Walking the Point: Male Initiation and the Vietnam Experience

Many Vietnam veterans struggled upon returning to the United States. They wrestled with the psychic trauma of the war and felt isolated and out of place, rejected by their country. Author Daryl Paulson, a Vietnam vet, experienced the same feelings of displacement and despair. But he eventually understood that the Vietnam experience was an initiatory one, complete with a call to adventure, an initiation, and a return home with a new identity as a hero, a veteran. In "Walking the Point," Paulson's healing journey provides a wise example for veterans of Vietnam and other wars, as well as their loved ones.