Healing the Warrior Within

The difficulties of coming home from war experienced by Vietnam veterans added the abbreviation PTSD to the nation's vocabulary. Post traumatic stress disorder has now been explored, defined, and institutionalized among the debilitating wounds of trauma. Yet there is something more deeply devastating than PTSD, for trauma inflicts a wound on the human spirit. In retreats led by members of the International Conference of War Veteran Ministers this deep wound is named post traumatic spiritual disorder. In "Healing the Veteran Within" Vietnam veteran and Presbyterian pastor Alan Cutter outlines the process of the weekend retreat and shares his own journey of healing his war-wounded soul. Cutter explains how the retreat leaders used their own experiences to create and model a healing path for other veterans. Using his own story Cutter shares how he began to understand and make sense of his own troubled spirit, and also some of the segments he developed for the retreats. The letter he imagines the Apostle Paul would have written to a warrior as well as the commentary he created for that letter are included in the book. In addition, in two sets of short meditations Cutter illustrates how the sacred writings of his faith community have profound meaning and conversation with his war experiences and provide him a platform for reflection.