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Without doubt the Vietnam War is one which has receded from public consciousness perhaps more rapidly than any war in the history of the United States. Unfortunately the ravages ofthat war hang on long and tragically in the lives of veterans who years later still re-experience the traumas they underwent while in Vietnam.
The following example represents a specific case history of a Vietnam veteran who after 1 2 years is still haunted by his experiences in that Southeast Asian country.
He was a 34-year-old once married Mexican-American male who lived in Mexico during his early years but spent most of his growing years in the United States. His early life was seemingly unremarkable, his family was secure, and he learned the value of hard work.
At age 1 8 he went into the Army infantry and soon found himself in Vietnam where he spent a full year. He had no overt injuries or difficulties but had some trying experiences as a demolition expert there. In several battles he was in life-threatening situations where his company was over-run. Also, after these battles he was upset to realize that he lived while others died. He had some miraculous experiences where he should not have lived, but did. These experiences suggested survivor guilt for being alive.
In addition, he had great conflict over the lack of support from home and from America concerning the Vietnam War and felt himself uncertain as to what he was doing there. Nevertheless, he was a good soldier and received an honorable discharge.
While in Vietnam, he had a number of repetitive dreams that were frighteningto him though not disabling. The dreams involved people trying to hurt him, attack him or get at him, with other people being killed all around him. In Vietnam he had occasions to literally save his and his own colleagues' lives by blowing up Viet Cong whom he later observed were often young boys aged 15 or 16. He described one recurrent dream wherein he saw one of these boys facing him, staring at him, causing him to be extremely anxious with no resolution of the dream. This repeated itself again and again.
These traumatic dreams recurred quite frequently fora period of time after his leaving...