Wizard 6 Reviews

"Velcome Captain. You are the new Vizard-ya?" 

"Ya. I mean, yes sir."

"Vell, I must tell you dat I don't know if I believe in psychiatry." 

"That's okay, sir; I'm not sure I believe in colonels."

This interchange took place in 1969 when psychiatrist Doug Bey, M.D. arrived at the base camp of the 1^St Infantry Division (Big Red One) in Di An, Vietnam, to begin a one year tour of duty. His responses to the U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel with the German accent are vintage Doug Bey. They show his quick wit and his way with words, his irreverence and his college-wrestler toughness.

I write with familiarity because Doug and I took psychiatric residences together at the Menninger School of Psychiatry in Topeka, Kansas. We were both in the Berry Plan, in which the Army allowed us to complete our training but then expected us to go on active duty for two years. Doug and I both ended up in Vietnam. I was hospital based at the 67^th Evacuation Hospital in Qui Nhon.

Being assigned to a division meant that Doug had a Jeep and the freedom of movement to get a good pulse of the whole unit. His radio call sign was Wizard 6. He and his talented techs took care of all kinds of emotional problems but found the so-called combat fatigue of previous wars less prevalent in Vietnam. Instead were acting up personality disorders, racial issues, communication problems between officers and the often quite young soldiers, alcohol and drug problems, and anti-establishment attitudes reflective of the anti-war movement in the U.S.

In Topeka Doug had studied the psychology of organizations under Dr. Harry Levinson. Doug applied the techniques of organizational case study to the 1S^t Infantry Division. His goal was to find stress points, such as abusive officers or nonsensical regulations, and to try to deal with such problems before they became major. This emphasis pervades the book and provides exceptional insights of a unit at war. 

Doug also writes of his own coping devices in an unpopular war far from home. He tried to forget about home, immersed himself in his work, developed relationships with his colleagues, observed and kept notes, isolated negative feelings, and stayed away from war politics. He also admits that he overused alcohol to self-medicate. He reports one frightening experience when he was so intoxicated at the time of a Red Alert that he mistook a friend for the enemy and pointed and pulled the trigger on his .45. What saved a tragedy was that he forgot to remove the safety. Throughout the book he is unsparing in presenting his own failings, which makes his story ring true.

He writes of how his Vietnam experiences affect him even to this day. He has a lifetime of things to ponder, such as the obviously battle-hardened infantryman who barged into Doug's office and announced that he wanted the doctor to know that he was gay and who then ran off; or the grieving crowd around a Vietnamese boy who lay next to his mangled bicycle, the victim of a US military truck that didn't stop.

Doug also compares and contrasts Vietnam with Iraq. His disquieting conclusion is that the two conflicts are becoming more and more similar.

This book has value not only for people with military interests but also for mental health workers. The descriptions of the smells and noises of the country and of the people and their sad plight rang so true to me. I found myself nodding my head in agreement as I read. Doug really got it the way it was. My biggest disappointment is that I didn't write this book. But I'm glad somebody did.

Edward Colbach, M.D.