As with his first installment in the promised trilogy, A Vietnam Trilogy: Veterans and Post Traumatic Stress: 1968, 1989, 2000 (2004), Scurfield's extensive work with Vietnam veterans in his 25 -year career with the Department of Veterans Affairs informs and enriches this work. He builds on his previous work to recount his ongoing personal and professional metamorphoses that culminate in the study abroad program with faculty colleagues and students from his university.
The current adventure commingles 16 under-graduate history students, a history professor, three Vietnam combat veterans, and two mental health professionals (including Scurfield) in a trip to Vietnam for a study abroad experience. This second volume focuses on the decade of 1990 to 2000, using the study abroad model as a vehicle to address lessons learned— and lessons ignored (the focus of the third volume) — from Vietnam as the United States was preparing for and responding to the effects of the first Gulf War.
The text logically and usefully organizes itself in three sections. The first four chapters address broad topical areas including comparisons between the Vietnam and the Gulf Wars, the experiences of medically evacuated combatants, "managing" the "truth" about the impact of war, and racism. These chapters provide very useful perspectives and seem to set the stage for Scurfield's final trilogy installment due out later this year.
The second section (Chapters 5 and 6) focuses on the study abroad experience with the history students. Relying heavily on his journal entries, Scurfield recounts and analyzes the dynamics of the segments of the travel group (students, faculty, therapists, veterans) and the group as a unit. The trip, while providing unique opportunities for all travelers to interact, surfaced some generational conflicts and stressors as well as scholarly interest differences.
The final two chapters include important reflec¬tions and assessment of the impact of this trip and compare it to Scurfield's previous trip that was the focus of Volume 1 of this trilogy. The appendix contains an outline of important elements in planning a trip and unflinchingly identifies "What We Missed" (p. 216).
Scurfield provides substantial contextual information about U.S. experiences during and shortly after involvement in Vietnam. Among the issues that are addressed are selective amnesia and denial, racism, physically wounded veterans, and institutional responses to the needs of Vietnam veterans. The treatment of these issues includes asides and soliloquy from Scurfield, reminiscent of the first volume. As with the first volume, some of these comments seem pedestrian and self evident.
The discussion explicates what Scurfield asserts is the evidence for and the consequences of a self-serving depiction of military combat in Vietnam. His more cogent points concern the deliberate manipulation of information and reframing of issues by governments. This element of his discussion is reminiscent of George Lakoff's (2002) conceptualization of the framing of issues.
In this regard, Scurfield seems to take a rather pejorative and judgmental view of U.S. Vietnam War veterans who traveled to the Soviet Union in 1989 on a citizen diplomacy mission. Scurfield's assessment of the trip criticized the U.S. veterans for (a) abandoning their fellow veterans and (b) denying/avoiding addressing their own Vietnam experiences. To his credit, he does soften and ultimately abandon this view, coincidentally, when he had the opportunity to host Russian veterans of their war with Afghanistan at his Veterans Administration PTSD treatment program.
Much like the first volume; this work provides an "on the ground" perspective on the issues — the return trip of U.S. veterans in Volume 1 and the study abroad experience in this volume. The richness is heightened by the unexpected occurrences and the team's use of them as teachable moments.
The work does not provide a template for all study abroad programs, but it does a good job of providing useful insights as to the conduct of such programs and the need for flexibility and to capitalize on unexpected opportunities for teachable moments.
A limitation of this work is Scurfield's occasional near obsession with the war experience (perhaps a reason for feedback from some students that Scurfield was "too serious") and troubling sporadic lapses into talking about the traveling veterans as objects. Scurfield seems to be somewhat preoccupied with his role as therapist and allows this to color his perspective on his observations and experiences — perhaps an artifact of his quarter century of work in a decidedly medical model-oriented Veterans Administration where he treated clients' psychosocial problems.
Overall, this is a very good resource for persons who are interested in knowing more about the Vietnam War from a very personal level. It also has insights for clinicians and educators that can be useful in understanding the personal impacts of combat as well as practical considerations for planning study abroad experiences. For students, it provides opportunities to experience vicariously the effects of combat through direct contact and dialogue with combatants, making the experience potentially powerfully immediate, although generational differences confound this outcome. It is a good read and a good addition to the knowledge base about combat, consequence and legacy.
Gary E. May, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of Southern Indiana
