You were asked to stuff it and expected to ignore it because there was no place to turn for any sort of support. Even within families.
When I returned from my last tour in Viet Nam, I arrived at the Cleveland Ohio airport and was met by my father. He looked at me kind of funny, and kept saying, “You’re home now. You’re safe. There’s nothing to worry about now.”
I guess that the couple days I had away from combat while heading home hadn’t really allowed me to regain a “civilized” appearance. I had lost more weight and had a good tan. Dad kept looking at my eyes.
My dear Dad was in a hurry to get me home, so he took a short cut through the woods. The trees came right to the edge of the narrow dirt road – there were no fields of fire and I was unarmed. I realized I was crouched down on the floorboards when he once again told me that I was now safe.
I must have heard “You’re safe now, don’t worry – relax, forget about it” a thousand times during that 30 day leave. I was actually glad to report back to the Army.
Welcome home.