Home > Articles and News > Notes from a Veteran

Notes from a Veteran

Dan Doyle is a husband, father, grandfather, Vietnam veteran, and retired professor of Humanities at Seattle University.

Latest Notes from a Veteran Articles

Traumatic Brain Injuries Are Finally Being Recognized As Real Wounds

May 6, 2013: CBS 60 Minutes presented a very powerful piece last night, May 5, 2013, on traumatic brain injuries (TBI's) as real, and this is important, physical wounds. TBI is not the same as PTSD. It is something completely separate from PTSD, but can be an extremely debilitating factor if both are being experienced by the same person.

Going To My First Military Reunion Has Me Both Anxious and Excited

May 5, 2013: It has been 45 years since I left Vietnam. Much has happened during that time, of course. I married, had two daughters and now, two, soon to be three, grandchildren. I got an education and had a career in teaching at both the high school and university levels. And now, I am very pleasantly retired.

One Veteran's Vow To His Best Friend Is Finally Kept

May 4, 2013: This story is being repeated more and more these days. The Joint POW/MIA Command organizes 90-100 missions each year all over the world trying to recover the remains of service members listed as missing from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the Cold War. Every month they positively identify six to eight of the MIA's and take them off the list.

White House Gets Behind The Hiring of Veterans

May 3, 2013: The private sector has been making commitments to hire veterans for some time now. For example, Walmart, UPS, and others have been doing this for some time. The White House has recently announced a "significant new effort to reduce unemployment and improve job prospects among veterans." They say that they are "enlisting the support" of U.S. companies to hire 435,000 veterans and military spouses over the next five years. I am pleased to see a coordinated effort by both the public and private sectors in this effort. All such efforts are to be welcomed, and might I add, encouraged. It is after all, the right thing to do.

A Helping Spouse And The Power of Love to Heal

May 2, 2013: This is a powerful video of a wife speaking about her Vietnam veteran husband's struggles to recover from the debilitating effects of PTSD. Her love and understanding, as well as that of fellow veterans brought him to recognize his need for help.

Jamming For Vietnam Veterans

May 1, 2013: This is a video of an outdoor concert for the Vietnam Veterans of San Diego. The musicians range in age from the Vietnam era to the present, and they know how to jam and have some fun.

Wounded Warriors Come To The Aid and Comfort of The Injured in Boston

Apr 30, 2013: A lot has transpired in the two weeks that have passed since the bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 14, 2013. The cowardly, destructive intent of terrorism made it through the fire walls of our national security and tried, once again, to cause fear and panic among us. Once again, it has failed. The people of Boston showed the world that Americans do not scare easily. That freedom will not be cowed by the cowardly forces of terror.

Don't Wait Until It's Too Late

Apr 29, 2013: This young U.S. Navy veteran has a very important message for all veterans. "Don't wait if you are having problems." If you are recognizing that you are having problems, or are hearing that from others, don't wait to go see the local VA. You have earned those benefits. They are there for you. Don't hesitate to use them.

Talk With Other Soldiers

Apr 25, 2013: This Army medic veteran says it better than most. He gives as clear an insight into the difficulties of transitioning from war experiences back into civilian life as anyone I've seen in these videos before. He knows the problems, because he has not only experienced them, but he had faced them head-on, looked at them for what they are, and has found the most useful tools to be put to use in handling them in the healthiest, most effective of ways.

Eddie Agosto's Hope Restored

Apr 24, 2013: Eddie Agosto joined the Marines at age 19 to escape the mean streets of Brooklyn. In 1980, President Carter sent a small force into Iran to try to liberate the American Embassy hostages that were being held by revolutionary Iranian element. It ended in a disastrous crash in the desert during a sandstorm. Eddie was on that mission. He was in another helicopter. He and his comrades had to rescue the injured and hastily bag the ruined bodies of the deceased and get out of there before their failed mission was discovered by Iranian revolutionary forces. What he saw and experienced, and what he had to do for his comrades, sent him on a downward spiral into the darkness of PTSD on his return home.

She Felt Out of Place In Civilian Life

Apr 17, 2013: This young lady has a lot to say to us about separation from the military and re-entry into civilian life. But she has even more to say about recognizing PTSD and being present to those who are going through it.

He Saved Hundreds of Lives And Died In A POW Camp

Apr 16, 2013: A few days ago, the Medal of Honor was awarded to a man who stood by his fellow troops through the toughest moments of battles in the Korean war. He was an Army Chaplain who was captured along with others of his unit and died in a Chinese POW camp.

The Biggest Thing is Losing The Brotherhood

Apr 15, 2013: This young Marine veteran is a very articulate spokesman for the experience of coming home and leaving the brotherhood of the Corps, and reenter the new environment of civilian life.

A Personal Piece of Civil War History is Returned

Apr 12, 2013: One-hundred-forty-eight years ago, a union private by the name of Levi Schlegel, who had been serving with the 198th Pennsylvania Regiment, Company G, passed through Fredricksburg, Virginia, on his way home after the cessation of the Civil War.

Hill 488: A Night in Hell

Apr 7, 2013: This article is based on and heavily quoted from an article written by Charles W. Sasser for the June 2013 edition of Vietnam Magazine. I had known about this battle when I was in Vietnam. It was legend among the Marines. The article brought the memory back and I found it very moving. So, I thought I would share some of the main elements of it with readers of this blog.