• My Tour in Hell: A Marine’s Battle with Combat Trauma

  • Reflections of History, Book 1
  • By: David W. Powell
  • Narrated by: Rory Young
  • Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
  • 1.8 out of 5 stars (4 ratings)

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My Tour in Hell: A Marine’s Battle with Combat Trauma  By  cover art

My Tour in Hell: A Marine’s Battle with Combat Trauma

By: David W. Powell
Narrated by: Rory Young
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Publisher's summary

David W. Powell enlisted for a tour of duty in April 1966 with the US Marines after receiving an imminent draft notice. Believing he would be able to leverage his existing skills as a computer programmer, he never thought all they would see on his resume was his Karate expertise. Even less that he would wind up serving as a Rocket man in the jungles of Da Nang and Chu Lai for a 13 month tour in hell.

David's journey from naive civilian to battle-hardened combat veteran shows us all how fragile our humanity really is. In addition to killing the enemy on the field of battle, he was witness to countless cruelties including murder both cold-blooded and casual, cowardice under fire, and a callous disregard for life beyond most people's imagination. With each new insult, he lost a little bit of his soul, clinging to his Bible as his only solace while equally certain of his own imminent demise.

Upon returning to civilian life after a two year enlistment, he found himself with nightmares during sleep, intrusive thoughts while awake, a hypervigilant stance combined with an exaggerated startle reaction, and a seeming inability to control basic emotions like anger and sadness.

The price he paid for what would only be diagnosed decades later as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was broken marriages and relationships, inability to hold down jobs leading to bankruptcy, alcohol abuse, and having to hide the service he willingly gave to his own country.

In 1989, David eventually recovered through a simple but powerful technique known as Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR) and is now symptom-free. Not just for veterans, TIR has since been successfully applied to crime and motor vehicle accident victims, domestic violence survivors, and even children. His story shows what is possible for anyone who has suffered traumatic stress and that hope, healing, and recovery can be theirs too.

©2010 David W. Powell (P)2021 David W. Powell

What listeners say about My Tour in Hell: A Marine’s Battle with Combat Trauma

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very good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! good overall

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Vietnam is Only a Quarter of This Book

This is not really a book about Vietnam; it's a book about PTSD. The descriptions of battle are only a small part of the book. The rest is about the quotidian life of the author after his wartime experiences. Often repetitive and dull, I do not recommend this book. The reader leaves a lot to be desired, too.

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DNF

I couldn't get past the first few chapters because all the guy did was talk about how smart and awesome he was in everything. Seriously, the guy is in love with himself or something. Plus he put down soldiers in the Army and not your typical Marines vs Army kinda way. I wouldn't recommend listening to this book.

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