Vietnam Vet Tries to Help Soldiers With Stress Disorder
 

Des Moines, December 17, 2003 - After enlisting in the army in the late 1960's, Greg Helle spent 20 months serving in Vietnam. Today, he talks openly about what happened while he was there. 

"You know.. The normal things. Having someone die in your arms.... Having to kill," he says.  But Greg says for years, he kept his experience a secret. And for years, without ever knowing it, he says he struggled with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Greg will tell you the effects--it made him suicidal and aggressive.

"I would get up in the middle of the night with a gun guarding the house. I was that scared."  He says  he understands his behavior now, and he's getting help for it. The illness, however, forced him to quit his normal job a couple of years ago. He wrote a book about his experience and set up a support group for veterans with P.T.S.D.  He predicts many Iowa National Guard Troops might need help when they return. "They're in board rooms one day, and  in Iraq two weeks later," he says.  "That has to hit them like a brick wall."  Greg says he just wants to be there for them when they return, to help them readjust to life in Iowa. 

He's set up a website for soldiers coming home:

www.ptsd-alliance.org