thedrifter
09-11-06, 08:11 AM
Article published Sep 11, 2006
VETS FIND HEALING WITH THE HELP OF OTHERS
Those who served in Vietnam lend hand to Iraq vets
By KENT MALLETT
Advocate Reporter
NEWARK -- Russ Clark, like many Vietnam veterans, carries the war with him wherever he goes.
The memories are not as damaging as they once were, but he still has days when it's difficult to escape the war in Southeast Asia 36 years after he left.
Despite his inner struggles, and maybe because of them, he has dedicated himself to helping returning Iraq War veterans cope with the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Clark, as well as several other local Vietnam veterans, want to make sure the Iraq War veterans make post-war adjustments much sooner than the Vietnam vets, who still are dealing with the effects of a bloody conflict that left an estimated 1 million veterans with PTSD.
He founded the Newark and Columbus outposts of faith-based Point Man International Ministries of Central Ohio, where veterans meet weekly to talk about their adjustments to life back home. Newark Church of the Nazarene sponsors the local outpost.
Similarly, a group of local Vietnam War veterans, who meet weekly at the American Legion to talk about their PTSD-related struggles, also want to help troubled veterans returning from Iraq.
"A part of the healing for Vietnam vets is listening to Iraq War vets and finding something about Vietnam that will help somebody else," Clark said. "Even sharing some of our mistakes with these newer vets can help."
Clark, who established the Columbus outpost in 2002 and Newark's in 2004, encourages younger veterans to talk about the turmoil they have inside and not keep it bottled up like Clark did for a quarter century.
Avoiding other veterans and shutting out the bad memories didn't work for Clark. He took disability leave in 1998 from his job as superintendent of the Newark district of United Methodist Church, with a responsibility for 102 congregations. Then, in 1999, he divorced his wife of 27 years. Alcohol was one way to self-medicate, he found.
"It was amazing I was able to function for many years as a pastor, husband and father," Clark said. "I thank God for that. I was able to manage. A lot of veterans weren't. That (district superintendent job) was too much for me. The stress of that was what finally broke me and made me realize I needed help.
"It was maybe the only time I was on the edge. Then, I realized I was alone. The bottom fell out. You better find support from some other place right away."
He got help from the former Veterans' Crisis and Outreach Center on South Third Street, then from his church congregation and Point Man Ministries, which started in Seattle in 1984.
Clark has come a long way since 1999, but there still are triggers that send him back to the horrors of the 1960s.
"A plane crash will almost always trigger a memory of a helicopter going down with 10 Marines," he said. "Kids punting a football sounded just like a mortar round going out of the tube, to me. I couldn't handle it."
Sometimes, there's no apparent trigger. Recently, he couldn't leave his home to meet fellow veterans for breakfast.
"Something triggers my anxiety and it affects my sleep and that's what was going on that morning," Clark said. "Somehow, I felt threatened and there was no rational explanation for that, and it reminded me of being surrounded by Viet Cong. I just couldn't do it. I just didn't feel like being with people."
Vietnam veterans not only battled all the stresses common after other wars, they also came home to find that many hated them for their involvement in an unpopular and unsuccessful war. The experience made the Vietnam vets ask, "Was it worth it?"
Clark worries history could repeat itself.
"One of my concerns is if Iraq doesn't turn out as we hope it does, will veterans ask that question as well? What did we accomplish? I hope not."
Gary Jones, a Vietnam veteran who meets weekly with other veterans at the American Legion, said he will do all he can to prevent another homecoming like Vietnam, and he said the Vietnam vet's credo is, "Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another."
A half-dozen Vietnam veterans began meeting at the Legion in January, finally addressing issues plaguing them more than 30 years.
"We saw the need and decided to get together and talk about problems that came up," Jones said. "Sometimes, it just takes sitting down with someone they're secure with. Just that brother-in-arms contact will be enough."
And, they figure, if it works for them, it will work for the younger veterans as well.
"Iraq vets, that's who we want to reach," Jones said. "We'll just invite them in to sit down. Not everybody's going to take that help, but it'll be there, like it was not (in the 1970s).
"We're making an effort. That's why we're talking now. I'd like to see the troops aware of what kind of symptoms they're apt to see. They need help from those around them."
Ellie
VETS FIND HEALING WITH THE HELP OF OTHERS
Those who served in Vietnam lend hand to Iraq vets
By KENT MALLETT
Advocate Reporter
NEWARK -- Russ Clark, like many Vietnam veterans, carries the war with him wherever he goes.
The memories are not as damaging as they once were, but he still has days when it's difficult to escape the war in Southeast Asia 36 years after he left.
Despite his inner struggles, and maybe because of them, he has dedicated himself to helping returning Iraq War veterans cope with the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Clark, as well as several other local Vietnam veterans, want to make sure the Iraq War veterans make post-war adjustments much sooner than the Vietnam vets, who still are dealing with the effects of a bloody conflict that left an estimated 1 million veterans with PTSD.
He founded the Newark and Columbus outposts of faith-based Point Man International Ministries of Central Ohio, where veterans meet weekly to talk about their adjustments to life back home. Newark Church of the Nazarene sponsors the local outpost.
Similarly, a group of local Vietnam War veterans, who meet weekly at the American Legion to talk about their PTSD-related struggles, also want to help troubled veterans returning from Iraq.
"A part of the healing for Vietnam vets is listening to Iraq War vets and finding something about Vietnam that will help somebody else," Clark said. "Even sharing some of our mistakes with these newer vets can help."
Clark, who established the Columbus outpost in 2002 and Newark's in 2004, encourages younger veterans to talk about the turmoil they have inside and not keep it bottled up like Clark did for a quarter century.
Avoiding other veterans and shutting out the bad memories didn't work for Clark. He took disability leave in 1998 from his job as superintendent of the Newark district of United Methodist Church, with a responsibility for 102 congregations. Then, in 1999, he divorced his wife of 27 years. Alcohol was one way to self-medicate, he found.
"It was amazing I was able to function for many years as a pastor, husband and father," Clark said. "I thank God for that. I was able to manage. A lot of veterans weren't. That (district superintendent job) was too much for me. The stress of that was what finally broke me and made me realize I needed help.
"It was maybe the only time I was on the edge. Then, I realized I was alone. The bottom fell out. You better find support from some other place right away."
He got help from the former Veterans' Crisis and Outreach Center on South Third Street, then from his church congregation and Point Man Ministries, which started in Seattle in 1984.
Clark has come a long way since 1999, but there still are triggers that send him back to the horrors of the 1960s.
"A plane crash will almost always trigger a memory of a helicopter going down with 10 Marines," he said. "Kids punting a football sounded just like a mortar round going out of the tube, to me. I couldn't handle it."
Sometimes, there's no apparent trigger. Recently, he couldn't leave his home to meet fellow veterans for breakfast.
"Something triggers my anxiety and it affects my sleep and that's what was going on that morning," Clark said. "Somehow, I felt threatened and there was no rational explanation for that, and it reminded me of being surrounded by Viet Cong. I just couldn't do it. I just didn't feel like being with people."
Vietnam veterans not only battled all the stresses common after other wars, they also came home to find that many hated them for their involvement in an unpopular and unsuccessful war. The experience made the Vietnam vets ask, "Was it worth it?"
Clark worries history could repeat itself.
"One of my concerns is if Iraq doesn't turn out as we hope it does, will veterans ask that question as well? What did we accomplish? I hope not."
Gary Jones, a Vietnam veteran who meets weekly with other veterans at the American Legion, said he will do all he can to prevent another homecoming like Vietnam, and he said the Vietnam vet's credo is, "Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another."
A half-dozen Vietnam veterans began meeting at the Legion in January, finally addressing issues plaguing them more than 30 years.
"We saw the need and decided to get together and talk about problems that came up," Jones said. "Sometimes, it just takes sitting down with someone they're secure with. Just that brother-in-arms contact will be enough."
And, they figure, if it works for them, it will work for the younger veterans as well.
"Iraq vets, that's who we want to reach," Jones said. "We'll just invite them in to sit down. Not everybody's going to take that help, but it'll be there, like it was not (in the 1970s).
"We're making an effort. That's why we're talking now. I'd like to see the troops aware of what kind of symptoms they're apt to see. They need help from those around them."
Ellie