September 1984THERE ARE STUDIES THAT have concluded that more Viet Nam veterans have died by their own hand since returning from Southeast Asia than were killed in combat. It is difficult for me to believe this even though many veterans I have known, including Ty, Bobby and myself, have been at one time or another “suicidal.” But being suicidal and committing suicide are not the same. And coping behaviors learned in Viet Nam—learned at the edge of life—have helped many of us, on that new edge, to choose survival, to choose life.
Some people have tried to make political hay from the issue—people apparently from both sides. I kid you not on this; this was said to me by a professor at Nittany Mountain College, and I’ve heard others say it and lots of the guys reported it said to them too—“Th
