James W Ballard

A Medic holds a special place in the hearts and minds of fellow soldiers. He is respectfully called "Doc" and thought to fix any ailment that arises, even when MD's don't have an answer. In Poisoned Jungle, Andy, a medic, suffers from guilt every time one of his fellow soldiers or an innocent civilian dies in his arms - guilty that he was unable to work magic and keep them alive.

When Andy finished his tour, he felt as if he were abandoning his fellow soldiers - this seems to be a true feeling experienced by most soldiers when leaving Vietnam as soldiers came and went as individuals and not as a unit. I know it did for me. He is later devastated when learning that three of his fellow soldiers died in an ambush soon after leaving, thereby, creating further guilt in thinking that if he were there, he might have been able to save them.

In an attempt to move on beyond his guilt, bad dreams, and feeling of survivor's guilt, Andy turns to alcohol, goes AWOL and ends up in jail. He is continuously asked to tell his thoughts, but unable to explain what he couldn't make sense of himself.

Over the next forty years, he only shares his thoughts with a select group of people and begins to put his experience in Vietnam behind him. PTSD is still not a recognized mental illness and the VA doesn't want to treat soldiers suffering from this malady. Agent Orange is touched upon and Andy loses close friends to illness caused by the defoliant. In fact, Andy and his wife adopt as he fears having a child born with deformaties caused by AO.

The author does a great job of moving the story along and giving readers a first-hand glimpse of PTSD and how war impacts soldiers. I highly recommend Poisoned Jungle to anyone who wonders why soldiers change and are not the same upon their return home. This story will help you understand!… (mehr)