” am I right to assume that you have already written a couple of books chiefly about your travels in Asia…”

My first two novels are historical fiction set in 19th century China. The main character in both novels is Robert Hart. Although the novels are fiction, Hart was real. Harvard University Press published his journals and letters, and the originals are kept at the Queen’s College in Belfast, Ireland.

http://www.mysplendidconcubine.com/

“I have been fascinated by the Vietnam war. Perhaps you can start a blog about your exploits as a U.S. Marine fighting that war.

In fact, I do have a Blog about Vietnam, PTSD, war, etc., but I haven’t added anything new there for some time. This Blog is called “The Soulful Veteran”.

http://thesoulfulveteran.wordpress.com/

However, since my fourth book, “Better a Dead Hero”, which is not published yet, takes place in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, I will be returning to add more to The Soulful Veteran. The rough draft is completed. All that remains is revisions and editing, which sounds easier than it is.

In addition, I wrote a short story several years ago based on an incident that took place while I was serving in Vietnam. “A Night at the Well of Purity”

http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewShortStory.asp?AuthorID=84575&id=34234

“A Night at the Well of Purity” was a finalist in the 2007 Chicago Literary Awards.

I have been fascinated by the Vietnam war. Perhaps you can start a blog about your exploits as a U.S.Marine fighting that war.

Keep up the good work,Lloyd,

I didn’t always teach at Nogales. In the 1980s, I taught at two of the Intermediate schools (first at Giano) and Natalie was a student of mine in 8th grade at Alvarado Intermediate (I think sometime between 1986 to 1989). She was a GATE student and very bright. Then when I taught at Nogales, yes, I worked at the school when Angela Suleman was there, we talked and I knew she taught French.

Thanks

You asked, “No treatment at present so filling in forms and re-living events proving exceptionally difficult. Any suggestions???”

Keep a journal. Every day when you get home from school, write what happened that day and how you felt. Be detailed and show how you felt and feel. Also write as much of the history that led to this classroom PTSD in the journal first. Writing is a powerful form of therapy.

As for public school district and site administration — a favorite tactic by unscrupulous administrators is to divide and conquered and make the teacher or staff member feel as if they are the only one suffering in an attempt to isolate them while developing a sense of guilt and make them paranoid thus eventually driving them out of the school district.

Another factor to consider. You have been teaching for thirty years, which may mean you are at or near the top of the pay scale. Imagine how much money the district would save by getting you to leave and replace you with some young pup at half the cost. Due to the hard economic times, this is a growing tactic to save money. If this is so, then there will be other veterans such as yourself in the same district suffering similar harassment.

As teachers, we spend most of our days with students and are isolated from other teachers and when other teachers are together they often are talking about their students — not how they feel or what is happening to them. If there is a way for you to find out if other veteran teachers are being treated the same way, then the union may have a class action lawsuit to file.

This was the way I was treated the last few years I was teaching. The administrators struggled to make me feel as if I was the only one suffering. Then I managed to use the Internet and the e-mail addresses each teacher has in his or her classroom to send out a questionnaire. What I discovered was that a quarter of the 100 teachers at the high school where I taught were being treated the same way.

It turned out that we were all being told the same thing that each of us was the only having those problems.

Suddenly we had a group of teachers, which gave us the power of numbers driven by anger. The union became involved and there were mass meetings with the administrators were put on the defensive. District administration was called in and the principal at the time was fired by the district and another principal hired to replace him.

However, make no moves without first seeing what the Union’s legal people say. Even the language you use in an e-mail to the rest of the staff may be turned against you. Tread lightly. If these adminstrators are as ruthless as you describe, they must be approached with kid gloves and caution.

When it comes to PTSD, the research on teachers and PTSD is in its infancy and few studies have been done. What we do know is that the few studies that have been done show us that at least a third of public school teachers suffer from PTSD.

However, where this research has been done is with combat veterans. The VA (American Veterans Administration) has developed methods to identify and rate PTSD. For example, while being evaluated for my PTSD, the VA had me meet with several different individuals who asked questions and talked to me while keeping notes. Eventually, these individuals compared notes and used the VA knowledge base on PTSD to decide the level of my PTSD.

There are also volunteer veteran groups that meet and help each other learn to cope with PTSD. So far, no cure has been found for the damage that PTSD causes but coping mechanisms have been developed so we may live with it without having the PTSD ruin our lives totally.

The only thing I can suggest is looking in the area where you live for a volunteer PTSD support group for combat veterans from the wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan and see if you can join one of them. The way to find out if any of these groups are in your area is to find the nearest office for a state employed VA Rep. By law, every state must hire, fund and train these agents to help each states veterans to deal with the VA and these offices also have the names and contact information for private, volunteer groups that counsel each other sort of like Alcoholics Anonymous but for victims of PTSD.

Contacting the VA wouldn’t work unless they would tell you where the nearest office of the state VA rep is. The VA is not set up to help civilians but may know who and where the volunteer groupers of combat veterans are that meet to deal with PTSD issues.

I do not hold out hope that one-day public school teachers will also get the same level of care America’s combat veterans are now getting. It is my experience after teaching for thirty years in the public schools in California is that teachers are treated like garbage in this country to be tossed aside when they have been used up and burned out while being blamed for problems they did not create or cause.

So far, through the VA and nonprofit volunteer groups for combat veterans, this is the only area where there is help for people that suffer from PTSD that I know of besides paying more than a hundred an hour with a shrink that has specialized in helping people cope with PTSD and the VA administration is only set up to help combat veterans but the knowledge is there to help others and professionals are learning this knowledge in colleges and classrooms.

Since PTSD was first identified after the Vietnam War, we have come a long way to understand it, identify it and deal with it the best we can so individuals may live productive lives.