Welcome Home From Vietnam, Finally

Biographies & Memoirs

synopsis

Synopsis

I served as an Army trauma surgeon at the 85th Evacuation Hospital, Phu Bai, Vietnam, '70-'71. Into our emergency room were intermittently deposited the wounded, some grievous others not, by the daredevil Dust Off medieval pilots who risked imminent death with each mission. We routinely witnessed the devastation of war on the body, mind, and soul. The corpsmen, technicians, nurses, anesthesiologists, and surgeons explored every known and out-of-the-box technique to salvage life and limb. If the wounded arrived alive at the 85th, he had a 95% chance of survival. It was and still is that 5% whose injuries were so severe or whose blood loss could not be stemmed that haunt us today. That's PTS. By storytelling for fifty years since returning to the US in late August 1971, I have avoided the (D) and mollified my demons. The intense emotions during my traumatic experience have softened greatly but, I am back in Vietnam on a daily basis. In 2015 I compiled my stories into Welcome Home From Vietnam, Finally, A Vietnam Trauma Surgeon's Memoir. It is gripping, honest, real-life, and disturbing. Then we realize that the 58,000+ lives lost did not change a thing. No dominos fell and Vietnam is now our close trading partner. They have been gracious victors.

bio

Author Biography

Dr. Gus Kappler served as a trauma surgeon during the Vietnam War at the 85th Evacuation Hospital ’70-‘71. His well-received 2015 memoir, Welcome Home From Vietnam, Finally, describes his surgical experiences and personal transformation. After his military service, Gus enjoyed a successful solo surgical practice in the small city of Amsterdam located in the majestic Mohawk River Valley in upstate New York. He and his family enjoyed hiking, camping, snowshoeing, hunting, kayaking, and photographing in the valley and the nearby Adirondack Mountains. Gus’s current historical medical mystery, One Degree, reflects his real-life knowledge gained in Vietnam, during solo surgical practice, living and recreating in the Mohawk Valley, teaching at Weill Cornell Medicine, and in understanding global politics. Through reading One Degree, he wishes to remind us of how morality, personal goals, and life choices may be complicated by the unique influences introduced by an unfamiliar environment. The reader is introduced to the development of PTSD, the condoning of corrupt practices, and the virulent pursuit of wealth and power.

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Author Insight

#3) Our Mission

Each subject referenced in this chapter is expanded upon by a wealth of articles and texts. Most importantly, how did the United States enter into the quagmire of a guerrilla war in Vietnam? Read Dereliction Of Duty, H.R. McMaster, and Vietnam, An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975, Max Hastings. The destructive influence of war on an individual’s psyche irreparably changes everyone. Ed Tick, P.hD. in War and the Soul proposes that fracturing the warrior’s soul is the root cause of subsequent active duty and veteran challenges. The soldier obeys the moral code of war; killing the enemy is expected. Forever, he lived by the moral code of peace; life is sacred. He finds it impossible to function, honoring one code without being influenced by the other. Therefore the soul’s moral code is fractured, and he serves in a moral limbo. Reconciling this dual existence during basic training and when deployed to a combat zone is the key to rehabilitating the soldier. Stigmatization of the military culture guarantees order but inhibits the warrior from pursuing the path to healing. PTSD, substance abuse, and suicide, therefore, become rampant. The healing must begin without the threat of stigmatization, in a safe place, and without record keeping. The US Air Force Deployment Transition Center does precisely that. So will my approach: https://youtu.be/Q-FDupMy8J8

Book Excerpt

Welcome Home From Vietnam, Finally

One could not determine friend from foe, so all Vietnamese became second-rate distrusted humans who were killing our precious young men. I was seduced by circumstance into shunning the weighty

5 In the x-ray room; our Viet Cong friend to the right

message of the Hippocratic Oath I had recited upon graduation from medical school. My moral compass morphed from the stateside moral code of a secure nation to the “you’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto” war-zone moral code.

The wounded Americans were treated preferentially; the Vietnamese casualties were overflown to their (ARVN) hospital in Hue, where survival was circumspect. There was no Vietnamese blood-banking system. As a priority, the American precious lifesaving liquid was given to our boys. A limited supply was available for the ARVN wounded. The outdated blood was sent from our blood bank to the ARVN hospital in Hue.

These disclosures may horrify some. They should, but visualize your son’s desperation as he screamed in unrelenting pain with his life’s blood oozing from his wounds onto the ED concrete floor only to be directed to a drain by the spray of water from a nearby hose.

Dehumanizing the Vietnamese people was part of the war-zone moral code and condoned putting American boys first in line for treatment. Would I be capable of defaulting to the stateside code upon returning home? Many who served are still in limbo wanting to engage their original stateside-default moral code so to be capable of navigating normal society but are unable to completely shed their guilt or even create a boundary around the perceived sin of succumbing to the war-zone moral code.

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Gus Kappler MD FACS

Welcome Home From Vietnam, Finally

Synopsis

Author Biography

Author Insight

#3) Our Mission

Book Excerpt

Welcome Home From Vietnam, Finally

Comment on this Bubble