The Battalion
l^ol. 82 No. 52 (ASPS 045360 8 pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, November 11, 1986
[Trauma outlasts Vietnam
Some veterans withdrew to avoid suspicions of society
ms Bfr,|
By Cathie Anderson
Editor
See today’s special section
for stories about the
MB planned Vietnam memo-
a rial in Dallas, Aggies in
it's ul Vietnam and A&M stu-
^fsi dents who lived in Viet-
| nain during the war.
Vietnam veterans survived the
tress of combat in a strange war that
enjoyed neither popular support
nor public sanction. And when they
came home — if they came home —
jit was either to the arms of unknow
ing relatives, the questions of forget
ful friends or the insults of irate pac
ifists.
Gary E. May, a Vietnam veteran
who is now a clinical social worker in
Evansville, Ind., says the image of
Vietnam veterans in the media pro
voked a fairly defensive relationship
between society and the veterans,
who were portrayed as guilt-ridden
and violence-prone individuals.
“Knowing that people were suspi
cious of us and our mettle, many
chose to not give anybody any fur-
ther evidence for suspicion,” May
says, “so they consequently withdrew
and just sort of stayed to themselves
\ to ■.or played it very close to the vest.
iepec® They didn’t readily acknowledge
osc rJB that they were Vietnam veterans and
ftnentHcertainly didn’t voluntarily acknowl-
n hflpH edge it."
uasses §! This was the case for John Velas
quez, now commander of the Brazos
County Veterans of Foreign Wars,
Post 4f>92, and Jerry Forman, now a
pressman for the Bryan-College Sta
tion Eagle, in the early days af ter the
war.
Forman says that when he got
home, he was asked for a news re
lease for the local newspaper, but he
ref used to give it.
“It was just that at that point of
the game, it seemed to me that there
were a lot of people against it (the
war)," he says, “It wasn’t quite the
same as the previous conflicts we’d
been in.
“There was a lot of strong anti
war feeling. I was just glad to get out
of it, and I didn’t want to advertise
(that I had).”
Velasquez says he refused to talk
to anyone in the media about Viet
nam until 1984, and he only did so
then because he thought it would
help people understand the war bet
ter.
"I am trying to get more Vietnam
veterans in the VFW,” he says. “The
reason I’m having trouble is that a
lot of them feel like I felt years ago. I
finally just said that I’m going to try
to go forward, not live in the past.
There’s a future ahead.”
May, w ho worked with veterans in
the Veterans Administration Vet
Center Program for about 10 years,
says he believes a decompression pe
riod could have helped veterans in
readjusting to civilian life.
He says he doesn’t think time is
the critical element in the success of
the decompression period.
“More important than time is
what happens during that period,”
he says, “and that would include an
emphasis on really appreciating and
understanding as much as one could
what one had been through, the
losses that had been sustained, both
of f riends, personal losses . . . things
that had changed back in the states
while you were over there.”
May says this not only would have
helped re-integrate the veteran into
society but also could have helped
clarify messages sent back to civilian
society. He says the transition from
battlefield to U.S. soil was so quick
that “some guys accurately and very
vividly describe returning home still
in combat fatigues they had worn
just hours earlier in a fireflght in
Vietnam.”
“Family members would have
known that Johnny was safe and
“Vietnam veterans, like
veterans of any war, are a
ticking bomb of unre
solved emotions. Nobody
goes into a modern war
without being wounded in
some way. ”
— A&M military historian
Roger Beaumont
sound and back in Fort Campbell,”
he says, “but he ca,n’t come home for
another three weeks because there is
a mandatory debriefing time, which
really acknowledges and solidifies
the importance of what he went
through.”
This might have made the civilian
population realize the importance of
what these men had been through,
May says. Instead they often re
turned home to friends and former
classmates who said things like, “W-
here’ve you been? I haven’t seen you
around for a few weeks.”
Velasquez says that his experience
resembled this one.
“Nobody said, ‘Hey, congratula
tions, you’re home, and what was it
like?’ ” he recalls. “It was just like
you went out of town for the week
end, and you came back, and no
body seemed to miss you.
“I’d tell them I was in Vietnam,
and their reaction would be like, ‘So
what?’ ”
But Velasquez doesn’t think that a
decompression period would have
helped him. “I don’t think it would
have done that much good because
the general public, the media,
shredded us,” he says. “If we’d come
home . . . and been stationed in an
isolated area for a month or two and
talked to social workers, well, when
you get out, the people aren’t going
to feel any dif ferently about you.
“Recently, about eight months ago
... I started taking group therapy . .
. where they have a bunch of Viet
nam veterans meet at the VA Hospi
tal and Outpatient Clinic on a cer
tain day, and they want you to get
your frustration out. I’ve been at
tending them .... and maybe they
know something that we don’t, but
after eight months, I can’t see any
good that it’s done me.”
Forman says he wouldn’t have
wanted to go through a debriefing
either. “I was just ready to get out of
there,” he says.
He says the greatest feeling for
him was when his plane from Saigon
lifted off, and the pilot said, “We’re
airborne.”
May says he believes that no one
would have chosen to stay, given the
choice, but that such a period might
have helped both the soldiers and
their families.
Many veterans didn’t experience
symptoms of post-traumatic stress
disorder until they were out of com
bat for some months, May says.
They notice they’re having difficulty
in just re-assimilating into civilian
life, he says.
These veterans feel they have
nothing in common with peers, for
mer classmates, spouses and others
who weren’t exposed to combat dur
ing that era. May says.
He says the psychological effects
of combat probably were delayed be
cause of the time-limited tours of
duty that the men were given during
the Vietnam War. Researchers then
believed that prolonged exposure to
combat was one of the main reasons
for the disorder. May says, so time-
limited tours began during the Ko
rean War and certainly were the or
der of the day for Vietnam.
“That seemed to have the desired
ef fect,” May says. “T he incidents of
battle neurosis or shell shock or
whatever term was applied during
the combat situation were dimin
ished during Korea and during Viet
nam, but what we saw especially with
Vietnam was that delayed effect.”
Although the psychological ef
fects of combat have been known
since the time of the Napoleonic
Wars, Dr. Roger Beaumont, a Texas
A&M military historian, says that
still not enough research has been
done on it.
Beaumont says that by rotating
soldiers through units, the military
reduced them to parts in a machine.
Soldiers went into units as individu-
See Veterans, page 8
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jfjraiucf
Three veterans agree Vietnam gained nothing militarily
Ids
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;ef! >
ITS
By Cathie Anderson
Editor
"It ain’t much of a war, but it's the only
one we got. ”
The Vietnam conflict, the “not much of a
war,” as it was termed by the upper echelon
of the military during the ’60s, managed to
| keep U.S. armed forces fighting for 12
years and the United States in turmoil for
25.
John Forman, a Vietnam veteran who is
now a pressman for the Bryan-College Sta
tion Eagle says the end results of the war
weren’t worth what it cost.
"I think it has made the United States
paranoid because every time we start going
into an area of sensitivity, you always hear .
. . ‘Well, let’s not get bogged down in an
other Vietnam,’ ” Forman says. “You hear
that just about any time we try to influence
another country, like Central America right
now is the classic example.”
Gary E. May, a Vietnam veteran who is
now a clinical social worker in Evansville,
Ind., says he hopes the country has learned
the “importance of knowing as a nation
what the hell it is we’re doing or what we’re
proposing to do before we set about doing
it.
“I hope that one of the things we’ve
learned (from Vietnam) is that we just don’t
commit troops to a situation because it
seems expedient for whatever measure, ei
ther for politics, for economics, for world
affairs — whatever that is — or for any
thing else. It’s serious business.”
John Velasquez, a Vietnam veteran who
is now commander of the Brazos County
Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 4692, says
that during the war, he didn’t know why
American troops had been sent to Vietnam.
“I really didn’t have a complete under
standing as to what we were doing there ex
cept that we were involved,” he says.
Velasquez says it’s difficult for him,
knowing that 50,000 or 60,000 Americans
died in the Vietnam War and over 2,400
still are missing in action in Southeast Asia.
“Too many politicians — it was a political
rally,” he says. “It was the guys up in Wash
ington running the show, and it wasn’t the
field generals and the field sergeants out
there in Vietnam doing it. Washington was
running it.
“I feel it was just a great loss. We didn’t
win anything. We didn’t even break even.
The Communists took it (South Vietnam)
over.”
Velasquez says he considers himself lucky
because he was 23 years old when he went
to Vietnam.
“I felt a whole lot older than some of
your 18- and 19-year-olds, and they looked
toward me more as a leader because of my
age group,” he says. “Some of those boys
just barely got out of high school, and three
“It was just a great loss. We
didn’t win anything. We didn’t
even break even. ”
— John Velasquez, Vietnam
veteran
months later, they’re in a combat zone.
“They responded good, but the Ameri
can people never gave them a chance. They
never gave them a chance to prove themsel
ves.”
While these three enlisted men agree
that the United States accomplished noth
ing militarily in Vietnam, they disagree
about whether the public understands this
conflict and what it meant.
Forman says he believes people under
stand what happened enough to be fearful
of a similar incident happening again, but
Velasquez says he doesn’t think the public
really understood the war or the Vietnam
soldier.
May says he believes that people would
say they “semi-understand” the war.
“I think people’s understanding of it is
quite variable because there wasn’t evei
sort of national consensus on why . . . Wv
were there in the first place,” he says. “Even
the politicians haven’t been able to consis
tently articulate any kind of good that came
from it, so I think people would say that
they are quite confused and uncertain
about what it was all about but not so con
fused and uncertain that they’re troubled
on a day-to-day basis about it.”
Both Velasquez and May also are con
cerned that the recent glamorization of the
war will move the public even farther away
from the truth about Vietnam.
May was especially appalled at the image
that the movie, “Rambo,” had given the
war.
“If there’s anything that I think brings
dishonor to those of us who served honor
ably there (in Vietnam), it’s having Sylvester
Stallone shooting an M-60 from the hip and
just blowing people away at will, and not
recognizing the reality of that,” he says.
“Not only is that a disservice to we Vietnam
veterans, but I think it’s also in more pro
found ways a disservice to this country’s
youth because they grow up with that ste
reotypical, romantic image of what war is
like.”
State to request
review of decision
on oil lease profits
Callers in Beirut say French hostages freed
lie!
AUSTIN (AP) — Land Commis
sioner Garry Mauro said Monday
the state will ask the Texas Supreme
Court to review a Texarkana appel
late court ruling that Mauro said
would give $2 million to Exxon
Corp. and South Texas rancher
Clinton Manges instead of the Per
manent School Fund.
The attorney general’s depart
ment said the state’s appeal to the
Texarkana court ruling was being
prepared and would be filed before
the Nov. 28 deadline.
“It would be unconscionable for
the opinion to stand,” Mauro told a
news conference.
Mauro said the Texarkana deci
sion gives away half of the settlement
made in 1983 in a suit filed against
Mobil Oil Co. by the state on 28 oil
wells in Duval County on the ranch
operated by Manges.
Mauro said the case involves the
Relinquishment Act of 1919 in which
the state owns the mineral rights and
someone else owns the surface
rights.
Those owning surface rights act as
the state’s leasing agents and are
given half of the proceeds.
“In the lawsuit in question, Exxon
was asked to help the state win the
case and refused,” Mauro said.
“Now they want to share in the
profit and that’s not fair,” he said.
He said Manges had agreed not to
oppose the state’s claim on Mobil,
but he also said, “If Exxon receives
its share, then Manges will expect his
share.”
Mauro said the lawsuit involves
about $2 million that should go to
the Permanent School Fund but if
the Texarkana court decision stands,
Exxon will get $700,()()() and Manges
$1.3 million.
“It’s one thing for the state to
share equally when its Relin
quishment Act agents have acted in
the best interests of Texas,” Mauro
said.“In this case, the state’s agent
did nothing for the state, but still
wants to be paid as if it had.
“That’s not right, that’s not what
the law says and I’m sure that the
Texas Supreme Court won’t stand
for it.”
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Two
anonymous telephone callers to Bei
rut newspapers said Monday night
that two French hostages had been
freed by their Moslem kidnappers,
but the reports could not be con
firmed.
One of the callers indicated the
captives might be taken to Damas
cus, Syria, and reliable sources in the
Syrian capital said the freed hostages
had arrived there and identified
them as Marcel Coudari and Camille
Sontag.
One of two communiques distrib
uted earlier Monday by the Revolu
tionary Justice Organization said
some of the group’s French hostages
would be freed within 48 hours as a
goodwill gesture made possible by
Algerian and Syrian mediation. The
group, believed to be composed of
Shiite Moslems, claimed that France
had made promises on unspecified
demands.
Shortly before midnight an anon
ymous telephone caller told the in
dependent Beirut newspaper An-
Nahar that two French hostages had
been freed in Moslem w'est Beirut
Ramlet al-Baida residential district
at 7:30 p.m. (1 1:30 p.m. CST).
The second communique signed
by the Revolutionary Justice Organi
zation said the release w'ould take
place at 7:30 p.m. at the Hotel Beau-
rivage in Ramlet al-Baida near the
headquarters of Syrian army offi
cers, but reporters at the hotel said
no hostages had appeared there.
At 7:55 p.m., French diplomat
Guy Letrange arrived at the hotel
with three bodyguards in a bullet
proof green Peugeot embassy car. A
bodyguard stepped out and told re
porters French Ambassador Chris
tian Graeff had instructed them to
take delivery of any freed hostages.
“We will wait,” said the man, who
identified himself as Jean-Claude la
Bourdette, the head of Graeffs
bodyguards.
The leftist Beirut newspaper As-
Safir reported late Monday that it
had received a telephone call from a
person claiming to speak for the
Revolutionary Justice Organization
and it said he asked if the paper had
received the report from An-Nahar.
As-Safir said an editor told the
caller, “Yes we did. But can you tell
us the names?” of the hostages.
It said the caller, speaking Arabic,
replied, “Not right away. You will
know tomorrow. Go take their pic
tures in Damascus.”
If the hostages were turned over
to Syrian officials they could have
been sent overland to Damascus.
The two communiques from the
extremist group were sent to the
Beirut office of a Western news
agency. They did not say how many
hostages were to be freed.
The Revolutionary Justice Orga
nization, thought to be loyal to Iran,
has claimed responsibility for kid
napping three Frenchmen and two
Americans in Moslem west Beirut.
Nineteen foreigners — including
eight Frenchmen and six Americans
— are missing in Lebanon and va
rious groups have claimed responsi
bility for the abductions. American
David Jacobsen was released Nov. 2
bv another Shiite group, Islamic Ji
had.
In Paris, a spokesman for Premier
Jacques Chirac said the government
was encouraged but was taking “the
most discreet attitude possible” in
comments on the captive French
men.
Among Frenchmen the Revolu
tionary Justice Organization claims
to hold are two television crewmen
See Hostages, page 8
Registrar: Phone system
worked well on 1st day
By Jo Ann Able
Staff Writer
Although some Texas A&M
students attempting to register by
phone Monday complained they
received only busy signals, the
registrar’s office said more than
1,800 calls were received by the
registration phone system by 3
p.m.
Donald D. Carter, associate
registrar, said this is not the num
ber of students who actually reg
istered or who attempted to regis
ter, only how many calls were
received.
He said some calls received
came from students who are not
classified as seniors or graduate
students, and are not yet eligible
to register.
“If you're a junior, you can call
in and the system will answer, but
it won’t let you register,” Carter
said. “That’s still counted as a call
received.
“We don’t know bow many of
these calls are clogging up the
line —juniors, sophomores and
freshmen who are thinking, ‘Hey,
I’ll go ahead and try to get in ear
ly.’ S ’
He said.these calls are causing
a lot of extraneous traffic on the
lines.
Carter said the new system
seems to be working fairly well so
far.
“Since 1961, I’ve been through
every registration system, either
as a student or a staff member,
and this appears to be the opti
mum way to register,” Carter
said.
Registration procedures were
further disrupted Monday by
problems with local telephone
service. A repair service clerk for
GTE said repairs were being
made at a switching station and
on some cables that had been cut.