European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 15, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine the sold Ltd unbaked and Billon hard byway but lading Good that Iho dragon of Vietnam ivies Liral behind him stood watching ,15 Iho rather disdainful Palo fellow in a Callic customs emptied his medals out of i hair boxes onto a counter the follow Shook to h i Llo boxes poked around inside them Wilh impatient lingers look the linings Oul. And Hen with the Side of his hand brushed the medals still Oul of their boxes distinguished flying Cross. Silver stars. Bronze stars off to one Side As if they were do Many cheap trinkets tra Hing up his clean counter Tho Man had been looking for dope. But no dope next the Soldier did i have in with him but he had also been awarded inc modal of Honor though this probably would i have moved the fellow behind inc counter to explode in cheers. Fred Ferguson now a civilian in Arizona who had earned his medal of Honor or rescuing a group of wounded trapped Givon up for finished americans never forgot that warm Welcome. Later he would eel Iho righteous Wrath and spittle of youths yowling baby killer at him. So Welcome Back to America hero. And get lost. And Don t bleed in front of us. It s a Story i col. Calvin Neptune has heard with Many painful twists Over and Over and Over. Neptune an army clinical social worker with the 7th medical come terms Vietnam unfinished business a War hat deep in the Heads of Many who fought the Battles won t Slop the Healing has t happened. War stress was bad enough says Neptune. Gut in was also Home Iron stress at the hands of a confused nation thai treated veterans like lepers or tried to pretend they were invisible that often helped trigger the Posl a Gnam stress disorders and made Vietnam a War Story with a beginning and a Middle but no closure no end " Nancy Tail a social worker Wilh army Community services in Heidelberg says the single biggest distress she has encountered among Vietnam veterans has been that Lack of a Homecoming Lack of credence Given them at Home though Vietnam was a strange con lick in which the front line was also behind and around a Soldier fought against an often unseen unidentifiable enemy combat trauma Itsell was no so greatly different from other wars says Robur i Maars a Michigan psychotherapist visiting Germany. What was starkly different was Tho shabby Homecoming and the Scapegoat Treamont reinforced again and again veterans received alter hey Gol Home. Those Are big  he says Why he Pam won t Stop Newlund himself seriously wounded in Vietnam says that even he team Hal loses the super bowl gels some kind of Welcome Back. Tho we Tove you anyway kind of thing. But coming Home irom this War there were no parades no soaps on the Back nothing. Zip except for indifference rejection hostility. One Day you d be out there in the Jungle getting your Bell rung in this crazy War. And a Day or two later you d be getting off a plane plopped Down in America maybe Acme protesters screaming and hissing at you. Then Back to armpit Montana or some place. Elone raw vulnerable like alter a divorce trying to Deal with problems arising from the most incredible experience of your  Neptune notes that after world War ii the units sailed Home together and often marched in big parades american legion Halls were full of ales of men Hilling Utah Beach and roaring ahead Wilh Pat Ion. Every clerk Jark and Beer Hall commando could fancy himself a hero. Accidental baby killers and bombers of cities Felt cleansed by the warm Waves of Welcome and general acceptance in Bleak contrast even the most courageous soil sacrificing of men returning from Vietnam could Gol Pul Down As a bum. 1 it did t even have lobe a Job Well done Neptune says of inc need for recognition but jus thai you did the Job As Well As you could under the circumstances or maybe thai the War was a mistake or ought incorrectly thai Iho government was paralysed the Media hostile and the population totally damned confused but thank you anyway for being Loyal. Thank you a Illie bit for dying for us there was t even Hal. Their country sent them to War. Which they weren t allowed to win. Then labelled Ihm losers and dumb suckers for oven going i be heard Many limes that it s a Long time ago Tail the War it still there shaking the dragon of Vietnam Why the pain won t Stop even at vow meetings. Vietnam to is were made to fee like outcasts if was a time in our society when we could t took each Oise in the Eye. When we Alt let each other Down so Tho urls came Back and went into their private Little prisons " Maars notes that  were strapped Inlo a psychological Strait Ckel  who went to Tho War came Back to ind themselves working in Medicine banking police work even the military under very so Rainors conditions liking orders from people who had avoided and or strongly opposed the War on the one hand vets were called callous killers on the other vets fell anger betrayal. Feelings of having Boon deserted by Iho american people if we had Irinod to  a psychological Experiment to could t have created a More perfectly discs Leroug  Maars says Nancy Ait has seen incl Hoard a lot of Tho Posl War pain in counselling sessions she remembers Tho vol who though u was a Good idea that his hands Antl Cabo tied to his bed at Yghi so that he would t mistake his wife for Iho enemy during visits by the night  or other men who shall sleep might boat their wives or get up and rip curtains Oil Iho windows the one whose Wile came upon the scene ust As he seemed about to kill his  and Tho sex Soldier who during a picnic n a heavily wooded almost Jungle like Park suddenly look on what s been termed to thousand Yard slate. He was not Wilh us he had left us recalls Tail. He was seeing things Nob by else was seeing. And there was a look this incredible stare on his face. As if he were absolutely Back let arc. And Afler Ward he said the intensity of the Flashback could hardly have been More  Neptune tells of Tho officer who had packed Vietnam away Lor years never talked about it until one Day he was invited into a College classroom for a Nice Little intellectual discussion on the War when to started talking afoul it his voice cracked his eyes teared up. Arid tic Lioio. Totally froze. Then to broke Down in front of that group of College sophomores. Who had no More idea of Why he was crying Over Vietnam ruin a Hunch of sparrows Neptune has seen Vietnam nurses women completely ignored since the War. Efto remind him of walking Volcano " they a win i men uniquely alone no recognition at All. Like it icy weren t oven Uherc virtually Roii Ody to talk to no Chance to Deal with it in any Healing Way and they lived with the Gore even More than she doctors " Marr adds that Only a dunce could have gone to Vietnam and returned Wilt out having it Sig Mcanlly affect his life nip Lune has seen men who loll guilt for killing in combat men who left Guill for nol being in enough combat men who fell Guill for coming Back alive or in one piece and others including a psychical nil who loll Guill Tor avoiding going to Vic Nam Tail cautions however that none of this Means Hal Many vets Are nol having difficulty and will not have difficulty. We Don l want a Veteran to think Hal because he was there he must have in. " nevertheless there is plenty of evidence that continuing readjustment problems Are still very widespread very common not going away says Neptune. He Points out that a lot of one shot studies have been done on problems of Vietnam vels As Well As random surveys about higher crime divorce suicide and unemployment Rales far vels Bill no really in depth comprehensive scientific Federal monies studies such As were done after world War ii Hal i m aware  he says the problems Are not always As obvious As the flashbacks nightmares insomnia depression anger guilt alienation isolation drinking and drug continued on Page 14 stories by Don Tate staff writer monday. September 15, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 13