My name is Paul.
I served in the U.S. Marine Corps 1966 to '68.
And I served in Vietnam 1966 to 1967.
I served as either platoon sergeant or platoon guide all
my entire tour in Vietnam.
The worst fight we were in was we were on a routine patrol,
supposedly.
And we were about one-third of the way to our destination.
And we got ambushed by, I thought, every enemy in the
whole world.
And that was the worst day in my life.
I'll never forget that day.
And we lost a lot of good men that day.
I was medevaced.
I was wounded.
And I come to Philadelphia Navy Hospital.
So from Friday, fighting for my life, till Monday, there
was such a culture shock that I don't think I'll
ever get over that.
When I got out, I was so confused, I didn't
know what to do.
I had gone to college.
I had a degree in accounting.
But I didn't want to work.
I didn't want to do anything.
In that time, I was having all kind of problems
dealing with the war.
I thought I could handle that.
But I couldn't.
I just didn't know what to do with myself.
And I drank a lot.
I was still having nightmares and flashbacks
and all kind of stuff.
And I said, this stuff is never going to leave me.
And I just managed to live with it.
I took a job in Saudi Arabia.
This was whenever things were starting to get bad.
I mean, the business of nightmares and waking up, that
was becoming pretty common now.
I struggled, and I lost that job.
And I couldn't concentrate enough to get a job anywhere.
I read in the paper about a guy who was being interviewed
at a new place that just opened in town
called the Vet Center.
He was a Marine in Vietnam too.
And I'm reading all this stuff, and I'm
saying, wow, that's me.
So I come down to the group.
And I couldn't believe it.
There was 20 guys, all with the same problem.
We were together, oh, a couple years.
And I knew these guys, and they knew me.
And we were brothers.
And when I come out of the group, I said, I feel a hell
of a lot better than I felt when I went into the group.
And when I come out with my one-on-ones with the doctors,
man, I'm on top of the world.
They want to help you.
You tell them what's ailing you, and believe me, they know
how to take care of it.
Just amazing how you can feel so bad and this will bring you
right back to some kind of better situation
than you are now.
Believe me.