"They talked softly. They talked of rumors. An observation post by the sea, easy duty, a place to swim and get solid tans and fish for red snapper. Later they talked about going home. It would become a war story. People would laugh and shake their heads, nobody would believe a word. Just one more war story ..."
-Tim O'Brien--Going After Cacciato
Everyone knows a veteran.
They are mail carriers, store clerks, school
teachers, attorneys, business owners, airline
pilots, your fathers or mothers, husbands or
wives. Nam Vet: Making Peace with Your Past opens
a window to their hidden pain. Its truth will
help you be free, because understanding is the
first step toward healing.
Here are some readers' comments
Dear Chuck,
I want to be sure you know what a difference your
book has made for the men who come to us for
treatment. It must have been both inspiring and
healing to write it.
-Beverly Donovan, Ph.D
Veterans Addiction Recovery Center
Veterans Administration
Cleveland, Ohio
Chuck,
Can you send me a second copy of Nam Vet? My
first copy is getting ragged from being passed
around so much. All I can tell you is that it has
helped me so much to get in touch with my Vietnam
experience. The hiding from that time is over for
me.
-Terry (Nam '66-'67)
Dear Mr. Dean,
I'm a junior in high school and currently doing a
term paper on PTSD in Vietnam veterans. I read
your book as part of my research and it really
struck a chord within me. I never realized what
people had to live through, and are still living
through now on a daily basis. My father was on an
aircraft carrier in Vietnam, and I now understand
how it could have affected him badly. Your book
helped me to understand many things about what
veterans of that war are faced with in their
lives today.
-A. C.
Chuck,
I just wanted to thank you for taking "point" and
writing your book. It's really "our book," ya
know? I've looked and listened for so long,
knowing that something was wrong inside. I've
wasted my life for the last fifteen years, and
destroyed a good family life. I've read Nam Vet
four times now, and nothing has ever helped me
face the facts better than it has. It has helped
me and my family get back on track . . . there's
hope now.
-Al (Vietnam '66-'67,
SOG)
Nam Vet is an intensely personal book in which
Dean bares his life and soul. Because of that, it
is one of the more practical, helpful and timely
books to hit the shelves in the past few years.
-Charles Edgren
El Paso Herald-Post
Dear Chuck,
This morning I received a copy (on loan) of your
book Nam Vet from a mate that served with my unit
in Vietnam, who now lives here in West Australia.
After reading only part one of your book I
realized that this was the book that I have been
looking for. I do voluntary welfare work and
since the unveiling of our Vietnam Veterans
Memorial in Canberra an increasing number of vets
have sought help from us. I don't have all the
answers for them, but your book goes all the way
in helping them. How can we get more?
-Rick Wells
Welfare Officer
Southport Ex-Services Welfare Office
Southport, Australia
Dear Chuck,
A readjustment counselor at the Vets Center gave
me your book, Nam Vet: Making Peace with Your
Past. It is here that I found many expressions
similar to my own feelings, including some which
I had not heard from other veterans of that war.
Your book raises many issues and questions with
which I identify. The insightful rationales and
suggestions for working through troublesome
issues is particularly appreciated. Good luck
with your work-it is helping me in my long search
for peace of mind.
-D. G. (US Special
Forces, medic '67-'68)
Dear Mr. Dean,
Yesterday I read chapter nine in "Nam Vet." I am
keenly, and sometimes painfully, aware that Jesus
is preparing me for some rough terrain that lies
somewhere not too far ahead of me.
During the ten month delayed entry into the Army,
I prayed to God and asked, "Why are You sending
me into the Army?" I felt in my spirit that He
answered in this way, Timmy, I've called you to
sweat, bleed, and scream with these guys so that
on the inside you can share Me with them when the
time comes. Mr. Dean, God is using the Army to
mold and shape me, and He is using your book to
prepare my mind, heart and soul for things I may
well be exposed to. You probably already know,
but God is using you mightily in ministering to
my dad's generation as well as to mine.
U.S. Army Ranger Medic, May, 1999
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~Satisfaction~