Healing Combat Trauma

"The Frontiers of Trauma Treatment" - Seminar

Bessel A. Van Der Kolk, M.D., and Dana Moore will be presenting "Frontiers of Trauma Treatment" at Kripalu in Western Massachusetts, from January 9-11, 2009.

The program is designed, according to the informational material,

For licensed therapists, yoga instructors, and other individuals interested in studying the nature and processes of trauma.

Traumatic experiences alter people’s relationship to their bodies in ways that leave them feeling uptight, helpless, disconnected, hurt, on edge, frantic, and at odds with themselves and their environment. Research is demonstrating that physical sensations and action patterns are the very foundation of consciousness. The experience of physical mastery that yoga and other body-based practices provide is often necessary in order to initiate new ways of perceiving reality. By learning to pay close attention to internal experience and working with the felt sense, people can reclaim authority over their lives.

In this weekend, we will explore recent developments in the neurosciences, attachment research, and new psychotherapeutic treatments. This course is not meant to serve as personal trauma treatment but as an introduction to the neuroscience of trauma and attachment. It offers a chance to be exposed to an array of body-centered approaches for dealing with trauma, including EMDR, yoga, theater work, and tai chi. These approaches help in dealing with hyperarousal and processing traumatic memories, and promote mastery over the posttraumatic legacy of constriction and feeling lost in the world.

CE Credits

This program is eligible for :

• 8 credits for nurses (CS, NP, RN, LPN), $20 additional charge
• 8 credits for social workers, $20 additional charge
• 8 credits for certified counselors (NBCC), $20 additional charge
• 8 credits for physical therapists (PT), $20 additional charge
• 8 credits for athletic trainers (BOC), $20 additional charge
• 8 credits for psychotherapists (APA), $20 additional charge
• 8 credits for yoga instructors (YA), $20 additional charge

For further information about the weekend or to register, click here.

In Honor of Veterans Day: Community Acupuncture Clinics for Veterans

In honor of Veterans Day, Acupuncture without Borders is holding community acupuncture clinics for veterans in the following cities:

Newark, CA;

West Los Angeles, CA;

Stamford, CT;

Ft. Lauderdale, FL;

St. Augustine, FL;

St. Petersburg, FL;

Tamarac, FL;

Boston, MA;

Cambridge, MA;

Albuquerque, NM;

Santa Fe, NM;

Carson City, NV;

New York, NY;

Glenside, PA;

McLean, VA;

Longview, WA;

Seattle, WA; and

Racine, WI.

For more information on these clinics, click here.  NOTE: Do not assume that they are each being held on Veterans Day itself.  Most are held on a day either before or after, so check the schedule first several days in advance by clicking the aforementioned link.

Editor's note: For more on why acupuncture might be a suitable or interesting treatment modality for combat trauma and/or PTSD, click here.

Go to War, Do Art - Afghanistan and Iraq Combat Art Show Opens in DC

You are invited to visit the new show opening on "Afghanistan and Iraq: Combat Art," from the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps Combat Art Programs.  

Pictured here is USMC Warrant Officer and Combat Artist Michael Fay, with his unfinished canvas for "Between Sunset and Moonrise, Wazir Pass, Afghanistan" (oil paint on gessoed watercolor paper). 

Fay is one of the combat artists featured in the exhibit, and we've written about his powerful work before on this blog: here,  here, and here, among others.  Marine Sgt. Kristopher Battles is another U.S. Marine Combat Artist whose work will be featured in the exhibit.  Both come from a long tradition of those told to "Go to War, Make Art" -- both in the Marine Corps and in the other branches of the military.

See the superb PBS series, "They Drew Fire," for more on combat artists.  Abbott Laboratories has its own magnificent collection of war art.  For more on the Marine Corps combat art program, and its permanent inclusion in the new Marine Corps Museum, click here.  For a look at Mike Fay's personal blog, Fire and Ice, click here.

We're going to assume that the combat art show is going to be in the same place the opening for it is: in other words, the (irony) Cold War Gallery, Building 70, at the Navy Museum, in the Washington Navy Yard.  My guess is it's moving later to the permanent digs at the new Marine Corps Museum. If this information later on turns out to be different, I'll update it when I know for sure.  In the meantime, here's a link to the Cold War Gallery: there does not seem to be a page up yet for the show itself (bummer).

In the meantime, at right is a look at Fay's finished work for "Between Sunset and Moonrise, Wazir Pass, Afghanistan."  His artwork, which the BBC and the Wall Street Journal have both profiled, contains any number of extremely moving images, particularly his sketchwork, and recently his bronzes.  Amazing stuff.  If you're in the DC area, do yourself the favor of catching this show, and acquainting yourself with the rich tradition of combatants who clarify through art what it's really like to be a veteran of war: the bad, the good and the ugly.

And while you're at it, be sure to check out our extensive collection here of links to art and war, and also art therapy -- a modality that doesn't work for everyone, but for those whom it helps, including combat veterans, a true blessing as a way to process the images lodged in the subconscious through a means that releases them therapeutically (i.e., catharsis).

Combat Trauma & the Arts

Don't you hate learning about things after the fact that you really wish you could have gone to, if only you'd known?  Today's contender for that is an original play performed in 2006 at the Trinity Repertory Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island. The play is called "Boots on the Ground," and it's a 90 minute docudrama, "built around the words of nearly 70 soldiers and their families, medical workers, journalists, ministers, ethicists and teachers, who shared stories of courage, sacrifice and dedication, in Iraq and here at home."  The play was written and conceived by Laura Kepley and D. Salem Smith, the Rep's artistic associate-resident director, and playwright in residence, respectively.  All reports are that it was extremely moving and powerful, especially because based on actual personal experiences, artfully elicited and woven through the story.  Sure wish I could have seen it when it played.  If I learn more about its availability in any recorded form, I will post that information here.

The Sacred Brotherhood of Veterans

This is a post I've been meaning to write for a while - because the incident that spurs it, while still a few weeks old, didn't get nearly the coverage that it could have, so it's still going to count as "news."

It seems clear that if returning combat veterans end up getting better treatment (and hmmmn, we're still waiting for that) these days, from the VA and from society at large, it will in large part be because of what earlier veterans -- in particular, Vietnam veterans -- experienced.  The Vietnam vets' unfortunately "bad" experience will somehow work to create a noticeably "better" experience for current combat veterans.  At least, that's the hope.  And not just ours, but many Vietnam veterans as well, who frankly have suffered enough, and if there's any benefit to their suffering whatsoever, want to see that it means the next generation might suffer a little bit less, in trying to uncoil themselves from combat and readjust to civilian life.  When I think of this phenomenon, I really do picture a bridge, or chain of arms -- from one part of the sacred brotherhood of combat vets to another -- reaching out, to make sure that they make their way across what can be very troubled waters.  Of course now the "sacred brotherhood" also includes women veterans as well, but rather than get lost in some murky, cumbersome language, let's just call it the brotherhood and realize it includes women vets as well.  Whoever's been through combat, innately understands what it took to live that experience, and instinctively can help others going through that, and ideally help them come to terms with their loss.

The point of bringing this up -- the focal point of this post -- is to introduce one great example of a  Vietnam veteran who, despite his rank, really didn't "forget" what it was like to go through combat, no matter how many years ago.  When General Peter Pace stepped down in early October as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he apparently went straight from his good-bye ceremony to the Vietnam Wall.  And at the Vietnam Wall, to the shock and surprise of many onlookers, who came across these tokens over the next few weeks, he left three index cards, laid against the wall.  With his four stars rank pinned to each of them, and a handwritten note to each of the three buddies he'd lost, in the Vietnam War.  The notes each said something like, "These are yours, not mine! With love and respect, your platoon leader, Peter Pace"

Here's a couple of photos of General Pace's mementos, close-up and in place; and a link to a video at CNN, describing what happened.  Props to blogger Old Sarge for pointing this out, and giving us permission to republish the photos.  For a link to the Wikipedia entry on General Peter Pace, click here.

Writing Down the Bones

If you're in the San Francisco/San Jose Bay Area this weekend, you might think of attending the Mindfulness & Writing Retreat, led by Maxine Hong Kingston, Wendy Johnson, & Therese Fitzgerald to be held Friday, November 9th through Sunday, November 11th at the Ben Lomond Quaker Center, in Ben Lomond, CA.  For further information, contact the Community of Mindful Living, at (831) 338-8026.  There's a Zen Buddhist / silent meditation retreat component to this, but my understanding is that it's also about veterans and writing out the painful experiences they've endured, to the degree they feel ready or interested in doing so.  The cost is under $200 for the three day retreat, and the accommodations are intentionally fairly bare-bones.  And it sounds like it's an annual Veterans' Day weekend event for Maxine Hong Kingston and the writing group of veterans.

Maxine Hong Kingston's recent book, an anthology of pieces by veterans and interested others, is called Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace. It's the winner of the 2007 Northern California Book Reviewers Special Award in Publishing, and was recently featured in a special by Bill Moyers on PBS.  The publisher, Koa Books, calls it "a harvest of creative, redemptive storytelling—nonfiction, fiction, and poetry—spanning five wars and written by those most profoundly affected by it."  And Moyers says, ""No one I know personally has done more to help veterans themselves bear witness to unspeakable experience than Maxine Hong Kingston."

For more than twelve years, National Book Award-winning author Maxine Hong Kingston has led writing- and-meditation workshops for veterans and their families. The contributors to this volume—combat veterans, medics, and others who served in war; gang members, drug users, and victims of domestic violence; draft resisters, deserters, and peace activists—are part of this community of writers working together to heal the trauma of war through art. On Friday, May 25, 2007, Bill Moyers Journal on PBS featured Maxine Hong Kingston and Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace.

Reading their words, we witness worlds torn apart then rebuilt. This epic and timely work is the distilled wisdom of warriors and their loved ones, expressing themselves with breathtaking artistry and truth.  Maxine Hong Kingston’s books—The Woman Warrior, China Men, Tripmaster Monkey, The Fifth Book of Peace, and others—have won critical praise and national awards. President Bill Clinton presented her with a National Humanities Medal in 1997.

Front Line, First Person - Iraq War Stories

In the category called, things that make me wish I were in New England this weekend, this has to be at the top of the list.  Check out the topic, the length of the program (two days!!!) and, last but not least, the all-star cast who'll be participating.

The Watson Institute for International Studies, a part of ivy league Brown University in Rhode Island, is sponsoring a two day upcoming seminar on "Front LIne, First Person: Iraq War Stories" from those who served.  Click here for the link.  Cosponsored by Brown University's Nonfiction Writing Program and The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.  The conference will be held at the the Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, located at 111 Thayer Street, Providence, RI 02912.  A live web stream of this event will be available, and archived video will be available shortly after the event.  (A later blog entry of ours references some blogger first person reports about the conference itself.  Click here for that link.)

Here's what the conference brochure has to say:

Over the past four years, the conflict in Iraq and the “war on terror” have divided public opinion in the United States. They have also created a less obvious divide – between the general public and the individuals, families, and communities touched directly by the experience of war. In this climate, voices representing the direct experience of war are often stifled or misheard or hijacked by those who seek to polarize the debate over the war.

Front Line, First Person: Iraq War Stories is a two-day conference that aims to create bridges for conversation across these new fault-lines and to understand better the capacities of different forms of storytelling to reach across boundaries and build connections at the human level.

Featured speakers include Colby Buzzell, the blogger and best-selling author of "My War: Killing Time in Iraq"; Matthew Burden (aka Blackfive), a leading military blogger and author of "The Blog of War: Frontline Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan"; former US Senator Lincoln Chafee ’75; Deborah Scranton ’84, the award-winning director of the documentary “The War Tapes”; and Newsweek Senior International Photo Editor Jamie Wellford ’84.

Friday, October 19

2:00pm	The Ground Truth from Iraq to the Beltway and Back
	Colby Buzzell (blogger, author) “My War: Killing Time in Iraq” Iraq vet Senator Lincoln Chaffee (Independent, Rhode Island) Matthew Burden, aka, Blackfive (veteran, blogger, author) "The Blog of War: Frontline Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan;" Erick Rodriguez, Iraq vet & current Brown student Moderated by: Deborah Scranton (filmmaker)

4:15pm	What Stories Do and Don’t Get Told and Why
	Podcast with SFC Nunn, author “Northern Disclosure” & soldier currently serving in Iraq, Iraq veteran Deborah Scranton (filmmaker) “The War Tapes” Col. David Lapan, USMC, Deputy Director, HQMC Public Affairs, Iraq vet Matthew O'Neill (filmmaker) HBO's "Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq,” "Baghdad ER." Jason Christopher Hartley (blogger, author) "Just Another Soldier" Moderated by: Keith Brown

Saturday, October 20

9:00am

Reporters and Rapport

Charles Monroe-Kane (producer, NPR) To The Best of Our Knowledge Tara McKelvey (journalist, author) “Monstering: Inside America’s Policy of Secret Interrogations and Torture in the Terror War” Brian Palmer (embedded photographer, journalist, filmmaker) Trish Wood (journalist, author)”What Was Asked of Us: An Oral History of the Iraq War by the Soldiers Who Fought It” Moderated by: James Der Derian

11:30am

Amplifying Voices and Activism part I

Prof. Matthew Gutmann, Brown University "Breaking Ranks: An Oral History Project on Iraq War Veteran Dissent" Erin Solaro, author "Women in the Line of Fire: What You Should Know About Women in the Military" Paul Rieckhoff (soldier, author, activist) Founder, Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) & author "Chasing Ghosts", Iraq Vet Col. (Ret.) Greg Gardner, served with the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq as Chief of Staff for the Senior Advisor, Ministry of National Security and Defense, Iraq vet, military analyst for FOX News. Moderated by: Catherine Lutz

2:30pm	Amplifying Voices and Activism part II
	Prof. James William Gibson (California State University, Long Beach) "The Perfect War: Technowar in Vietnam “ Mitty Mirrer (filmmaker) Andrew Woods, Lecturer at Harvard Law School & founder “Soldier's Stories” project SSG Christopher Loverro (soldier, filmmaker) “Hidden Casualties”, Iraq Vet Moderated by: Elizabeth Taylor

5:15pm	Citizen/Soldier Roundtable Dialogue
	Facilitated by Lorelei Kelly, a national security specialist working to educate elected leaders and the public about the national security challenges revealed by 9/11. Her central focus in 2008 will include civil-military dialogue and educating the public about the role of the military in US democracy.

Conference Participants

Keith Brown is a sociocultural anthropologist. He is the co-founder of the Institute's Cultural Awareness and the Military Project, tracing the development of US military interest in culture since the 1990s. He also specializes in the study of twentieth-century Macedonia.

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Matthew Currier Burden ("Blackfive") enlisted in the military at age seventeen. He served first as an Army aircraft crew chief, then a paratrooper, before joining Special Operations. After receiving a commission as a cavalry officer and serving in Europe and Asia, he later became an intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He left the military in July 2001 as a major in the U.S. Army Reserve. He is now an IT executive in Chicago, and author of the popular military blog, Black Five. He has released a book, “The Blog of War: Front-Line Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan”, which captures some of the best blog posts that have been written by active-duty service members in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families. As Mr. Burden says in the introduction, "military blogs were ideal for filling in the gaps that both the media and the military left out."

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Colby Buzzell is an Operation Iraqi Freedom Combat veteran, was an infantryman in the United States Army, served in the Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Lewis Washington. Served a year in Iraq, from 2003-04, where he started a web-log, and has published a book on his experiences entitled, My War: Killing Time in Iraq, combining narrative, blog entries, and emails that evolved from his blog over time. Referring to My War: Killing Time in Iraq, Kurt Vonnegut said “My War” is nothing less than the soul of an extremely interesting human being at war on our behalf in Iraq”. In 2004, Buzzell was profiled in Esquire magazine's "Best and Brightest" issue and has since contributed regularly. In 2007, Buzzell received the 2007 Lulu Blooker Prize for My War: Killing Time in Iraq.

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Lincoln Davenport Chafee ’75, a former United States senator, was a distinguished visiting