A Vietnam Trilogy is about a side of war that for decades pro-military and pro-defense advocates have systematically suppressed, minimized and denigrated as being falsely exaggerated the indelible human cost of war on its participants that can and does persist for decades. The 3.14 million Vietnam war-zone veterans and 800,000 Vietnam-theater veterans suffering full or partial post-traumatic stress syndrome, and their families will find it invaluable.Volume 2, HEALING JOURNEYS, focuses on three Vietnam Vets making a return trip accompanying 16 students on a Study Abroad history course. Especially in the post 9/11, post-Iraq world, this trilogy is important reading for academics and mental health professionals including graduate and undergrad students in history, psychology, social work and religion, and professionals in psychiatry, clinical nursing, counseling, and religion, and academic specialists interested in study-abroad programs. Through the wrenching stories of veterans and the author s own understanding as a mental health professional, Scurfield describes his and his comrades experiences during the war; then he describes the healing process fostered by innovative return trips he has led to peace-time Vietnam in 1989 and, in conjunction with a university history program, in 2000, described in this volume. A Vietnam Trilogy offers veterans and their families a vicarious "healing journey" by relating the experiences of those who participated in these therapeutic efforts, and offers recommendations to veterans and those who wish to help them. The therapy breakthroughs for veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are now the model for innovative programs across America; and they will be the foundation for programs to help today s veterans of the Iraq War.Volume 1, A Vietnam Trilogy. Veterans and Post-Traumatic Stress, 1968, 1989 and 2000 (Algora 2004), described the healing processes of hundreds of veterans from Vietnam and earlier wars up until 1990, when the author co-led a group of veterans on a therapeutic trip back to Vietnam to face their demons. The current volume continues from 1990 to 2000 (including a discussion of the impact of the first Gulf War on veterans of earlier wars) and a second return trip to Vietnam in 2000, as part of a university Study Abroad program, to help veterans in their healing process. Volume 3, From Vietnam to Iraq (Algora, fall 2006), will complete the Trilogy with a consideration of the experience of prior wars to help people who are now in the military or in the healing professions, and their families and communities, to deal with today s realities of combat and its aftermath.
Author(s): Raymond M. Scurfield
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 221
