Vietnam Redemption...Full Circle (ePub)

The author returned to the People's Republic of Vietnam after forty-three years and experienced a near total, catastrophic collapse of his psychological defense mechanisms through flashbacks. This book was written with combat veterans of the Vietnam War in mind, of whom, Joe Baginski, is one. The central theme is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which is a type of injury to the soul of the veteran. But it also speaks to the injured souls of everyday people, the non-veteran walking wounded. These are the men and women, boys and girls who he has counseled over the years. In other words, Vietnam Redemption...Full Circle is about the human condition and how the events and circumstances of our lives often inflict wounds upon our souls. These psychic wounds largely go unidentified but not unfelt. In a sense, we are all walking-wounded as we journey through life. So this book is for all of us, the maimed survivors of this life.

There are any number of ways those injuries are incurred, so how it happens matters little in the overall scheme of things. What seems important to the author, however, is that we recognize that it has happened to us, and that it has created the baggage that we carry through life. Apart from this recognition, no healing can take place and healing is essential if we are to live a life of integrity and joy. It is not recognition, per se, that heals, but, recognition is a precursor to healing. Unfortunately, many people recognize that they have been damaged in some way or other and may even recognize who afflicted them, how and when it happened, but because they do not take steps to remediate the problem, all they can do is feel it. There is a better way and that is what the author discusses in the closing chapters of Vietnam Redemption...Full circle.