Testimonials

A Vietnam Veteran’s Story – Bridging generations

A 75-year-old Vietnam veteran called and wanted to connect with a peer from his era. None were working that shift but the peer who answered his call asked if there was anything he could do to help. The veteran asked, “What do you know about Vietnam?”. The peer shared that he did not know much, but did have an uncle that served two tours of duty.

The caller seemed more at ease once he heard that, and went on to share that another soldier he had served with had passed away by suicide. He was feeling particularly bad about it because there were so few of them left. And others he knew and had served with passed away from illness. He was sick himself with cancer and was on hospice care with only months left to live. Fortunately he had strong family support system available to him to help see him through it.

They talked about his life in service, after service, and all his successes and his retirement. And as they talked, they even laughed some. The vet was particularly grateful for the laughter. He shared that sometimes things get real dark, as they had that night, but that he was grateful for the conversation to cheer him up and thanked the peer.

The peer reached out to the veteran again for ongoing support the following week and the veteran accepted the call. The first thing that he said was that the initial call made him feel so much better, and that he was doing so much better because of it, and he was pleased to be hearing from him again.