What matters in the heart of a soldier hasn't changed in 3,000 years.
Odyssey is a familiar English word, meaning a series of adventurous journeys usually marked by many changes of fortune. The Greek word Odusseia , the base from which the English word is derived, simply means the story of Odysseus, a Greek hero of the Trojan War who took ten years to find his way back from Troy to his home on the island of Ithaka. Homers Odyssey does indeed present us with adventurous journeys and changes of fortune, but it is also an epic tale of a heros return, to find at home a situation more dangerous than anything he faced on the plains of Troy or in his wanderings over uncharted seas.
Odysseus in America is a documentary film based on psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Shays ground breaking book. The book and the film reveal the parallels in Odysseus epic ten-year journey home from Troy sung by Homer 3,000 years ago to events in the lives of todays American combat veterans. The ancients, the film argues, understood the psychological impact of combat on all those who fight, survive, and return home. Odysseus experiences mirror the symptoms commonly reported among the veterans of modern wars: fearfulness, inability to trust or to maintain close relationships, alcohol and drug abuse, emotional outbursts; and in some violence and criminal activity. The Odyssey offers a metaphor for the trials and tribulations that follow the warrior long after the fighting is over. Odysseus in America offers the recollections of battle and the homecoming experiences of veterans from Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq /Afghanistan to demonstrate that those who return from war are not, and cannot be the same as as when they left. Further, that the skills and experiences that enabled them survive in a war zone are dysfunctional in normal life. And finally, that the stimulation and adrenalin-pumping awareness under stress and fire cannot be sustained in a normal environment.
The film reveals that many of our countrys veterans, even 60 years after service, exist in a nether world somewhere between the battlefield and home. The sense of person-hood and place that defined them before combat service remains allusive. In the words of one Vietnam combat medic, many of us still arent home. For this veteran, and generations of soldiers before and since, the return to self and home has been less than a victory. The collateral damage to families, communities and by extension, civil society, endures long after the peace settlements and cease fires.
Ultimately, the lessons of Dr. Shay come as cautions to future generations of Americans responsible for putting people in such situations. The veterans relive the trials and tribulations of the 20th century wars as the basis for a discussion about what humanity wants for the 21st century, in particular, our collective moral responsibility to our soldiers and their families.
