Transcript
I feel that because
of the therapy
and everything I went through,
life has no limits to me today.
And because of working
with the therapist,
in my mind, I know
it's gonna be okay.
(gentle music)
It was quite an experience,
coming back from 'Nam,
and I could tell that I
had changed an awful lot.
And I think the biggest
thing in my behavior
was the fact that
I was so jumpy.
I would wake up in the
middle of the night
and I'm in the
middle of Vietnam,
and bullets are
flying everyplace,
and my bed is wringing wet.
And no, I did not
urinate in the bed, okay?
(gentle music)
I was so tense that,
literally, you could drop a
pin and I would react to it.
I just didn't feel
at ease with myself,
with my family, my
wife even felt it.
(clock ticking)
She told me, you know,
"What's wrong with you?"
(clock ticking)
I didn't trust anybody.
I felt I had no one to talk to,
'cause there was no
one that could relate.
My hometown's 650 people.
Those guys couldn't
even spell Vietnam,
let alone have an idea
of what it was all about.
I didn't know where to go.
I didn't know who to ask, I
didn't know who to talk to.
(gentle music)
I suppressed it with work.
I was working
around the clock.
I'd just work all the time.
Basically, I was trying
to control my mind,
and I was trying to block it.
I was in control
most of the time,
but whenever what it
was that set me off,
I was out of control.
I can talk like a sailor,
and take your head off
and put it in your lap
and you'd never know it.
I know the anger
affected my work life.
Someone who came back
to me later in life
and told me that they were
actually scared of me.
And what they didn't know
was I was scared of myself.
(fountain splashing)
I was just having a hard
time grasping it all,
but there was
no place to turn.
And so, you just
swallow and kept going,
for 48 years.
(fountain splashing)
(upbeat guitar music)
A few years ago, I heard about the treatment
from my friend in
Washington State.
I went on the computer.
I checked a few things out,
and I thought, why not?
It's time that you
do something.
(upbeat guitar music)
I was a little skeptical
about seeing a therapist
because how in the Hell
does anybody know what
I've been through?
But it didn't take long
for me to change my mind.
It didn't take long.
I think that I always
wanted to tell somebody.
(upbeat guitar music)
I mean, we talked about the
things that I was going to do,
from barbecuing meat,
to walking through Sam's.
I'm going to that mall,
and I'm gonna walk that mall
from one end to the other end.
And then, I'll see how I feel.
But I know right now
how I'm going to feel,
I'm gonna feel great.
Just plain great.
- Who's a good dog?
The treatment that I received
has helped me to realize
I can go to a restaurant,
and I don't have to
sit against the wall.
I don't have to sit in a corner.
I'm proud of that.
I'm just proud of
those little things.
- [Barista] You have a nice day.
- Pleasure meeting you.
If you're out there right now,
and you're
experiencing something
that just doesn't feel right,
and hasn't felt right for years,
then go to the VA and
seek out the program.
It's never too late to start.
It's not too late.
(upbeat guitar music)