3B
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 7, 2017
US veterans use writing to tame trauma
Helix, confronted death during
the writing workshop. He’d
seen plenty of it after being
drafted in 1965 at age 21 and
serving in Vietnam. He earned
a Bronze Star for surviving
a helicopter crash and pull-
ing others to safety before the
helicopter caught fi re. He sur-
vived fi erce fi refi ghts that oth-
ers did not.
Park, however, wrote not
of wartime, but of the deaths
that had rocked his boyhood
— an aunt who battled can-
cer, his beloved dog, and his
brother who died after being
hit by a car while riding his
new bike.
“There is no beauty in
dying, only in the memories
that are left,” Park read to the
audience.
Red Badge
Project starts
with humor
By KATHY ANEY
EO Media Group
PENDLETON — Skip
Nichols walked to the
podium, breathed deeply and
shared one of his most ago-
nizing life experiences.
Nichols, a Vietnam vet-
eran and retired managing
editor of the East Orego-
nian, had cobbled together
the words during a Red
Badge Project writing work-
shop and later agreed to share
them with an audience at the
Gesa Power House Theatre in
Walla Walla. On Friday night,
he joined fi ve other workshop
participants, two Red Badge
instructors and actor Tom
Skerritt, who served in the
Air Force. The Emmy-win-
ning actor co-founded the
Red Badge Project as a way
to help veterans struggling
with post-traumatic stress
disorder fi nd their voice and
reboot their sense of purpose.
At the podium, Nich-
ols morphed back into the
19-year-old Marine he once
had been, standing guard
with two other soldiers near
the perimeter of Camp Car-
roll, just south of the demil-
itarized zone. They noticed a
boy on a water buffalo head-
ing toward the concertina
wire encircling the camp. The
sight put the soldiers on edge.
The boy, who appeared to be
about 12, carried a bamboo
cane to prod the water buffalo
and had arms and legs that
were “little more than sticks.”
A brown cloth bag hung from
his neck.
“Did it contain rice balls,
a satchel charge or hand gre-
nades?” Nichols remembered
wondering. “Were we looking
into the eyes of the enemy or
an innocent boy?”
Nichols, a radio opera-
tor and interpreter, radioed
his captain for instructions.
Hold fi re until the water buf-
falo reaches the wire, the
offi cer said, then shoot. Boy
and beast continued forward.
Nichols yelled at him in Viet-
namese to turn back, but the
pair kept going until reaching
the perimeter fence.
“Time seemed to stand
still,” Nichols read aloud to
the audience. “And then, as
one, all three of us fi red. The
boy’s body shuddered. His
right arm fl ew up as if waving
good-bye to us.”
The water buffalo charged
forward, Nichols said, drag-
ging the boy’s limp body
through the concertina wire.
The men shot the animal
and “puffs of red mist briefl y
fi lled the air.” The water buf-
falo staggered and fell atop
the boy.
Narrow tunnel
Actor Tom Skerritt speaks
about the Red Badge
Project on Friday at the
Gesa Power House The-
atre in Walla Walla. Skerritt
co-founded the project,
which helps veterans with
PTSD find their voice .
Vietnam veteran Bob Park,
of Helix, reads a story he
wrote during a Red Badge
writing workshop for veter-
ans with PTSD. He and five
other veterans spoke at the
Gesa Power House Theatre
in Walla Walla.
at this glimpse of wartime
experience.
Project after having dinner
with some Colorado veterans
affected by PTSD.
“They were physically and
emotionally wrecked,” Sker-
ritt said. “They looked around
furtively. They couldn’t
engage. That stayed with me.”
The result was the Red
Badge Project, a way to tap
into imaginations and feel-
ings and slay the beast within
through writing.
“You can’t intellectualize
this stuff,” Skerritt told the
Gesa Power House audience.
“You can’t treat it with drugs.
You just have to feel.”
He and co-founder Evan
Bailey avoided heavy mem-
ories at fi rst during the
workshops.
“We started with laughter,”
Skerritt said. “We passed out
joke books to a bunch of angry
soldiers.”
The men took turns telling
jokes. Later, they progressed
to “Yo Mama” insults like
“Yo Mama is so old, she was
a waitress at the Last Supper.”
“As they laughed, they got
better,” Skerritt said.
The men and women wrote
about positive parts of their
lives and then dared to exam-
ine painful memories and
write about them, too.
One of the presenters, Bob
Park, a retired teacher from
Another veteran, Bryce
Ely, read an essay in which he
recalled dropping to his knees
and crawling through a tunnel.
Carrying only a .45-caliber
pistol, his knife and his fl ash-
light, he inched ahead.
“The air grows stale and
heavy with the smell of musty
dirt, the smell I knew as a
kid hiding in the crawl space
under my house during child-
hood games of hide-and-
seek,” he read.
The tunnel narrowed.
Sweat stung his eyes. Imag-
inary spiders crawled on his
skin. He fought back panic
as he got temporarily wedged
before corkscrewing his body
from the tunnel’s grip. Finally
he saw light and the end of the
tunnel. He reached the open-
ing and peeked out into a void,
a cliff that went straight down.
“Holy s---,” he said as the
closing line.
Another veteran, Lydia
Hales, wrote of living with
depression and PTSD after
suffering a traumatic brain
injury. She wrote of her battle
to simply do the things others
consider normal.
“I want to sleep without
dreams, without being haunted
by specters of the past,” Hales
read.
Joseph Wankelman, a
young Army veteran from Col-
orado who was photographing
the event for Red Badge, lis-
tened in the back of the theater
with a somber expression. Red
Badge, he said in a low voice,
had saved his life.
“Without it, I’d be strung
out on drugs or alcohol,” Wan-
kelman said. “Telling your sto-
ries can save you from the well
of anger inside you, but only if
you are willing to share. You
have to invest your heart.”
Red Badge works in con-
cert with military psychi-
atric programs at Veterans
Administration Centers such
as the Jonathan Wainwright
VA Medical Center in Walla
Walla. Veterans wishing to
participate should contact their
local VA center.
Clatsop County Animal Shel-
ter — Animal care volunteers age 16
and older needed for one 3-hour shift
per week. Pick up an application at
1315 S.E. 19th St., Warrenton. For
information, or to schedule orienta-
tion, call Leslie Atkinson at 503-325-
1000.
Warrenton. Warehouse attendants
are needed for food packing or pro-
cessing, picking orders for agencies,
light janitorial and housekeeping,
or lawn and grounds maintenance.
Three to four-hour shifts are avail-
able Monday through Friday. To vol-
unteer, call 503-861-3663.
Clatsop County Public Works
— 1101 Olney Ave. Adopt-A-Road
volunteers needed to remove litter
two times (minimum) per year for
two years. Safety equipment and
supplies provided. Volunteers must
receive safety orientation. For infor-
mation, call 503-325-8631.
Clatsop Community Action
Regional Food Bank — Volunteers
needed to help hand out fruits and
vegetables at the weekly produce
pantries for two hours on Thursdays,
from April to October, in Seaside and
Clatsop Community College
Outreach Literacy — Needs vol-
unteer literacy tutors to work with
adults, native and non-native speak-
ers. Training available. For informa-
tion, call 503-338-2557.
Columbia Senior Diners —
1111 Exchange St., Astoria Senior
Center. Volunteers needed week-
days to serve tables and for kitchen
help. To volunteer, call 503-325-
9693.
Photos Kathy Aney/EO Media Group
Vietnam veteran and retired East Oregonian Managing Editor Skip Nichols reads a story he wrote during a Red Badge
writing workshop for veterans with PTSD. He and five other veterans shared their work Friday at the Gesa Power House
Theatre in Walla Walla.
‘Telling your stories can save you from the well of anger
inside you, but only if you are willing to share.
You have to invest your heart.’
Joseph Wankelman
Army veteran from Colorado
“Then there was silence.
I remember thinking it was
the silence of death,” Nich-
ols read. “My hands were
shaking.”
Nichols’ next sentence
ushered the audience into his
own personal gut-wrenching
reality by revealing one more
incomprehensible truth.
“We later learned the boy
had been mentally handi-
capped since birth,” Nichols
said. “He had simply wanted
chocolate like the kind we
gave out while we were on
patrol.”
Nichols left the stage to
applause. Many of those
clapping looked emotional
PTSD
Like many returning war-
riors, Nichols deals with
PTSD. He’s spent time in
counseling and even returned
to Vietnam as a way to cope.
Many, however, never fi nd
their way past the fl ashbacks,
nightmares and depression.
Many — some reports say as
many as 22 veterans per day
— commit suicide.
Actor Tom Skerritt, known
for leading roles in “Top
Gun,” “A River Runs Through
It,” “Alien” and other fi lms,
co-founded the Red Badge
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
4-H — Looking for 4-H leaders.
For information, call Sandra Carlson
at the Oregon State University Ex-
tension at 503-325-8573.
American Red Cross — Needs
registration volunteers (donor am-
bassadors) in Clatsop County to pro-
vide customer service and enhance
the blood donor experience. For
information, call Angela Basurtto at
503-528-5430.
Astoria Column — 1 Coxcomb
Drive. Volunteers needed to wel-
come visitors, provide information
and answer questions about the As-
toria Column and the city of Astoria.
For information, call the Friends of
the Astoria Column Visitor Center at
503-325-2963.
Astoria Riverfront Trolley As-
sociation — 111 W. Marine Drive.
Needs conductors/motormen to op-
erate trolley and narrate points of in-
terest. One or more three-hour shifts
per month. For information, call the
503-325-6311.
Astoria Senior Center — 1111
Exchange St. To volunteer, call Larry
Miller at 503-325-3231.
Astoria-Warrenton
Area
Chamber of Commerce — 111 W.
Marine Drive. Volunteers needed at
the chamber and for events. For in-
formation, call 503-325-6311.
available. For information, call 503-
861-2933 or go to www.campkiwan-
ilong.org
Caring Adults Developing
Youth (CADY) Mentoring Program
— 800 Exchange St., second fl oor.
Needs mentors for youths ages 10
to 17 at risk of school failure. Time
commitment: one year, about eight
hours per month. For information,
contact Laura Parker at 503-325-
8601 or lparker@co.clatsop.or.us
Clatsop Animal Assistance
Inc. — Needs volunteers who have
a strong commitment to work on
behalf of the Clatsop County Animal
Shelter’s dogs and cats. For infor-
mation, email info@dogsncats.org
or call 503-861-0737.
Clatsop Care Center — Volun-
teers needed daily for all three meals
to provide one-on-one assistance to
dining dependent residents. Volun-
teers must participate in a 16-hour
training program. For information,
contact Mandy Brenchley at 503-
325-0313, ext. 209.
Pet Parade
to celebrate the final stop on
Crazy Stan’s 300 Mile
Walk for the Animals
Wine and Paint Night
in The Loft
At Suzanne Elise
July 15th 2017 at Noon
on Bolstad Beach Approach
Tuesday, July 11 th
from 6 PM to 8 PM
Everyone Can Participate
in the Pet Parade!
Prizes For
Crazy Stan Lookalike
Beachiest Pet
Best Trick • Best Costume
Pet Owner Lookalike
Judges’ Choice
Visit tinyurl.com/y7t9tnn7
for more details.
300 Miles
10 Rescues
May 27 - July 15
Enjoy a glass of wine and unleash your
inner artist with instructor and local artist
Lisa Sophia. All supplies provided and no
experience is necessary. Fun is our only
requirement. So get creative while you
laugh, drink, and spend time with friends.
SOUTH PACIFIC COUNTY
Camp Kiwanilong — A large
variety of volunteer opportunities are
HUMANE SOCIETY
NO KILL • LONG BEACH, WA
101 Forest Drive, Seaside, Oregon
Call Heather at 503-738-0307
to reserve your spot
Cost is only $ 30