Combat PTSD and Michael Orban

Mike Orban is a freelance writer who speaks publicly on combat PTSD and the experiences of readjustment after war. He believes that war is not a life sentence to psychological and spiritual darkness if we learn how to think about it.

He was born in Wisconsin in 1950, the fourth oldest of ten in a Catholic middle class family. His father, an officer, landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. His brother Jim was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division.

Orban was drafted into the US Army and the Vietnam War in 1969. By the age of twenty-one he had flown over twenty-five combat assaults and earned the Bronze Star, Air Medal and Combat Infantryman's Badge.

"We are not the same person who went to war, so stop looking for that person. We cannot be that person ever again any more than a mother can go back to life before having children. We must look forward to life and what is next, not remain forever attached to life in the past."

In a struggle to readjust to life after war, he made his lifelong dream of visiting Africa a reality. He found that the most impoverished people in the world were beautifully connected to and respectful of all life.

As a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon in central Africa he helped build a three-room school in the most remote and isolated part of the country, deep in the jungle. With fellow volunteers, he also built houses for teachers using basic carpentry tools, trees felled in the jungle and other materials obtained locally.

In Cameroun, serving with United States Agency for International Development (USAID), he was supervisor of construction North Cameroun Agricultural and Livestock Project. He worked with nomadic herders and local cattle grazers to improve livestock and ensure sustainability of local grazing land and its topsoil.

He has been profoundly influenced by the ethos and sacrifices of Dr. Albert Schweitzer (whose hospital he visited), the humor and common sense of Mark Twain and the transformative music of Mozart.

From his experiences and in helping other combat veterans, Orban has developed graphic models for use in helping us think about readjustment after war. These models are available on request and will also be available on video CD.

He is the author of Souled Out: A Memoir of War and Inner Peace.

He lives in West Bend, Wisconsin.