The War Within: One More Step at a Time Volume 27

My wife Kathy is a counselor with a specialty in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) applied to war veterans. The internship in her master's program was at the local vet's center and she still maintains contact with the people who work there. I had reviewed another Doonesbury book and another counselor who works with vets contacted me and said that she used this book in her treatment programs. She asked me if I knew of any follow up to the story told here. The premise is that B. D. has lost a leg in Iraq and while he now has a prosthesis and his physical wounds have healed, there are deeper, subtler wounds that are opening over time. This is a chronicle of his actions, denial, his and other's disbelief regarding his problems and his halting journey to treatment. At my request, Kathy also read this book and she has been emphatic that this description is exactly the way it usually goes for veterans with PTSD. As you read the cartoons, you emphasize with B. D. as he struggles to come to grips with the fact that he has a problem. The people around him find it hard to cope, as they have no understanding of the source of his odd behavior. Finally, he makes contact with a counselor at a vet's center and you are relieved when it appears that he will be able to deal with the problems and live a reasonably normal life. Once you understand that these problems are real, it makes you all the more shameful when you read and see stories about the lack of long-term care veterans are receiving as they come back from Iraq and Afghanistan. It takes time for PTSD to emerge as a condition; many times it appears nearly a year after the soldiers have been passed through the initial treatment they receive immediately after returning.

Doonesbury has always been cutting edge and great social and political satire. But Trudeau's work has always had a serious, important edge to it. The War Within shows that. It shows the struggle of returning vets.

Featuring a foreword by General Richard B. Myers (USAF, Ret., Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) The War Within: One More Step At A Time is a unique collection of G. B. Trudeau's Doonesbury newspaper comics that is not only humorous, but also cutting-edge relevant . The strips follow the daily life Vietnam, Gulf War, and Iraq War veteran B.D., whose tour of duty was cut short by a near-death experience, the loss of his leg, and perhaps most shockingly, the loss of his iconic helmet. Far more life-altering than the physical damage is the post-traumatic stress disorder that leaves him increasingly disoriented, hostile, withdrawn, and turning to alcohol to self-medicate. When B.D. is on the verge of mistaking friends and family for mortal enemies, the turning point comes when he overhears his own daughter say that she has become afraid of him. Help comes in the form of the local Vet Center, and the skillful aid of counselor and fellow Vietnam vet Elias. The War Within brims with classic Trudeau wit, yet also reveals the author's resolve to accurately portray the harrowing pressures America's armed forces are subject to during and after risking their lives in the service. Highly recommended. Proceeds from "The War Within" are to benefit Fisher House, a "home away from home" for families of patients receiving medical care at major military and VA medical centers.

Received and read "The War Within" last week but find it hard to characterize this one. While BD was the central figure in "The Long Road Home" I think this one has a cast of figures with equally important stories to tell. BD continues his journey but one gets a much deeper understanding of his pain and struggles as well as those of his family. Adding to the story are his counselor Elias, as skillful and intuitive as any of us could hope to ever be and the ever clever Celeste... an equally skillful counselor in secretarial clothing! "The War Within" will be required reading in one of the classes I teach Spring semester.

These are some most heart-rending yet funny cartoons I have ever read. For a man who has never "been there" Trudeau does an outstanding job of showing the long road that a miltary man has to walk to "recover" from war. B.D. is wounded both on the outside and the inside and as Trudeau shows in a daily comic strip, sometimes it's the hidden wounds that are the worst. If any comic strip is worthy of a Pulitzer, it is the current run of Doonesbury with the ongoing journey of B.D. If you have any empathy for the American fighting man/woman these strips will bring tears to your eyes. They are Art with a capital A.