European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 11, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                St a fatter right and Miguel Huntt port american sold Ltd during my is Mai Warta the tabs television met  Vietnam movies help vets overcome Post traumatic stress by Dan Sewell associated press Hollywood s wave of Vietnam movies and Ilie critic Nelly premed to series. To Tirol duty May be important Loots Lor psychologists trying to help veterans still suffering from inc trauma of War expense aces two decodes ago i saw Paffoon Highl limes said John j Anderson b Palm Beach Fla county sheriff s tical tenant who served in Vietnam in 1966-67. I cried Iho Lisl Lime i saw it. And the third and fourth times. Platoon helped to understand " Anderson is among 250 to 300 Vietnam veterans who Como to Lake Odh fla., for therapy at Iho vol Center one of Many around the nation established in a Federal program Hal began nearly eight years ago or veterans of that War or. William Weitz an Amy Liou tenant colonel and clinical psychologist considers movies and videos one o the Besl ways to evoke deep seated memories the veterans need to Deal Wilh As they go through therapy. Many of these Guys Laik about not being Able to feel  Weitz said the irony is the feelings Are so intense thai they have blocked them. Ii you Don t oel the past you can t feel the present or 1he future the movies can bring Nam to lha Fot Elmul and make Thorn re experience those memories thai Are both citing them Mako whom break through the  tha con for in the Palm Beach county City is Well stocked Wilh dozens of videotapes Hal Range from military instructional films to Iho latest Hollywood movies available. Tha  modality can be very powerful Weitz said. Sometimes at the end of a movie there will to Long periods of silence. You can hear the heartbeats of 15  veterans watching movies will apply specific scenes to their own experiences and most land platoon which won Lour Academy awards including Besl picture As the most realistic treatment. Director Oliver Stone is a Vietnam vet whose movie captured the terrifying chaos of Jungle warfare in a strange country. When someone asked me whal in was like Over there in was hard to explain. How do you describe a firelight the movie showed in said Greg Slauch. Who was in Vietnam with the army in 1965-66. Tom Reilly who served in Vietnam in 1966-70, took his son and Wile to see platoon and the motto helped them to understand whal he had gone through. The veterans also liked hamburger Hill the Paramount pictures release about the bloody taking and retaking of a Small area in Vietnam. And they praised cease ire in which Don Johmson plays a Vietnam vet struggling to return to civilian ofe. Daniel Rose who served in Vietnam from 1969-70, said he began coming or therapy alter seeing ceasefire and recognizing his own problems. Ii ust hit Home. I Felt like i was up in the screen to said. In the past year. Hollywood has released Francis Coppola s portrait of burial duty at Arlington National be Reni by far Dis of Stone Stanley Kubrick s full Metal jacket hamburger Hill and just recently Good morning Saigon with Robin Williams. With these films and tour of duly on television veterans say their once neg felled problems Are finally touching other americans. Full Metal jacket and Coppola s 1979 apocalypse now weren t favourites among the veterans assembled in Lake Worth bul they said some scenes were very Irue to the. Ron Hanna an Aimy Mcleran can identify with the apocalypse now protagonist played by Martin Sheen. Like Sheen s character he returned Home after a tour in Vietnam and found himself so unable to relate to his family and civilian life that he voluntarily resumed to Vietnam Lor More action he said to had witnessed real counterparts of the Brash Robert Duvall character who insisted on surfing As Battle continued most veterans did t like inc critically acclaimed comr no Homo because it starred Jane Fonda whose visit to Hanoi they still remember bitterly. Tit edger Hunter another Academy award Winner was enjoyed by most Peler Vilinder a Minnesota Law professor who has studied extensively inc Posl or Aumalis stress disorder often suffered by veterans has identified several reasons Why Vietnam veterans have been especially prone to that problem which can Lii Greer violent criminal behaviour. He says veterans of any War Are subject to the trauma but Vietnam was particularly troubling because of the conical ans Young age the average Gool a . Soldier in Vietnam was 19, compared to 25 in world War ii. Also they were in a country whose culture and language were completely Ahon they were in near constant danger Nihro Ghoul their tour there were no Clear military objectives such As crossing the Rhine and they returned Homo to a nation that did t Honor them As heroes. Weill no cd that Post traumatic stress disorder is not confined to War victims but also can afflict rape victims or anyone who has had a traumatic event. The Academy award winning Mary Tyler Moore him Ordinary people which depicts a family s struggle to Deal Wilh a son s death is sometimes used in therapy. Our friends Sandy and Ben Aie technology junkies they buy every new product that comes Down the Pike cordless photos watches Hal measure Itier cardiovascular workouts radar detectors Lor their car. And electric blankets Hal Are smarter than Sandy. To Weir digital alarm clock has a built in Las Linht and his and her alarms and last week they bought an Elc clinic mail Detector so Tiey Don t have to keep making Ali those Lutile trips to the Mailbox which is a slow in i hair front door. The Bombeck. On to other hand tend Lobo a bit Moro cos Iva Iive when in comes to new things. In 1984 to bought a smoke alarm which tells to when dinner is ready. I love in. Last week we Bioko Down and bought a microwave oven. It was my husband s idea. Every morning he would Pul a iwo quark Saucepan a Al the rack p i a half cup of skim milk in it and set it on the stove to was for his Coffee. Sometimes he would forget about in and the milk would scorch or the pan would Burn dry it seemed reasonable thai the solution to his problem was a 700-Watt oven with five pages of precautions to avoid possible exposure to excessive microwave Energy and 27 pages of operating instructions. I think that is primarily what has kept us trom joining the 21 is can Iury All these years. Neither of us has the patience to Sil Down and read before to snarl pushing Sullons Bombick s Law has become legend when you come to the Brink of bashing the appliance with a Blunt instrument. Read the  my husband said the microwave would be a real time Saver time to read the manual 20 minutes. Time arguing about whether my Good China Shoutd to Pul in an atmosphere that could explode eggs 10 minutes Healing time for i cup milk 30 seconds. Time to treat Finger Lor Burns when i stuck it in the milk to see in it was hoi enough 5 minutes. Time to heal the Coffee which had now turned cold while to messed around heating the milk 1 minute. I m not critical of Sandy and Ben once when we did l see him for three weeks because he was barricaded in his Home trying to Sot his new runner s Walch hold my husband i thought they were iwo of Iho most courageous people i had Ever mat. Having gotten Nylk to boil in 30 seconds is nothing Short of a Mii Acie to my husband. Now he wants to buy an answering machine so we can sit and listen to hear who s calling but Olievia answer the phone. Hold him first things first. When i get a Cule Messane to Pul on the machine Well think about  c Ima. Long a turn s Page 16 the stars and stripes monday january 11,19sb