Welcome Home from Vietnam, Finally

I served as an Army trauma surgeon at the 85th Evacuation Hospital, Phu Bai, Vietnam, '70-'71. Into our emergency room were intermittently deposited the wounded, some greviously others not, by the dare- devil Dust Off medieval pilots who risked imminent death with each mission.

We routinely witnessed the devistation of war on body, mind and soul. The corpsmen, technicians, nurses, anesthesiologists and surgeons explored every known and out-of-the- box technique to salvage life and limb. If the wounded arrived alive at the 85th, he had a 95% chance of survival. It was and still is that 5% whose injuries were so severe or whose blood loss could not be stemmed that haunt us today. That's PTS. By storytelling for fifty years since returning to the US in late August 1971, I have avoided the (D) and mollified my demons. The intense emotions during my traumatic experience have softened greatly but, I am back in Vietnam on a daily basis. In 2015 I compiled my stories into Welcome Home From Vietnam, Finally, A Vietnam Trauma Surgeon's Memoir. It is gripping, honest, real-life and disturbing. Then we realize that the 58,000+ lives lost did not change a thing. No dominos fell and Vietnam is now our close trading partner. They have been gratious victors.

I've lived, studied and researched PTS(D). I now understand that when we were partying with booze and weed, we were actually self-medicating to numb recognition of the demons.

That process continues today as there exists an epidemic of active duty military and veteran PTS(D), substance abuse ane suicide. I address these issues in this book's appendices but have more current information on the book's web site.

Our nation must shift their concentration from treating PTS(D) as a developed disorder and initiate the PREVENTIVE approach I propose PRIOR to discharge. If prevention by vaccination is the answer to Covid-19 why not apply the same principle to PTS(D)?