tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12317392.post6130826350764355236..comments2023-10-24T03:40:11.527-05:00Comments on VETSPEAK.org: A Veteran Weighs the Costs of War...Windbenderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11678765699760989446noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12317392.post-4530819869359930652010-08-25T10:10:23.515-05:002010-08-25T10:10:23.515-05:00Thank you for the very perceptive article...As a r...Thank you for the very perceptive article...As a retired Marine Lieutenant as a result of wounds received in Vietnam 40 years ago, I could have written this article...However, four years ago, I did search for help, not through the VA however, but through a private hospital here in Akron, Ohio...I went through its PTSD program, quit using drugs and alcohol, and began helping other vets whose lives were exactly as described in the article...In the process I made the decision that I was no longer going to live in my basement and die lonely and angry...It was only a decision that only a lot of counseling and a drug free life could offer and I believe I have taken full advantage of it...Today I have the honor of visiting recovering addicts in the hospital's drug and psychiatriac wards, I belong to a veterans' outreach program, and I work at a homeless shelter for veterans...Today I believe I have a full life, one that would have been impossible had I kept drinking and drugging...Life for veterans does not have to, as they say, "suck"...Life can get better, but we have to make the decision to allow this to happen.<br /><br />Tom Saal<br />First Lieutenant<br />USMC Retired<br />Akron, Ohiotomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01137624798420821882noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12317392.post-41847969527142017852010-08-24T19:17:13.134-05:002010-08-24T19:17:13.134-05:00when I got back from VN and my sociopathic right w...when I got back from VN and my sociopathic right wing loon old man realized I wasn't going to tell him what he wantd to hear, I was ordered to shut up. <br />of course, I didnt. <br />this is the brass ring you win on this merry go round. <br />it gets no better,it gets no easier, it just is. <br />So- dont internalize. it isnt YOU. <br />Its somehing ELSE, something worth exposing and fighting.mutthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11282525452528991301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12317392.post-17928332095617165032010-08-24T13:21:08.150-05:002010-08-24T13:21:08.150-05:00Great Post.Great Post.Asbestos Cancerhttp://www.weitzlux.com/asbestos-cancer_107.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12317392.post-12009264424593554182010-08-24T12:01:58.714-05:002010-08-24T12:01:58.714-05:00I think, Chante, that you will find that places li...I think, Chante, that you will find that places like this is where you will find your family, now and forever. It has been true for me. And, I don't want to say this in the wrong way (I'm real good at that), but you don't get to be "normal" again. I'm certainly a living example. After 43 years, I'm still not and quite frankly if what I see in America today is "normal" I never want to be normal again. Thank you Chante, for being you.<br /><br />Wayne Beverly<br />Sgt USMC<br />formerly Texas VVAW, now Thailand VVAWAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com