Re: Healing the past
Sorry to hear about the guys who tried and couldn't handle it, -roulette. Each of you who has served overseas has to deal with the demons, some more some less.
My dad served in Korea, he's never spoken of it in my hearing. I only learned some of what his service entailed last fall from my uncle, who is even older than my dad, and who also served, over Korea, a different branch. My dad deals by not speaking of it to anyone other than his own generation who also served in that war, and perhaps only to my uncle, tho he has started going down to the local VFW, now that he's in his 80s.
My disabled 'Nam neighbor still has sealed records from his time over there. I still don't know exactly what special service branch he was actually a part of, but his service was apparently very very not-routine. And he pays close attention to his surroundings even now, lets me know what's going on in the neighborhood when I'm not around. He's never expressed interest in ever revisiting geographic locations he served, but was appreciative when Quilts of Valor acknowledged his service with handmade quilt delivered to his doorstep a number of years ago.
"life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards" - soren kierkegaard
Bookmarks