Authors, Renown Vietnam Memoirist & Wife, Discuss PTSD
As part of the College of Southern Maryland’s Spring Connections Series and its year-long commemoration of the anniversary of the Vietnam War, authors and spouses Robert and Patience Mason will discuss their books at 7:30 pm March 28 at the Leonardtown Campus, Building A, Auditorium.
Robert Mason is the author of the New York Times’ bestselling war memoir “Chickenhawk,” of which more than a million copies have sold since first published in 1983. The memoir recounts his experience as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam in the First Air Cavalry Division with more than 1,000 combat missions. It has been described as “very simply the best book so far about Vietnam,” by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and a “plunge into the thickets of madness [that] will stun readers” by Time magazine. His experiences left him with undiagnosed PTSD that went untreated for many years, leading to conflicts within the home.
Eventually, a friend gave Robert and Patience a pamphlet written for disabled veterans entitled, “Readjustment Problems Among Vietnam Veterans.” Patience recognized the symptoms described in the pamphlet, seeing themselves on every page. As a result, she became an expert on the subject and wrote several books based on the experience of recovering from the psychological wounds of war, including “Recovering From the War: A Guide for All Veterans, Family Members, Friends and Therapists.”
The Masons operate a small publishing company, Patience Press, out of High Springs, Fla. and publish “The Post-Traumatic Gazette” with a mission to “ensure that no soldier, family member or friend will ever again have to face PTSD alone and without information, hope or help.”
Tickets are $3 through advance sale at the CSM box office; general admission is $5. For tickets, contact the box office at [email protected] or call (301) 934-7828.
