~Page 2~
"What a wonderful approach. I have read Nam Vet: Making Peace with Your Past from cover to cover and appreciate it so much. It led me through many of the thoughts that I have had so very often.
I have left my family four different times to enter combat, each time for more than a year. I was hit by enemy gunfire five times during World War II and often wondered why God was saving me while so many others were being lost. Part of the answer may have been given on my second tour in Vietnam when General Abrams informed me that he was extending my tour a few more months. I did not ask why; I was willing to continue my service without interruption. He then went on to tell me that he had extended me because the figures showed that I was getting the job done. He said every month I stayed in command of my combat unit, he figured about 100 young men lived to go home who would otherwise have lost their lives. I then told him that every day I prayed I would do the right thing by every person who looked for command guidance from me, and I prayed for my troops.
"Nam Vet" is the approach and idea that has been needed for a long time. I have often said that overcoming psychological problems comes in three stages: (1) convincing the person that he or she is, in fact, a worthwhile individual; (2) convincing him that he can do something worthwhile; (3) sticking with him until he succeeds in accomplishing something that gives him pride. Nam Vet offers all of these, but most of all, it offers hope for so many who have come home from Vietnam without it."
ELLIS W. WILLIAMSON Major General US Army (Ret)
173d Airborne Brigade Commander
Vietnam
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