All across America and around the world, this
is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. And
now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry.
Hey Veterans Radio, my name is Dale Throneberry
on the cw2 helicopter pilot in Vietnam in 1969
Welcome home to all the veterans that are listening
today We're really excited because we've got
two army nurses that are going to be on our program
That we're in Vietnam and I know all of you that
ran into the nurses when you were in Vietnam
They were all angels as far as we were concerned
and they saved our lives and they kept our spirits
up. And I'm really excited to have both of them
on. We've got Sarah Bloom, who is written a book
about her experiences in Vietnam called Warrior
Nurse. And we've also got Sandy Wilson, who is
a Vietnam nurse here locally, who's very actively
involved in Vietnam Veterans of America, and
kind of especially in the Agent Orange arena.
when we start talking about that later on. So
we'll get to that in just a minute. But a couple
of first one really big announcement coming up
is Radio on the River, folks. Yes. Remember,
Veterans Radio has been broadcasting now since
2003. I don't know how we did that one. But we're
still here. And recently, we've started doing
what we call Radio on a River as a fundraiser.
We changed our business model from a really nonprofit,
for -profit organization to a nonprofit. And
we've had this fundraiser now for the last four
years. Coming up on September 28th this year,
we are going to be out at Freedom River. And
Freedom River is out in Gregory. Binkney area
out there and it's just a great site that's being
built. for veterans to congregate. They've got
soccer fields, baseball fields, pickleball fields
out there. They're going to set up educational
programs and all sorts of things. And so we're
going to be out there this year on September
28th. We're going to have some musicians out
there, Lem Genovese, a Vietnam veteran is going
to be there with his 12 -string electric guitar.
I don't know how that works, but the music is
awesome. And we're also going to have a Huey
there. So a UH -1 Huey from the Michigan Flight
Museum is going to be there and rides will be
available at an extra cost. But I think we're
going to have a couple of raffle tickets that
are going to be available for people to purchase
to get a chance to ride on the Huey. So we're
really excited about that. I don't think they'll
let me have the controls, but I'm sure I'm going
to get at least one ride in that thing. So September
28th. This year, Sunday from 1 to 5 p .m., more
information, go to our website, veteransradio
.org. All right, so I got that out of the way.
Right now I want to make sure that we thank our
major donors for their continuing support of
veterans radio without their support We can't
get this program off the ground. We can't keep
it going So legal help for veterans specializes
in veterans disability claims Please give legal
help for veterans a call at eight hundred six
nine three four eight zero zero or go to their
website legal help for veterans comm The National
Veterans Business Development Council, better
known as NVBDC, is the nation's leading third
-party authority for certification of veteran
-owned businesses. For more information, go to
their website, NVBDC .org, or give them a call
at 888 -237 -8433. PuroClean, known as the paramedics
of property damage, each PuroClean office is
independently owned and operated. In fact, PuroClean
is one of the nation's leading restoration franchise
networks. And just like for veterans, you get
a special 25 % off your franchise fee. That's
pretty cool. So for more information, go to pureclean
.com. The Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center
in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For more information,
go to va .gov slash Ann Arbor Health Care. And
finally, the Erwin Prescor and American Legion
Post 46 and the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam Veterans
of America Chapter 310, both of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
If you'd like to be a sponsor for Veterans Radio,
please go to our website, click on the donate
button, Thank you in advance. Right, let's get
into our program. So joining me on Veterans Radio
today's first off is going to be our guest, Sarah
Bloom. And Sarah is a decorated Vietnam veteran
nurse who earned the Army Commendation Medal
serving as an operating room nurse during the
height of the fighting in 1967. She received
her bachelor's degree from Seattle University
and master's from University of Washington at
age 80. She doesn't look like it, folks, but
it's radio. She retired after more than 34 years
of healing trauma between 2000 and 2012. Let's
see, she's written a book entitled Women Under
Fire, Abuse in the Military, and she's also written
the book we're going to be talking about today
called Warrior Nurse Healer, PTSD and Healing.
It's her second book. She's a scary lady. She's
a third degree black belt. in a Cato and is a
rower, a coxswain in the rowing club and love
to play African drums. Sarah, that's a lot. Thank
you very much. Welcome to Veterans Radio. Thanks,
Dale. I'm glad to be here. It's exciting to have
you. So let me, as I mentioned, the other person
that I've got here also is a good friend of ours,
and that is Sandy Wilson. Sandy Wilson also was
a nurse when I put her notes. There it is. Sorry,
folks. There we go. She's a director at large
for the Vietnam Veterans of America. She's on
their board. She's been involved with them for
a long, long time. She served in Vietnam at three
different hospitals during 1968 -69. She spent
20 years in the reserves and retired as lieutenant
colonel. She serves as a chair for the VVA's
National Agent Orange and Toxic Exposure Committee.
So, Sandy Wilson, welcome back to Veterans Radio.
Thank you. Thank you, Sandy. She's a very talkative
lady. All right, Sarah, so tell me what motivated
you to write this new book? So, it actually starts
with the first book, Women Under Fire Abuse in
the Military. I set out in 2006 to write a book
about women who served in the military. That
was where I started. It was going to be women
under fire, their stories, their words. I've
been writing and interviewing women veterans
for three years. In 2009, I shared what I had
with an editor and I got a tremendous amount
of feedback. He gave me pages and pages of feedback.
But the most important thing, he said, was that
what I was doing wasn't gonna go anywhere. And
he said, look at these two stories you have about
sexual assault in the military. He said, you
need to focus on those and explore further and
determine is there a culture of abuse toward
women in the military? Well, I was shocked and
in no way ready to pursue that. So it took me
about three months. I went through all of his
feedback I went over and over and over again,
and then I realized that I had known years before
I'd known that I was supposed to do some writing
about justice But I never knew what or how and
so I just kind of pushed it aside And so I felt
like the divine was leading me to this this other
book so that I could hopefully bring justice
to women in the military and it was so it was
a realization and so What I did was I Had to
call the women back that I'd already interviewed
who'd agreed to be in that book because the nature
was changing to sexual assault in the military
and so a lot of them said no and So then I kind
of got What do I say I got congruent inside myself
with this new focus and I decided maybe this
is the way that I can write about justice and
bring justice to women in the military and so
and I continued on to finish and write that book
and I Ended up entering 58 women veterans from
World War two all the way up to Iraq and Afghanistan
and so my story was I was going to put it in
there with the other stories but because I didn't
go that route I put all of my story in a file
on my computer and promptly just forgot about
it because I was busy writing the first book
and so then when I was all done with the first
book and for years I did a lot of connecting
with legislators and trying to get the Military
Justice Improvement Act passed through Congress
to help women veterans that were dealing with
military sexual trauma. And so after all those
years, I think it was 2016, I thought, well,
maybe I need to resurrect what's in that file
that I put aside. And I wanted to write about
Healing PTSD because that I've been doing that
work for 34 years as a nurse like the therapist
and I wanted to write about it and I wanted to
tell my story and I thought I could use my story
to illustrate and explain what some of the symptoms
and problems are with PTSD So that's kind of
how I did it I went back to the file resurrected
it and then had to come up with a With a name
for it and that's how I got warrior nurse PTSD
and healing Okay, so let's go to that story a
little bit, and tell us, how did you end up in
Vietnam? Oh, well, that part's easy. So I was
a nurse for six years in different hospitals.
I started out in Atlantic City, New Jersey, because
that's where I grew up. That's my home or record.
And I was at the Atlantic City Hospital. and
then I went to California and I was doing different
kinds of medical nursing and intensive care nursing
and I was on one of the very first open heart
surgery teams there in LA. And so while I was
in LA and doing various kinds of nursing there,
I started hearing on the radio about a place
called Vietnam that I'd never in my life heard
of. So to back up, when I was nine years old,
Dale, I wrote, I had a career booklet. Nine year
old, career booklet, and it was like blue, I
remember it. And in that career booklet, I was
a military nurse. So at nine, I kind of knew,
I guess. So, but I was Army, Navy, Air Force,
I was all of them. And then, Then let's see then
I went to nursing school and when I was 19 in
nursing school I was sitting around with my classmates
and I made this bold statement I said if there's
ever another war and I'm single I'll go and so
Fast forward to 1966 and I'm in LA working as
a nurse and I'm hearing on the radio about Vietnam
and that our soldiers are there and and they're
getting wounded and killed. And so my words came
back to me that I said, if there's ever another
war and I'm single, I'll go. And so I thought,
oh, I think I have to go. And so I first went
to the Air Force because I wanted to be an Air
Force flight nurse. And they said, you're too
short. You have to be five foot two. And I was
only five feet tall because you have to be able
to reach the top tier. and so I said okay so
I left and I went to the Navy and I said I wanted
to be on a hospital ship because I remembered
in my career booklet there was a ship and the
nurses were on there and so I said I wanted to
be on a hospital ship and they said well you
have to spend two years in the United States
first and then we'll put you on a hospital ship
and I thought well that war thing will be all
over by then so I left the Navy went to the Army
and they said we really need operating room nurses
and we'll train you and then when you're done
you can go back to school and get your degree
because at the time I only had a diploma and
so I thought that sounded good and so I signed
up to be in the Army Nurse Corps and they sent
me to Fort Sam Houston, Texas for basic training
and then I got orders to go to Letterman General
Hospital for five months for the operating room
nurse course. And that was quite an experience
in and of itself. And so Dale, let me tell you
the thing that hit me first. So first was I have
to walk down this long corridor to get to the
operating room. And this corridor is lined with
soldiers who had been to Vietnam. and they were
wearing their dark blue, royal blue pajamas.
And a lot of them were amputees. This was 66,
this is May of 66. And here's all these guys,
amputees and other major wounds. And I walked
down the corridor to find my way to the operating
room. And I realized after that first walk down
that corridor, that there was no way I could
walk down that corridor and not talk to them,
meet them, hear their stories. And so I had to
leave early. I started out by leaving an hour
early, then realized that wasn't enough time,
so I left an hour and a half early to walk down
that corridor and I got to know all the guys,
I got to know their names, got to know where
they were stationed and what they did, what they
experienced in Vietnam. And I even got to go,
not in the morning when I went down, but later
I would go to physical therapy and support some
of them, because it is really, really hard work
to take a part of your body that you don't normally
walk on, like your thigh, part of your thigh
or part of your lower leg, because they were
amputees. And so in order for them to wear prosthesis,
they had to toughen up the skin. on their thigh
or their lower leg, depending on where the where
the amputation was. And it was very, very hard,
painful work in physical therapy. So I would
go down there and cheer them on. And so, yes,
I went through the five -month OR course and
I learned everything you need to know about surgery.
So now here we are. We're talking with Sarah
Bloom here who is an Army nurse and she's on
her way to Vietnam in 1967. And you ended up
in a places of all of all places in the coochie
Yep, that's right. The worst place he could ever
be. Yes, but we used to sing So, yeah, so what
happened was Everybody had orders when we went
over and so my orders were for the 70th the back
at play, too and It turns out it wasn't built
yet. And so they uh gave me a new assignment
and it was to the 67th of Akik Winyon and I'm
in this big room with all the nurses that had
come to Vietnam at that time uh January 7th or
8th of uh 20 of 1967 and uh so we're with the
chief nurse and there's a young nurse and I say
young because I was 26 I was one of the older
ones and uh this young nurse She is crying her
eyes out, sobbing. She can hardly breathe or
talk. And I don't know who she is. I never met
her, but she was by herself. There was nobody
with her supporting her. And all I know is she
was sobbing and crying and totally distraught.
And so I went over to see if I could comfort
her and find out what she needed, what was going
on. It turns out she was assigned to the 12th
of Akakuchi and she must have known about it.
because she was terrified, literally terrified.
And so when I got her to calm down enough to
tell me what her MOS was, turned out we had the
same MOS, Military Occupational Specialty. She
was an OR nurse. So I said, come with me. And
I went over to the chief nurse and she could
see that this girl was really, really distraught.
And so I made this proposal to the chief nurse.
I said, look, She and I have the same MOS. She
is really scared to death to go where she's been
assigned. I don't care where I go. I just want
to be there to serve. That's why I'm going. So
can you swap our assignments? She'll go to Quinian.
It'll be easier for her. And she can relax a
little bit more and do her job. And so the chief
nurse agreed. And so she swapped our assignments.
That's how I got to go to the 12th Evac Hospital
at Coochie. And again, I didn't know. I didn't
know anything about any of them, really. But
that night, I was at the officers club. We're
at the 90th Replacement Battalion in Longbin.
And I'm at the officers club. And who do I see
but my drill sergeants from basic training? Now,
what's the possibility that you're going to do
that, see your drill sergeants from basic training
in Vietnam? So there they were. And they were
both dust off pilots. And I never knew that either
when I was with them at Fort Sam. So anyway,
so we sat down, had a beer together, and one
of them said to me, so where are you going? I
said, well, and I was proud of it. And I said,
I'm going to Coogee, the 12th Evac Hospital.
And the color drained out of his face. And he
said, Oh, you don't want to go there. That's
the worst place you could go. Get your assignment
changed. And so then I described what happened.
And he said, well, keep your head down all the
time while you're there. And so then I had a
little bit of information about QG. And then
when they came to get me, so I was at 93rd Place
in Battalion. And I'd been there like, three
days i think i got all the information i needed
and then they're sending me to coochie and they
sent me on a helicopter and i had never been
on a helicopter in my life and so i i look at
this thing it doesn't have any doors no we didn't
have any seat belts and i said what's going to
keep me from falling out i was scared i was going
to fall out of the thing anyway they they uh
so they took me to the 12th of ac and they get
there They wouldn't land it and I don't know
if that's normal, but they wouldn't land it They
hovered over the helipad and they made me jump
You know, it wasn't that far. It was probably
maybe five six feet and and so then I so I jumped
and I had I had with me so I I know me and I
know I have to have music of some kind to keep
my sanity and So I took with me my baritone ukulele.
It was in a case And so when I jumped out, I
had that with me. And then I don't know where
to go. I'm looking around and it's totally barren.
It looks awful. Like there's nothing growing
there. And so I yelled up at the helicopter and
the guys, where do I go? Where do I go? And so
they pointed to the headquarters building and
I found myself over there. I got over there.
And then we had this strack. The most strapped
guy I've ever seen in my entire year in Vietnam.
This guy he's our executive officer I told him
I saluted as a lieutenant Blum reporting for
duty and he looked at my case and he said what's
in there and I said the tension was so so thick
I wanted to say something funny and so I said
well It's a machine gun. I thought I might need
it over here, but that was the wrong guy to say
that to So he was very angry with me Told me
I was very insubordinate That sounds like it
was only the beginning um, yeah so that the the
12th of akakuchi is um, I'm A little familiar
with that I mean I used to fly over there and
drop people off every once in a while and fly
past it Quite often because it was right next
to the michelin river plantation. That's right
Yeah, and they would shoot at us all the time.
And so if you can just briefly tell us about,
you know, some of the experiences that you had
there and how do you think that that affected
you later on? Well, so we were getting fresh
casualties all the time. Matt, we had mass casualties
a lot. We were right in the thick of things because
we were right beside the Iron Triangle and the
Hobo Woods where all the fighting was right then.
I was spaced with the 25th Infantry Division
and then we also had the 1st Infantry Division
soldiers and we also had 101st Airborne because
all the fighting was happening right then. So
we were constantly getting mass casualties. And
so it was those mass casualties and the type
of casualties That was the worst of the experience.
It was almost non -stop. I mean, there were some
breaks here and there, but for the most part,
it was pretty non -stop. And so we worked around
the clock. We didn't have enough surgeons to
do everything all the time. So my very first
case, I found out right away The very first case,
I was all ready and I had everything ready for
the surgeon and he came in and I put the gown
on him and the gloves on him. And the next thing
he said was, do you want the right side or the
left side? And I said, sir? Like what? He said,
do you want the right side or the left side?
He said, we're doing the same thing. You pick
a side. And so I chose the side where my instruments
were. And that's the first day, first case I
found out that I was doing the same thing he
was. So many of the guys were hit with bouncing
beddies, like they would trip over them and then
they would explode out and they have all these
little metal pellets and they go into their body
everywhere, all over their body. And so that's
why he said right side or left side. So we would
literally divide his body in half, and I would
do one side, he would do the other side. And
what we did was we went to each wound, each pellet
wound, open it up with a scalpel, take the metal
out, and all over the O are you hear clink clink
clink as all the metal is going, all the shrapnel
is going into these bowls, metal bowls. And so
then we would check the muscles to see if it's
alive or dead. And if it was dead, it would be
dark red, and we would cut it out, and it wouldn't
move. We would check to see if it would move.
If it moved, it was healthy muscle. And so we
took all the dead tissue out, all the dead muscle
out, all over, all these wounds, every single
one of them. We take the dead muscle out, and
then we irrigate with normal saline solution,
over and over and over again. And then we wrap
them, we wrap all the wounds up with bandages.
And so they're basically all over their body,
and they have these bandages. And then the nurses
on the wards, every four hours, they would irrigate,
they would wet down all of these wounds, all
the bandages, and then they pull the bandages
off, which helps the debriding process. And it
hurt, it really hurt them when they did that,
hurt the soldiers. So every four hours, they
give them antibiotics, and they... Debrie the
wounds and put more saline and then after three
days and three nights of that Then they come
back to us in the operating room and we do what's
called the delayed primary closure So we then
close the wounds. They're all open We leave them
open on purpose because they're all considered
dirty and we don't want them to get gangrene
And so three days later, that's when we close
them up We check make sure they're all clean
and everything is good. And then we then we sew
them up. So we sew up the muscle and the fascia
and then eventually the skin and then they get
bandages again but not in the same way because
now their wounds are cleaned out. Then we had
all abdominal surgery wounds, chest surgery,
big wounds on their legs, their backs and in
the book I describe one of the worst cases for
me was Johnny. Go over that now, but Yeah, he
was he it was hit by american artillery and it
was his wounds are just horrific Yeah, we were
talking with with sarah bloom here the the book
that i'm i'm highly recommending to you If you
get an opportunity to read it is called warrior
nurse post ptsd and healing And um, I want to
bring sandy on for just a minute because you
had a different experience sandy. You were up
north weren't you? I was in um which was halfway.
And even though I was at three different hospitals,
they were all in the second core. And where were
you in two core? I was in a train at the field
hospital. And a field hospital has all the specialties.
And then they transferred me to the seventh surge.
which was a base camp of the 11th Armored Camp.
And when they ordered that one closed, they sent
me to Vung Tau to an evac hospital. Yeah, 43rd
was there, wasn't it? 43rd evac? Pardon? I think
the 43rd evac, or was it 36th? It was the 36th.
Yeah, right. Okay, so... And I can tell you I
was a year after Sarah, but my story as an operating
room nurse is probably identical to hers, except
that I asked to go to another hospital and they
sent me to a train and they said it had never
come under attack and the nurses were in white
uniforms and I would be happy there. And the
night I got there, it came under attack. But
you know other than that she was doing the same
thing that I was doing The only difference I
can tell you is Since I was a captain They made
me straighten out my job was to straighten out
the doctors that had come off their training
And let them know what we could do and what we
couldn't do And the best thing I can tell you
is years later I went to see the hand surgeon
that I'd broken in. And he had me go out with
him and his wife to dinner and he introduced
me as the nurse the doctors were afraid of. I
can certainly understand that Sandy, as many
people around here are afraid of you. I'm quiet.
I know, you're a very nice person. So, all right,
so you there in 68 and got, you were up north,
you were in the train, Swanlock and Vung Tau,
correct? Yep. All right, I remember going through
Swanlock once and - Oh really, you could find
it? Yeah, you just went up the highway and hung
a right. Okay. I think it's when we got there,
you know, all this fancy GPS stuff today. You
know, a lot of our our dead reckoning when we
were flying around Vietnam was, go to this and
turn right kind of thing. There's a mountain
out there. If you find Nui Ba Dinh in III Corps,
you could find your way anywhere. Yeah, I went
to Swanlock too because I had a friend that was
at the Seventh Surge when it was down there in
Swanlock and I would go down there to barter
for supplies that we needed. Oh, really? I left
and went up to Long Bend to barter for supplies
that I needed. And they told me I couldn't have
them, so when they turned their back, I stole
them. Sounds like everybody's experience there,
because we kept running out of everything. I
mean, you guys are running out of important stuff,
you know, medicine and instruments and all that.
Our stuff, we just ran out of gloves and helmets
and, you know, I won't go into other things that
we lost. But Yeah, and everybody seemed to have
a scoundrel somewhere in their unit that knew
where to find everything. I think that's great.
Well, I got into trouble when they closed the
7th Surge because I had more stuff than I was
signed for. All right. Actually, we're going
to take a little quick break here. Sarah and
Sandy, as some of you may know, we play a Medal
of Honor segment each each week here on Veterans
Radio. And this week happened to be Sammy Davis,
not the Sammy Davis singer, but the Sammy Davis
Medal of Honor recipient. So, and probably some
one or both of you may have met him. So, here
we go. Here's the Medal of Honor. We will be
right back with our guests, Sarah Bloom and Sandy
Wilson. The Medal of Honor is the highest award
for valor in combat given a member of the Armed
Forces of the United States. There have been
over 3 ,400 recipients of the nation's highest
award. This is one of them. PFC Sammy Davis is
often called the real Forrest Gump. Details after
this. If you have a VA claim denied by the Board
of Veterans' Appeals, contact Legal Help for
Veterans at 1 -800 -693 -4800. They're experts
in handling cases before the U .S. Court of Appeals
for Veterans Claims. Their number again, 1 -800
-693 -4800. Davis enlisted in the Army. He volunteered
for the artillery because his father had been
an artillery man in World War II and then asked
to be sent to Vietnam. In November 1967, his
unit was helicoptered into Firebase Cudgel. Shortly
after midnight, Battery C came under a heavy
mortar attack. At the same time, 1500 Viet Cong
launched an intensive ground assault. Davis's
squad was operating a 105 millimeter howitzer
that fired 18 ,000 beehive darts in each shell.
When he saw how close the VC were, he took over
a machine gun and provided cover for his crew.
Convinced they couldn't survive the attack, he
rammed a shell into the gun and fired point blank
into the enemy. A mortar round exploded nearby,
knocking Davis to the ground, but he got up and
kept firing the howitzer. When he ran out of
beehives, he fired a white phosphorus shell,
and then the last round he had, a propaganda
shell filled with leaflets. He heard yelling
from the other side of the river, and despite
the fact that he couldn't swim, paddled across
on an air mattress. Other GIs followed him. He
found three wounded soldiers, gave them morphine
and provided covering fire as another GI helped
one of the wounded across the river. Davis pulled
the other two through the water on the air mattress
and resumed the fight. Just before dawn, Davis
was wounded in the back and buttocks by friendly
fire. President Johnson presented him the Medal
of Honor on November 19, 1968. Footage of LBJ
putting the medal around Davis' neck appeared
in the movie Forrest Gump. of Tom Hanks' head
substituted for Davison. Gump's fictional citation
was loosely based on Davison's real one. The
Medal of Honor series is a production of Veterans
Radio. Military veterans touch everyone's life.
I'm guessing right now you're thinking of a veteran,
a close friend, relative. Maybe it's you. Even
the toughest of us sometimes need help but don't
know where to turn for support. You don't need
special training to help a veteran in your life.
Even small actions can make a world of difference.
If you know a veteran in crisis, please call
the Veterans Crisis Line 800 -273 -8255. 800
-273 -8255. A message from the U .S. Department
of Veterans Affairs. We're back here on Veterans
Radio and we are talking with Sarah Bloom about
her book, Warrior Nurse Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder and Healing. She was an operating nurse
in Vietnam in 1967 and we've also got Sandy Wilson
on to talk about some of her experiences. She
was also an operating nurse but at a different
hospital in 1968. Both were talking about Going
around Vietnam trying to scrounge instruments
probably and medications and so forth while they
were there Sarah I wanted to get back to your
book just a little bit and When you were came
home, let's put this way and I again I encourage
everybody to go out and read this this is a an
interesting read and I've read a lot of books
written by Army nurses and you know so forth
in Vietnam and many of their stories are similar,
but this one has a, I don't know, it kind of
grabbed me a little bit more when you started
talking about when you came back and your own
dealing with post -traumatic stress. Could you
talk about that for a little bit? Yeah, sure.
So, for me, I was working pretty much right up
until about two hours before I took the helicopter
to get to Benoit Air Base to fly home. So there
was no debriefing, there was no support, no nothing
really. I mean, I just went and I was standing
in line, felt like a sitting duck out on the
tarmac at Benoit because they had hit it the
day before and I was terrified that I was gonna
get taken out right then on my way home. And
I can tell you that when this airplane, and it
was a Southwest airplane, when this airplane
took off, I think I was the only female on it.
And I think all of us had been holding our breath
for a long time because when the plane finally
took off, you could just hear everybody on the
plane go, taking a really deep breath. there
and everybody started yelling and shouting. So
when I got back I landed at Travis Air Force
Base and it was in it was late night when we
got there and they wouldn't let us off the plane
for two hours. They kept us on the plane and
they didn't tell us why and they also told me
to take my uniform off that it wasn't safe for
me to wear my uniform and I was thoroughly confused.
I didn't understand what any of that was about.
Anyway, so I remember getting on, so we landed
at Travis Air Force Base, they finally let us
off after two hours, and I had to find my way
to, I had to go to the other airport, to San
Francisco International Airport, and I had to
find somebody to help me figure out how to get
there and So someone said there's a bus I could
get a trailway bus and that would take me over
there so I found my way to the bus station and
And I got on this bus and it was a red and silver
bus I'll never forget that bus and it was raining
out and So I told the driver that I wanted to
go to San Francisco International Airport and
I sat down And the thing I remember is looking
at the window and all these raindrops on the
window and feeling like they were the friendliest
thing that I had experienced so far since I got
home. And I lost myself in the raindrops. And
then when we got to San Francisco International
Airport, the bus driver had to yell at me to
get me to Basically get back to normal consciousness
and realize I needed to be moving. I needed to
get out off the bus And so that it should have
been a clue but it wasn't I just didn't at that
point I wasn't Understanding what was happening
to me? so I went to I got down to LA and I had
a friend that met me down in LA and I guess the
second thing that happened that I should have
realized was what's telling me something was
we were going to go to the hospital where we
both worked before I went to Vietnam. It was
the Sunset Boulevard Kaiser Foundation Hospital
and so on the way to the hospital there was an
emergency vehicle with a siren and for some reason
my body just reacted and I dove to the well of
the car and then I couldn't figure out why I
did that. I got back up in my seat. So that was
like clue number two. I should have gotten something
from that. And then the next was when I went
to one of the big super supermarkets and the
door flew open. Like I stepped forward and the
door flew open and I was freaked out. So there
was all this stuff that was happening to me in
my body and I wasn't getting it. And I found
out Later, so I I actually went to Madigan Army
Hospital. That was my next assignment Madigan
Army Hospital. I was fine when I was at Madigan
because I knew what I was doing and and I actually
Became the head nurse the orthopedic ward. I
got out of the operating room fortunately because
Dr. Tom Travis who was the orthopedic surgeon
with me at the 12th of AC And he got back to
the States before I did. He was there at Madigan.
And so he said, I'm going to ask that they make
you head nurse of the orthopedic ward, because
he knew that we could work together really well.
And so yeah, so I was head nurse of the orthopedic
ward, which is really wonderful duty. It was
the best duty I could have had right then. But
it was then when after I left, After I left Madigan
and then I went back to school I went to Seattle
University and that's when the Black Panthers
were marching and when all the protesters were
out and That's when I I didn't tell anybody that
had been to Vietnam because I would have been
the focus I've been the enemy then and so Yeah,
I just discovered that I started having all these
different things happening to me in my mind,
my body, my emotions. And I went to a workshop
that was given somewhere, and they talked about
PTSD. And I started ticking off the things they
were saying. And I thought, I think that's me.
And so yeah, so I went through a lot of turmoil
about that. And there wasn't really any, this
is early. this really early in the war and so
they didn't they really didn't have any recognition
then of PTSD so much or any any mechanisms for
support like for women veterans there there was
nothing as far as I could tell. It was much later
that this that those kinds of support and resources
came in came in so I always felt like I was on
my own a lot dealing with it and And in the book,
I describe a lot of this in the book and what
I went through and how it was that I started
healing. I mean, it was a long, I used so many
resources. I used every possible resource that
I could to get to healing so I could be myself
again. The thing that happened for me early on
in Vietnam, really in the first two weeks of
being there, I discovered that my emotions show
all over my face and my body. And if I was to
show what I felt, like the horror, the shock,
the grief, the pain, the tears, all of that,
then the soldiers, they look at my face and they
interpret it what they think it means. And so
a lot of them thought that it meant they were
going to die. That's why I look like I did. And
so I had to shut my feelings down. And so within
the first two weeks, that's what I had to do,
was shut them down. And then I spent about 15
years in therapy to unlock them, to get them
back so that I could feel my feelings and be
fully myself and authentic again. And so I describe
all that in the book. You do. And as I said,
it's very thorough and very disturbing. To read
about that and you know in your journey back,
but then you took all of that and you you Became
a really a therapist yourself I did I did well
so part of my drive to become a psychotherapist
Was to understand myself and understand PTSD
and understand what's happening to me knowing
it was probably happening to a lot of others
as well So yeah, so then I became an expert at
healing trauma in people And so in writing this
book, I wanted to share all the possibilities,
all the options, even how to choose a therapist.
I put it all in there so that whoever picks up
the book will have access to all that I learned,
all that I understood, how the brain works, how
the brain and the body work together, and all
the things that they could do to help themselves
heal. I found it to be really very interesting
and I felt like I was going through therapy in
reading the book and trying to figure out which
one do I want? Do I want emotional freedom technique?
Do I want the eye movement one? Do I want cognitive
behavior? So on and so forth, all of these different
things that are in there. And again, it's another
reason why I encourage people to get this book
because it explains so many things that I've
heard about but never really understood. And
I appreciate the effort that you put into this
whole story of you and what you learned afterward.
And you had this cause to come back and help
your fellow veterans throughout your entire career.
Yeah. And speaking of EFT, so EFT, in the book,
if everybody that... it gets the book if they
turn to page 241 EFT described there and this
is this is the most important tool I think every
veteran and anybody that's ever been traumatized
needs to have is that is emotional freedom technique
it's very easy to learn and anybody can do it
and if you learn it it's going to help you in
moments of high anxiety or panic or if you're
having flashbacks and you're disturbed by it.
So it's the most important tool in there from
my perspective. And I try to teach everybody
I know, especially veterans, how to use EFT themselves.
Well, Sarah, I'm not going to let you go yet,
but I'd like to have you back on to talk about
all those different types of therapies. Sure.
OK. Sarah, I wanted to come to you real quickly
because it was... Sometimes this hour just goes
by so quickly. Your cause has been Agent Orange,
and the effects that Agent Orange not only has
on the veteran, but also on the families. Could
you talk about that a little bit? Yeah, I can
talk about a little bit. It's known that we were
exposed to toxins. But our government has said,
we do not pass it on to the children. And I have
told everybody that I am, as a woman, I am not
going to take the responsibility for every birth
defect to every child born in the world. Finally,
we have Wayne State University in study and PFAS
has made the determination that male generated
birth defects do exist and they're common. My
problem has always been, I was brought up that
when you make a mistake, you have to own that
mistake. And our country has not done that. By
denying the fact of genetic effects of the chemicals
that they exposed us to, it meant that our veterans
married other married people and they contributed
their bad genes and we still have nobody who
is willing to admit it. In fact, it was nine
years ago that we got legislation, a law passed
to study the toxic effects of veterans of children,
children of veterans. But the VA finally said
last year, it's not going to be done because
they refuse to do it. So instead of having a
small group of children with all these health
problems we have spread that throughout the general
population and I think it's time that we need
to be very serious about this and make people
responsible. Now they said the wars in the Middle
East were not going to be another Vietnam and
they were because they did not use the same six
toxins on us. Instead, they used 32 toxins on
the troops that went to the more recent wars
in the Middle East. There's one thing I wanted
to get out from you, and that is that you have
encouraged all of our members in our local VVA
to get their children or to register their children
on a registry. Could you just talk to our audience
about that briefly? We have a registry, it's
Birth Defects Research Center, and it's BDRC
.org. And the registry is right there and it
can be filled in online. It takes a while, but
it's very important because that's the first
step in research to be able to determine who
is affected. And also for the veterans, The VA
now will take Compensation benefit claims for
the children which the parent believes is affected
Now they're not going to give you any money at
this point, but if we have enough of them reported
Then it helps us when we go to Congress to make
them do something You know, we just can't ignore
the factor that we have children in need and
children who will never be able to have a full
natural life because of their parents' exposures
during military service. Yeah, Sandy, most of
my kids have birth defects. Well, register them
in and file for benefits. Yeah, I did register
and they denied me and my kids. I went to the
first hearing, the very first hearing in Washington
DC in 1983, I think it was, on Agent Orange and
PTSD. I still have, I even have tape. Well, last
year they decided that they would accept claims
for something in addition to not just spina bifida,
but there are so many diseases that are unknown.
until later in life. So they will take, in fact,
the guy in charge of it has a sister that's disabled
and his father was in Vietnam. So I think you
finally we've got somebody who looks at it from
a different aspect. That's good. Yeah. This is
one of the reasons why I wanted to put both of
you on this program is to let people know that
these nurses that we thought were angels 50,
60 years ago are still out there fighting for
the cause of watching out for their fellow veterans.
And I just can't tell you how much I appreciate
the work that both of you are doing, not only
from the Agent Orange aspect, obviously from
post -traumatic stress. I don't even like to
say post -traumatic stress disorder. To me, it's
just post -traumatic stress. You know, everybody
gets it, but You've got a list of ways that can
help people figure out a way to work their way
through it. It's not something that we all know
that it's not something people just say, well,
get over it. We don't just get over it. And it's
like any traumatic experience that you have in
your life. You never just get over it. You've
got to figure out a way to work your way around
it, whatever it takes so that it doesn't affect
your life every moment of every day. so I want
to make sure that you know I thank you Sarah
and I thank you Sandy for being on the program
today and for all of the nurses that were out
there in Vietnam and probably still all of the
nurses that are in the military today because
you did a great job and I wanted to thank both
of you for being on our program. Thanks Dale.
Welcome. Okay so the book again one more time
is Sarah Bloom Warrior nurse PTSD and healing
and I think it's something that you should go
out there and get Not sure how much time I have
left about a minute. I got a minute. Okay One
more minute. So I would encourage you to read
this book also, you know I'm sure that I know
both of these women probably have read the woman
by Kirsten Hannah that talks about nurses in
Vietnam. And again, it's something that we all
need to be aware of, because we didn't know these
things were going on when we were in country.
It's just, you know, we all had our own jobs
and we did them as best that we could. So thank
you again to them. And we're going to have Sarah
back on to talk about these post -traumatic stuff
things. So we're going to go out again on God
Bless America, which is the most important song
to me in the history of this country. And it's
a beautiful song. And today we're going to be
listening to the version by Jimmy Fortune. And
he is joined by Sonia Isaac -Yeary. And it's
just beautiful. And I hope you enjoy it. So until
next week, this is Dale Thromberry. For all of
us here at Veterans Radio, you are this. missed.
From the mountains to the prairies to the oceans
white with foam God bless America my home sweet
home God bless America Erica, my home sweet.