For many veterans, those who survived the war and returned home are mere shadows of their former selves. Military training doesn t prepare one to shed burdens of combat and find meaning in a peacetime life. Richard A. Price is a Vietnam veteran who recognized this and created his own operations manual on how to manage post-traumatic stress disorder on the road back to normalcy.
From Nam to Normal: Battle of the Demons uses military language to communicate strategies, experiences, expectations, and eventual daily management of the dense jungles and bogs that is PTSD. Chapter titles like, CORPSMAN, I M HIT! describe the importance and process of understanding one s psychological wounds, which is the first step toward healing. SEARCH AND DESTROY details the daily ins and outs of attacking PTSD instead of letting it have control. And CANS ON THE WIRE immediately provides alarming imagery as a springboard for exploring one s emotional triggers.
Price approaches this complex and sensitive topic with authenticity and heart from one veteran to another. The journey from Nam to normal is a lifelong quest, but Price s book is sure to be the most important weapon in every recovering veteran s armory.