Ask the Author: Gregory H. Murry

“I would be happy to answer questions about my book titled: Content With My Wages, A Sergeant's Story: Book I-Vietnam. ” Gregory H. Murry

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How long did it take you to write "Content With My Wages, A Sergeant's Story: Book 1-Vietnam"? At what point in your life did you realize you had this book inside that had to be written?

Gregory H. Murry It took about nine years to complete a first draft of what turned out to be three separate books. Included in that time were several bouts with cancer and an on-going life with my adopted family from Afghanistan. The last two years have been spent refining the manuscript and fact checking with my comrades from Vietnam. Some of them contributed their own memories which I tried to weave into my narrative. Proofreading and the index proved to be the most labor intensive and when I was done I still find little mistakes. When I retired I looked back at the three different wars and the things I learned along the way. I had learned things from books that actually helped me do various things in the army so I thought I should leave my lessons learned for some future soldiers.

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C.J. Heck Thank you for your heartfelt answer, Greg. I’m so happy you’ve chosen to write “your lessons learned for future soldiers”. That is where the healing i Thank you for your heartfelt answer, Greg. I’m so happy you’ve chosen to write “your lessons learned for future soldiers”. That is where the healing is … for you and for them. Please allow me to explain.

When something traumatic happens, like in war, to those who are so young, there is and forever will be the question, "Why?"

Friends, professionals, even family members try to help us understand and get through it, but no one can -– not because they don't care -- they do care. It's because it's impossible for them to know what it is that they are trying to help us understand and get through. They didn't experience it. They don't feel the same pain, and they don't have the invisible wound, or scar, that will always be there -- nor can they answer the question, "Why?"
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A soldier, or combat medic, is called on to do and see things that go against their natural conscience, which is the soul's sense of right and wrong. When it is a traumatic event, like when someone dies and they wish they could have done more -- the ego takes control. It strives to make them pay by using guilt over a long period of time, sometimes an entire lifetime -- PTSD and survivor’s guilt.

When our body has a wound, it heals itself. The soul is much the same. When we do things to help others heal, in the process, we also heal. We are taking the attention off of the judgment our ego puts on us, and we begin to open our hearts in service to others. We are meant to serve each other, because we are all one soul, all Brothers and Sisters.

As the widow of a combat medic, over the years, I've learned not to deny the pain. As painful as it is to "feel" it, what is far worse is to deny it, where it impacts every other area of my life, and I still ask the question, "Why?"

Real healing began when I started the blog, Memoirs From Nam, and from the many vets I’ve met through the blog. I soon saw we all share one thing in common – we were all wounded in some way and carry scars from our war. I learned I’m not alone. In reaching out to help them, they helped me.

I recognized something significant in that …

The veterans who write, whether it’s articles, stories, thoughts, opinions -- or books -- are helping themselves to heal, because they are sharing themselves with other vets -- and this helps them to get in touch with their own buried memories, and they also begin to heal -- it's like a continuous circle ever widening to include more vets.

Sometimes, I still ask the question, “Why?” But I am a work in progress and I’m learning. Maybe we aren’t meant to know “Why”, only that some things are just meant to be and there is nothing we can do to change them. ...more
Feb 10, 2015 06:34PM · flag

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