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PTSD, A Vietnam War heavy hangover
Episode 3083 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Vietnam Vet Everett Cox. The featured story appeared in the Pike County Courier. It was titled: ‘I served my country’. Fifty years after the end of the Vietnam War, local veterans tell of their experiences over there and when they came home.
Everett Cox’s war didn’t end when he left Vietnam in 1969. Serving with the 245th Surveillance Airplane Company at Marble Mountain Airbase, he survived rocket attacks, but the damage ran deep. A year after returning home, he was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic and told he would never recover. For the next four decades, Everett battled crushing depression, isolation, and suicidal thoughts—waging a silent, relentless war within.
In 2010, everything began to shift. At a veterans’ retreat led by Buddhist monk and fellow Vietnam vet Claude AnShin Thomas, Everett spoke openly about his experiences for the first time. That moment marked his transformation from simply being a veteran of war to becoming a vet—someone who owned and understood his story.
He immersed himself in what he calls “Survival Arts”—writing, theater, dance workshops, and veteran dialogues. The work was raw, often painful, but it forged connection and purpose. By 2012, with the help of counselors and peers, Everett sought professional help again and received a new diagnosis: PTS, a natural response to unnatural violence.
Hard labor, art, and service became his medicine. From working in gardens and painting houses to mentoring homeless youth and serving in the New York State Joseph P. Dwyer Veteran Peer Program, Everett rebuilt his life one step at a time.
Today, he’s no longer in the high suicide-risk category. His journey stands as proof that even after decades of pain, healing is possible—and that Survival Arts can turn scars into strength.
Listen to Episode 3083 and discover more about Vietnam Vet Everett Cox.
