John Wesley Fisher is a Vietnam veteran, serving as an RTO during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam in 1968. He has since traveled the world on a healing journey visiting places such as Australia, New Zealand, and across the United States. John has returned to Vietnam on 14 occasions and has just released his latest book, DAK TO Rx: A Veteran Returns to the Land of His Nightmares. John is also the director of CORE (Community-Reconciliation Vietnam), an organization that arranges veterans' trips to return to Vietnam in support of healing their souls.

John joins me today to discuss his experiences of returning to Vietnam for a solo trip, which forms the basis of his latest book. He shares the places he visited while hiking and backpacking with local guides and former Vietnamese soldiers and his companions' stories and beliefs. He discusses the disconnect he felt from his soul following the war and how the Vietnamese people's culture better prepares them to leave the war in the past and move on. John also discusses the healing he has found through spending time in nature and beneath the jungle canopy in Vietnam.

"We are not soulless, but we are estranged from our souls.” - John Wesley Fisher

This week on the Stigma Free Vet Zone Podcast:

Traveling along the Mekong Delta and hearing Vietnamese views of the American SoldierComing face-to-face with the skulls of blind kill victims in a Vietnamese memorialHiking and backpacking through the Jungle and visiting the villages of the MontagnardsThe cultural mindset of the Montagnards and Vietnamese and why they don't experience post-war traumaStanding on the graves of villages destroyed by American helicoptersHow the war and killing leaves you estranged from your own spirit, mind, and beingHow John finds relief and heals his soul under the jungle canopy and escaping in natureWhy John starts his day with yoga and meditationTaking steps to consider the health of your family and spouseFinding peace through forgiveness and love

Resources Mentioned:

COREDAK TO Rx: A Veteran Returns to the Land of His Nightmares

This episode is brought to you by…

The Orban Foundation for Veterans is dedicated to bringing greater hope, understanding, resolution, and togetherness on issues of civilian readjustment for all military veterans and their families. Orban Foundation for Veterans promotes the importance of education, identification, understanding, acceptance, and resolution of many of the complex and severe responses to war and military life.

Visit our website to learn more about the Orban Foundation for Veterans and to support our mission.

Helping Veterans & Their Families Transition to Civilian Life

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DISCLAIMER: The information and content shared in each episode of the Stigma Free Vet Zone are for informational purposes only. The Stigma Free Vet Zone hosts, Mike Orban & Bob Bach, are not, nor claim to be, medical doctors, psychologists,