Not just in this post, but in all of your contributions to DU.
We VN vets are old fogies now. In our day, a lot of us buried our experience and didn't talk about it for many reasons. In my case, it took me 16 years to open up and talk about it--even with my little brother, who had been there with me.
It's really a BFD to see recent vets sharing their experiences and their views. Despite the personal struggles you are going through, you are making a huge and important contribution.
It's also heartening to hear that you found a great job doing work that you love.
My first job after my war also was federal. The private sector wasn't real keen on hiring someone who, they heard, might "go off" at any moment . But the federal agency guy who interviewed me happened to be a WWII vet who saw my service experience as an asset to the agency. And I worked my ass off and earned recognition and multiple awards, including one of my agency's two top awards.
In struggling through your own trauma, your work to help your brother and sister vets and to enlighten others will aso help you. One caution: While helping others, never forget to take care of yourself. From one who's been there, done that. I learned the hard way.
I'm glad to have you with us, and especially glad to see such a great communicator speaking out to share his war generation's perspective. Keep on doing what you're doing, Victor, and be sure to take care of yourself along the way. As my battalion's unofficial motto went, Drive On! Some day, I expect to be reading your book--and when you're doing one more book signing and some guy tells you he's pinboy3niner, I hope you'll remember me.