ECHO: A RESPONSE TO A JOURNEY BY LYN LOUGHLIN

ECHO: A RESPONSE TO A JOURNEY
BY LYN LOUGHLIN

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And … the memories enveloped him like a tattered and dirty blanket. Just another soldier finding his way back home. Holes in time tugged at the lose threads of reality – fraying the edges of sanity. Just another soldier finding his way back home. The nights crawled on their bellies with images – blood red and body bag black. Screams kept time with the drum of rain and the sucking of mud. Like bare winter branches - bones creaked with dark and unforgiving cold. Just another soldier finding his way back home. Days crept behind night - the tempo of the living suspending the possibilities in dying. Smiles replaced the gaping mouths of the dead. Explosions of laughter took the place of bombs. Delighted squeals of a granddaughter scattered the anguished cries of the wounded. And, still, ‘normal’ was someone else’s state of mind. Just another soldier finding his way back home. No flags waved to welcome him back to our reality. Viet Nam held only indifference or anger in its hands. They said he was a killer – he guessed that was so and buried their reality like so many fathers buried so many sons. Just another soldier finding himself back home. He needs support. Forty-plus years of silently sitting alone in fear and panic – long-ago voices blending with those in real time. But, he thinks he’s o.k. Just another soldier finding himself back home. With memories woven tight to each breath - holes in time close – defining the edges of sanity. Nights bleed into days – the anguished cries of the wounded his own. Flags wave to welcome other soldiers home. Feeling only anger or indifference – he tries to bury that reality with the rest of his dead. Just another soldier finding himself back home. And now … as the silence breaks and long-ago voices rise in mourning - forty-plus years of sadness, fear, and panic envelope him like a coffin’s shroud. Made brittle by a journey many have taken and so few can understand – he realizes that some things can be made better - some cannot. That he has a family and close circle of friends who love and cherish him and that we hold him in our hands. That he is home. That he is safe. That through us – he has the strength and understanding to finish the true journey home so few have had the courage to take. With love to another soldier finding himself back home.

LYN LOUGHLIN is a Medical Social Worker who works at University Hospital in the office of decedent affairs, which basically means she interacts with and counsels family member of those who have died at the hospital, and, in particular, those who have died a violently. She has a deep understanding of PTSD and eventually wants to go into private practice counseling caregivers who have a high incidence of PTSD.