Sikes had no answers. “I don’t know,” he said as tears ran down both of their faces.
***** *****
Author’s Note
ALL OF THE EVENTS DEPICTED AS HAPPENING IN VIETNAM did actually occur just as described. Artistic license was taken to meld the events into an executable format.
However, all of the characters are fictitious, composites drawn from numerous sources, fabrications of the author. The Stateside conclusion is strictly an invention. It could have happened. The session with the VA counselor did happen as described, but not in San Diego. The location was changed to fit the story line. All of this could be true. I don’t know what happened after the Marine was carried away. During 1989 there were twenty-nine incidents in the news where Vietnam veterans harmed other Americans and themselves. You be the judge.
Contrary to what some people believe, mental casualties of the Vietnam War persist.* According to recent U.S. government reports, thirty years after the Vietnam War ended, one in three vets who experienced combat first hand still suffer from PTSD today. One very recent significant study found that as Vets retire they find their PTSD issues reemerge with new force–so much so the government has recently set up a new hot line support for them. Three million men and women served in Vietnam. In 1993, according to one source, police officer databases across America showed over 10,000 incidents of Vietnam Vets with PTSD that had required police intervention since the end of the war. It has been reported that 16.2 million Americans had family members or friends serve in Vietnam. Over 5.2 million service members have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The stats of PTSD for them are higher than for Vietnam.
It is true that every war injures some of those who fight it in ways that others may never understand. It is also true that how serious the injury is will be revealed during the journey that follows.
*http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/08.24/99-ptsd.html
About the Author
A SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NATIVE, DONALD N. BURTON GREW UP in a small town in eastern San Diego County where he graduated from high school in 1964. Don quickly enlisted in the U.S. Navy in April 1966 after receiving a Draft Notice from the Army. It was triggered by him not attending community college full- time. During his nearly four years in the Navy, he did three tours to Vietnam. His first West-Pac (Western
Pacific) tour was on the USS Cogswell, (DD-651), a Fletcher-class destroyer. It briefly performed “plane guard” duty off Vietnam (Yankee Station) for the aircraft carrier USS Kittyhawk (CVA-63). While on patrol on March 2, 1967, the Cogswell, and the USS Canberra (CA-70), a Baltimore-class cruiser, came under fire from North Vietnamese shore batteries that resulted in a gun turret being blown off the side of the Canberra.
Before his second cruise, Don became a Naval Photographer’s Mate and was transferred to the USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2), an amphibious assault helicopter carrier. It hosted a squadron of Marine helicopters that ferried the ship’s nearly 2,000 Marines into battle. Because Don’s photography billet (assigned duty) was in the intelligence section, under the command of a Marine major, his duties included documenting the resident Marine Battalion’s activities shipboard and occasionally in-country with Marine units whenever aerial or on-ground reconnaissance documentary photographs were needed. During his last two Vietnam tours, Don also officially logged over 250 hours as a helicopter air crewman gunner, first briefly on a CH-34 and then on a CH-46 helicopter, manning a .50-caliber machine gun and officially photographing the war and events when possible. He attained the rank of Petty Officer Second Class during his enlistment.
Don returned to college full-time in 1978. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with Honors, both from the University of Oregon. He completed his Master of Business Administration Cum Laude in 1984 at Oregon and in 2000 graduated Magna Cum Laude from Nova Southeastern University, earning his Doctorate in Business Administration. He is a lifetime member of the Delta Epsilon Honor Society. He has repeatedly had articles published on international trade topics and corporate ethics and has been an in- demand speaker around the world on these subjects. In 2000, he was awarded Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year at a major national university where he taught for nearly seventeen years. Don is currently President of Dunlap-Stone University, a private online accredited university he founded in 1995, which now consists of the International Import-Export Institute, the College of Arts & Sciences and the graduate Law Center. The university offers accredited associates, bachelors and masters degrees, including a Master of Laws degree, to students online around the world.
Don was among the early Veterans to use the beneficial mental health services of the San Diego Vet Center and for many years visited other Vet centers across the country. Don and his wife, Valeri, live in Arizona. They are the proud parents of three grown children and two grandchildren.
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