Posted by Kevin Jacobsen
On this Veteran's Day we honor those who've fought for their country. But while many of them have physically left the war zone, the war continues within.
David Plants was just a teenager when he served one year on the front lines of Vietnam. Huddled in a bunker near base with several other soldiers, Thanksgiving 1967 is a day Plants will never forget.
"The Vietcong came walking in on the perimeter with charges strapped around his body. Two of my G.I. friends tried to run up there and apprehend them. I told them not to, if they would, they would have been blown apart," Plants said.
Plants earned two bronze stars for his service with the 101st Airborne. But the reward didn't change the welcome these vets received when they came home to the United Starts.
"We got called baby killers, threw cans bottles, beer bottles at us, we got treated really bad."
The scorn took a toll on Plants. Not long after he was discharged, he had his first run in with the law. He spent his 21st Birthday behind bars .
"I've been arrested quite a few times because of my drinking and doing drugs."
Over a span of forty years, Plants who has been diagnosed with PTSD, spent time in prison in four states, including Montana, where he was locked up for six years for what he says was a violent drug deal.
He said a string of convictions and his struggle with addiction continued until this year.
"What made me turn my life around, Kevin, is I almost died eight months ago. I was living in Virginia Minnesota. I was heavily drinking and I went for seven or eight days without eating and I was taking six, seven or eight Ibuprofen at a time for my headaches."
"Reintegrating into civilian life is a difficult task and not a task that is accomplished in several months but in a couple or more years," said Dr. Rich Duus, a psychologist and Vietnam Veteran.
Dr. Duus notes that process is a major player in the onset of PTSD. Past personal issues also play a role.
"Many of these dysfunctions are set up much earlier in our lives we're much more vulnerable to these experiences and not being able to integrate them if we've had problems," Dr. Duus said.
Problems Plants has tried dealing with multiple times, but with no success. Now, two months into living at a treatment facility outside the Twin Cities, Plants says he's finally started talking about his problems.
"I'm going to keep on going through the program. Keep on following what I gotta do. My counselor here says I've been a lot more open towards people than I had when I first came here," said Plants.
He hopes these will be the final-first steps to ward sobriety since returning home 40 years ago.
Thursday night at ten on the CBS 3 News we'll look at the help available to Veterans like Plants who are trying to get back on their feet after having runs in with the law.
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