at Ft. Campbell, giving inoculations to the troops from here going to Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of them did not come home on their feet. I remembered, sometimes, their names. And I would tell my wife to expect me to have nightmares that night, and almost always did. As for being strong, there is only so much strength after 45 years of this before I succumb and have my "breakdown" of being a zombie for a while, just tuning out the world and all of its problems. That is my coping mechanism. And BTW Jim, you ain't that much older than I, and I am glad you do not have PTSD . All of us I imagine have PFSD. Cussing helps. If it doesn't, cuss louder!

From: Jim White

Dated: June 23, 2015

Subject: IRONY: A fellow vet told me today that there is a young Vietnamese/American man working in the PTSD Clinic.

Dick, I agree--the difference between those born in the1930's and those born in the 1940's and later is HUGH. I grew up with parents who still remembered the depression and its effects on the common man. I grew up with "Big Band" music and couldn't stand Presley nor the Beatles when they first appeared . My country music is Hank Williams and Hank Snow--not the whiny voices of today. Must admit that while with AFVN I never listened to AFVN radio because the music simply wasn't "my kind of music." I had a half-brother (now deceased) eight years younger than I. We also lived in completely different worlds--it didn't take a full decade to make the change. I know very well that I was lucky in not being put in any situation during my 20 years in the Army that would cause PTSD and I don't have it. And, I do wish to honor those who do have had those experiences and therefore PTSD at some level or another.

PTSD and a Vietnamese Psychiatrist

June 2015

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From: Jim White

Dated: June 21, 2015

Subject: IRONY: A fellow vet told me today that there is a young Vietnamese/American man working in the PTSD Clinic.

Dick, I'm puzzled. What Irony? We fought the Germans and the Japanese during WW2 and then many GI's brought home a war bride (including me--my wife (Japanese) and I will be celebrating our 59th wedding anniversary later this month). We fought the Mexicans and there are now many Mexican/Hispanic people in the US Military. One sees them in nearly every office and organization at Yokosuka Naval Base. We even fought the British (although that has been several years ago) and there are many of us who are in or have been in the US military and have a lot of British/English blood running through their veins. So, where's the irony? Time passes--things, situations and people change. And for that matter it is entirely possible that the man you mention above is the son or grandson of someone who fought alongside the Americans in South Vietnam. Sorry, but to me it is no big deal.

Jim White

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From: Jim White

Dated: June 23, 2015

Subject: IRONY: A fellow vet told me today that there is a young Vietnamese/American man working in the PTSD Clinic.

)(')('#Q$&% Did it again! My wife has PTSD because she was 17 or 18 and living in Tokyo during the WW2 Firebomb raids. Once a week or so I will wake her up from another nightmare--and this is 80 years later. She also often thinks of all those she has sent off to war. Those boys who were classmates and went off to war in1944 and 1945 to never be heard of again. Later, those young American soldiers who, during the Korean War, would spend 2 or 3 months OJT learning to be cooks at the mess hall where she worked in Tokyo, who would then be sent to Korea as "cooks." However, most of them ended up being handed a rifle and told "to go out there and defend that hill (or whatever)," and were never heard of again. And finally, those young American soldiers she would see at Fort Belvoir when working in a small post exchange snack bar in 1966/67 who would finish their advanced training and be handed orders to Vietnam. They would come in to the snack bar and ask her if she was Vietnamese. She would say "No, I'm Japanese." They would then continue with "Well, tomorrow I leave for Vietnam and I don't know anything about that country." Her response to that was to give them a free beer.

(This should be a new paragraph!) In closing best wishes to you and everyone else who reads this.

Jim White

From: Guy Slater

Dated: June 22, 2015

Subject: IRONY: A fellow vet told me today that there is a young Vietnamese/American man working in the PTSD Clinic.

Dick Downs, it was a "she." Not a "he." And obviously not 2nd gen Viet-American from her accent. Though I may be presuming too much.