November 9, 2016
A trip of healing Around Town
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Winter coats for students
Special Section
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Veterans Day celebration
Submitted Photo Mike Snider and other Vietnam veterans visit with Vietnamese villagers on a recent trip to Vietnam. Snider founded Veterans Return to Vietnam and started looking into other organizations that were trying to help vets by letting them go back to Vietnam.
Veterans Return to Vietnam offers hope for vets looking for closure By Nicholas Elmes While people throughout the St. Louis metro area, and the country, take time out on Friday to honor those who have risked their lives to protect the country, one man is working to raise money to help those same veterans deal with the life-long mental and emotional scars caused by their service. Mike Snider, a Vietnam-era veteran who served in the Air National Guard but did not see combat, is now fighting to raise close to $11,000 by Nov. 28 in order to help two local veterans who did serve in Vietnam return to the country to face the demons that conflict has left them with for decades. The planned globe-spanning trip for healing and redemption started three years ago when Snider reconnected with an old high school friend who has been battling post-traumatic stress disorder and depression since returning from the war. “We started talking every night on Facebook, and slowly he started opening up to me about his struggles and it just shook me to my core what he was going through,” said Snider, noting that
his friend could not sleep for more than 45 minutes without being woken up by demons. “Those demons are the men he saw die in front of him and beside him.” Snider started looking for possible therapies that could help his friend, recommending one after another after another. “After about the fourth or fifth one, I asked him if he ever checked them out and he said no,” recalls Snider. “He said every therapy he had been through had led him to the brink of suicide and he did not trust himself anymore. He said the only thing he wanted to do was to go back to Vietnam.” Snider was shocked. Why would anyone want to go back the place that had caused him so much pain and strife over the years? “He said he just wants to go back to get forgiveness,” said Snider. “That is something that almost every Vietnam vet says. They tell me they feel like they destroyed the country and the people of Vietnam hate them. But nothing could be further than the truth. The country is growing by leaps and bounds and the people love Americans, especially American veterans who were there dur-
ing the war.” So Snider formed a nonprofit called Veterans Return to Vietnam and started looking into other organizations that were trying to help vets by letting them go back to Vietnam. A long journey “I found an organization in New York called Soldier’s Heart,” said Snider. “It is co-founded by Ed Tick who is a physiologist who has been working with Vietnam vets for over 40 years. He has been taking vets back to Vietnam for 16 years. I partnered with him and told my friend that if going back to Vietnam is what you want to do then I will raise all the money for you to go back because you have already paid more than you should.” A scheduling conflict prevented Snider’s friend from going last year, but Snider was able to go on the two-week trip to see what it was all about. “It was amazing,” said Snider, explaining that each trip is tailored specifically to the veterans who are participating in it. “We go as close as we can to the very spot each veteran had their biggest battles and we have a ceremony for See VETERAN page 2
Moore on life
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School
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Celebrating Boone Trail Days
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Easy potluck party dishes
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