Penny Coleman
FLASHBACK
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Suicide, and the Lessons of War

Letters & other works from Readers

Vietnam
a Poem by Lee Ballinger, Los Angeles

Twenty years ago when I moved to California

I went to Wells Fargo to open a bank account

The teller was young, beautiful, Vietnamese

My first thought was
"You know, I might have fucked your mama"

My second thought was
"You know, I might have killed your mama"

I took my receipt
Went outside
And threw up on the sidewalk

And you wonder why I have trouble sleeping?

You wonder why I broke the lamp and punched a hole in the wall?

You wonder why road rage makes me feel so good?
 

My body came back but not my mind
I will always be ten thousand miles away

Lee Ballinger, Los Angeles
Used with permission of the author

Sermon by Reverend Kurt A. Kuhwald

The Legacy of War: A Son's Story   Sermon by Reverend Kurt A. Kuhwald,   November 12, 2006
Berkeley Fellowship Of Unitarian Universalists, Rev. Kurt A. Kuhwald, Minister  [PDF format (recommended)] [MS Word format]

From Anthony Weisher:

Thank you for your work on this issue. There is a comment in the hearings about promoting those who work on their mental health issues. That is an excellent way to help the public and military understand that we are in much better shape in recovery. It is the ones who are riding it out or fixing it themselves who are likely to give up. I have PTSD and flashbacks; I am a survivor of multiple types of abuse.  more...
   

From Kerry "Doc" Pardue:

A couple of years ago someone asked me if I still thought about Vietnam. I nearly laughed in their face. How do you stop thinking about it? Every day for the last thirty-four years, I wake up with it, and go to bed with it. But this is what I said. "Yea, I think about it. I can't quit thinking about it. I never will. But, I've also learned to live with it.  more...
   

From Jim:

Hi Penny,    I read your book. The personal interviews were riveting. It's disturbing that the carnage still goes on. A friend of mine from a local boat club recently told me about his older brother. Capt. in the Marine Corps, 2 tours in Iraq. Came home to his wife and 2 kids, lived in upstate rural New York. Wasn't home a month when he was killed in a snow mobile "accident".  more...
   

From: "welcomehappiness":

I am an ex British Soldier, who thought he was hard until 5 weeks ago, when I broke, I have been diagnosed with Mixed anxiety, depressive, stress disorder as a consequence of Traumas. This I am told is because you need one unique event to call it PTSD. I have been told I have suffered with PTSD and coped From the Gulf War/Northern Ireland.

I think what Mrs Coleman is doing is amazing, Mrs Coleman is fighting for people like me who are still alive and she doesn't have to,Thank you Mrs Coleman.
   

 

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