European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 27, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Person. I m crazy he was t exactly bidding. She remembers him drinking atone every night drinking and drinking. A was a Nice Man who had had it dear he said the last drop of counselling has been squeezed out of me big. Serious crazy was something else in Vietnam she says there was always Tho sense something terrible was about to it would even wait sometimes and slip up on you when you were out of the country. Post traumatic stress disorder. Maurine Daw had a Lasle of it. For a Iong Lime alter i got Back. I i could look at a piece of paper on the Street and think it was Booby trapped t kept wailing for that terrible. Somo Lhing to happen. 1 woke up screaming a lot in my to dream there was always some Man standing Over me a wilhaknite.". � the dreams Are gone now but even in her current s work As nurse at Tho american elementary school in a Darmstadt it s still Tho laces o those big johnnies she i can t Lei go old at times those strange desperate Days in Vietnam. When she trying with All her Energy to do Good hashes -. In Hor mind like a Kaleidoscope. She sees herself sitting in her poncho in the Tain. Watching a movie on the Sida of a building. A ridiculous movie in that setting combat with Vic Morrow. All the time wondering How Many of the Guys around her would soon gel wasted in combat that did t end with a commercial. She sees the rats the big ones that played under her bed in the quonset hut like dogs. The one that when she opened a drawer jumped out of her clothes at her. She sees her Lisl night in Vietnam. Red Alert. A lot o shooting and noise outside and crawling a Long Way on her hands to reach a Bunker. Welcome to Vietnam. Young nurse. She sees that Rockel choosing 20 eel Over her head like a shining Telephone pole.1 her hand was on the Doorknob going into the Ward from outside and by Tho time i opened the door even the worst patients had already rolled under heir Beds. It was 3 o clock in the morning. The rocket hit the ammo dump nearby and the explosions were still going of the nex she sees Oan Anag sometimes known As rocket there were so Many red alerts the Viet Cong were always coming even when they weren t. Maurine Daw exhausted alter working 12-hour Day shifts tinally1 slopped running to her Bunker every night. She needed sleep Moro than she feared the pc. Lying in her bed. Helmet on arms wrapped tightly around her Bible going to sleep listening to the War growl outside she whispered the 139 h psalm Over and Over to herself. The one about the lord taking care of her wherever she was even crazy Vietnam. ,. She says the loved Vietnam but she hated it. She. Remembers All the deadly earnestness All the Bille sweetness of and feels like bursting into ears. I love working with kids in school. But i know i did the Best work of my life in Vietnam. The Maurine the minister s daughter May have prayed More than most but she Levels her prayers fired More than Blank shells. There was this fellow at Nha Trang who was so near death. All his lab work was very bad All his vital signs. And i said you can t die. You re not Gonna die the doctors said Here s nothing More Illey could Soldier. It was another one of those strange levers he was in a coma and i stayed up with him and prayed and prayed. I Don t think i Ever prayed so hard i said you can t die you re Gonna live \ just kept saying it and kept saying it and then one Day it was like you see in the movies when somebody just raises up and opens their eyes. And the Sun is shining and they re suddenly Okay. A my whole life t never saw 1anything like that. I think that was a real Miracle it was one of the stranger ironies of Vietnam thai kind of love where there was so much War. I so Little fellow with the Hurt knee Don t cry Loo much your nurse has tended a few bruises in her Lime. She s been like a Mother to More than one poor Johnny All alone in the dark in a place you la never know. Former Green Beret commander Bob heat tit directs outward bound program Lor Vietnam Vett. Helping to heal scars of War Byberry Harkavy associated press Early iwo decades after he was jailed on a murder charge while commanding Green Berela in. Al Elam Bob Rheault of Rock and Maine is helping fellow veterans Deal with the psychological scars of that Long and divisive War. The retired army colonel is an instructor and program director Lor the Hurricane Island outward bound school. Financed by or Vale contributions the six Day program offers action oriented group therapy designed to build Trust Confidence and sell esteem. Patients Are put through a Treetop obstacle course constructed of ropes and logs. They Are taught to scale Shear Rock Walls including a climb up 34,800-1001 Peak in new Hampshire s White mountains. To Rheault it is the Best Hope for America s forgotten warriors caught in a web of anger distrust and isolation often characterized by drug and alcohol abuse physical deterioration family breakups and Lack of education and Job skills. " -. A Maverick during his army career he is again cast in that role As he prods the veterans. Administration to throw its support behind. Outward bound s therapeutic program Lor victims. Of Post traumatic stress disorder or pts a mental condition marked by combat induced flashbacks feelings of isolation and depression violent outbursts and Low self esteem. Tva spent 26years in the army and i be spent 18 years with outward bound and what i m doing. Now is a Way to bring those two pretty powerful threads of my life together in kind of a Healing Way he says. The fact that i be wound up working Wilh Vietnam veterans is just a Way of applying what i have Learned in outward bound and what i had done in the bound developed during a world War ii to instill in British merchant seamen self. Confidence Loam spirit and the will to survive. Operates outdoor adventure programs throughout the United states in recent years it has Oke red specialized courses for Blind and deaf people cancer patients rape victims and other groups Likely to Benefit Tram experiences in which they Ere faced with difficult challenges that they learn to confront. Rheault who developed the veterans course in conjunction with the pts unit in Northampton. Mass., recently oversaw a Lisl of its kind program at Hurricane Island Olf Rockland Lor nurses who. Served in Vietnam. ,. At age 63, his Blond hair now turned White the Massachusetts native and West Point graduate is As fit and As trim As he was in 1969when his face appeared on the cover of Lite the Central figure in one of the War s most bizarre episodes Rheault acknowledges the personal notoriety that stems from the controversial Green Beret murder Case but says he would jus As soon let that incident fade away not -. Out of any shame about his actions but because to thinks it gives the army a Black Eya. Rheault was one of a half dozen special forces officers jelled in 1969 on charges of drugging and killing a South vietnamese civilian who was an alleged double agent. He was held Tor 70 Days 40 of them in solitary confinement before the army abruptly dropped the charges citing the Cia s refusal to permit testimony his Arreal came during his second tour of. Duly in Vietnam White he served As commander. Of the 3,000 . Green Berls and 45.000. Native troops stationed in special forces outposts across the country. He was charged with premeditated murder and conspiracy although the Legal specifications said he did not participate in the actual slaying to Rheault and the Green berets the charges were an outgrowth of friction Between the army High command in Saigon and an elite unit schooled in counterinsurgency and guerrilla warfare. Essentially i just went to Bat for my troops that s he says. I ran a Bluff saying. You turn them Loose or lock me up " after the charges were dropped Rheault opted to retire rather than accept any of the cushy jobs offered to him by the Pentagon. To began a Book about the special forces set. It aside and joined outward bound in 1971. Since the pts program began in 1983. Rheault has organized More than three dozen courses that have involved roughly 300 patients from a Northampton. Tacornal i Vas hand Augusta ga., three of the 16 centers with pts units. Member 27,1988 the stars and stripes Page 15
