I slept one or two hours every other day.

Back in the days when I was going

through what I call my Chernobyl period, I slept one

or two hours every other day and I never slept

without a loaded gun and a survival knife near me.

I also had a 140 pound Rottweiler

who wouldn't have allowed anything to happen with me

and I trained him as well as any military dog

but I still felt vulnerable.

I still felt I was the only one on guard

and my adrenaline would get so high just thinking

about being there and the only person armed

that I slept very little.

That didn't last for long because nobody can go two days

with an hour or two of sleep and that just made me worse.

I found out how to take naps.

I found out how to, I slept in a chair rather than a bed

because that made me feel less vulnerable.

I slept in clothing rather than undressing

because then I was ready.

I never felt like there were Viet Cong in the tree line

because intellectually, because I knew I was home

and that was a safe place.

But in my spirit, in my anxiety felt like I was always

under a sniper's scope.

And my adrenaline rush was so high I could go

for a long period of time without sleeping

but that didn't do me any good at all.

I had to learn sleeping.

I was offered sleeping classes.

I was offered meditation, relaxation.

I was offered a lot of things.

Some things I did, some things I didn't

but certainly everything I did helped in one way or another.