The War Tapes

Blog July 28, 2007

Last night I watched a documentary titled The War Tapes directed Deborah Scraton and produced by Robert May. This film was shot by Army soldiers in Iraq. Several men from the National Guard were given video cameras for their year in Iraq. The film flipped back and forth between the war zone and the States. What it did for me was put faces on the war and the landscape. More was said in the jokes and facial gestures then in the dialog. Several of the story lines were classic, young men needing to prove there worth; standing up for a cause they felt noble. Then the reality of death and fear set in and we get to watch how war hardens the human charter. We see the desire for these men wanting to initiating into manhood, and how becoming a hero seduces them into trauma and pain that will infect there souls for a life time. I recommend this film, you see more of the story in the actions and behaviors of these men then they tell you.

As a Vietnam vet the familiarly of the bravado, fear, and denial drew up a deep sadness in me. Where I believe the story holds its deepest truth is in the women that these men have left behind, the wife’s mothers. It was said several times by these women that their men had changed when they came home. We as viewers saw this as well.

No Roads Lead To Nome

I have had some time to reflect about the Nome Alaska trip. As I have mentioned before I went to Nome to teach native Alaskans group therapy, which I did. What I didn’t realize would happen is that I got inoculated with a many new ideas as they did. In other words I went to teach and I got taught. Some of the things I’ve been thinking about are how close to the land these folk have lived for ten thousand years. And it has only been three generations that the white man has brought his germs and religion to these folks. This means that the old stories have not completely sunken out of their unconscious. Many native folks are afraid of the shamanic ways of their ancestors. They have been raised by parents who were taught by white missionaries and have become devout believers themselves. But the old stories they were told as children also live inside them yet. What I experienced in the workshop was that some folks seemed stretched between current history and the hidden past.

The shamanic way has as it central theme nature and the need for human beings to have the highest spiritual reverence for it, all of this is driven by survival, will we eat, will we be warm, will be survive the storm. What is becoming apparent is our modern culture has lost this wisdom we worry very little about our basic needs. Although what keep hearing in the news is issues about global warming, drought, food shortages, and war, all which threaten our survival.

As our environment deteriorates and food and clean water become less available the need for reverence needs to return to us at a soul level. As we look into our world for those who hold this wisdom, those stewards in this forgotten realm, it is obvious that the native peoples are closest to this understanding. The very people we deem as primitive. If you’re thinking it’s the skills we need, you’re off base; we can easily recapture the skill and even improve on them. It’s the spiritual way of being they still have access to, the ability to honor nature and not be as ego driven as we are. This is what the native people still have a faint hold on.

The Way of the Human Beings

Before I left for Alaska I was given a book to read by Ed Tick the author of War and the Soul. I was going to work with Native Alaskans who were dealing with the epidemic of alcohol and suicide. The title of the book Ed gave me is The Way of the Human Beings by Harold Napoleon. What a gift this was. Having read the book I was able to understand what the Native Alaskans are dealing with. Harold writes about the “Great death” which was as series of epidemic brought by the white man during the nineteen hundreds. Harold uses the experience of the Vietnam veteran who came home with PTSD as a parallel to what happened to the Native Alaskans. Natives were left on the fringes of society jus tas the Vietnam veterans were. Natives were traumatized by the loss of so many people and are still struggling to recover the profound loss of elders. Just as the Vietnam vets with PTSD have often choose addiction, and suicide, so did the Native Alaskans.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in PTSD, in either population.

Larry

Vet's In Alaska

I am getting ready to leave Noam Alaska after ten days of teaching and learning. The first four days I taught a group of Native Alaskan heath care workers about Directive Group Therapy, a form of group psychotherapy that I have developed working at Four Winds Hospital for the past twenty years. Many of these folks came from surrounding Native villages where they provide the primary care for the residences. There is and epidemic of alcoholism and suicide in all of these villages.

The remainder of the time my wife Helise and I spent visiting Native villages and enjoying the fantastic landscape. Each place I sought out veterans to speak with. I am hoping to put together a vets gathering here in Noam next year with the help of my friend Greg Smith who works for Norton Sound Health Corporation. Greg was an invaluable contact person who set up my coming to Noam.

Yesterday Greg and I flew in a bush plane out to the small village of Golovin. There are a hundred and fifty folks in the village and around ten vets. A man named Duane or “Bear” who was part of my workshop in Noam lives in Golovin and he introduced me to a vet named Tom who was in Vietnam 1967-68. Tom and I spent several hours talking about life on Golovin and our experience in Vietnam. I will be telling you about Tom in the blog after I get home and settled.