Wizard 6 Reviews

On Point The Journal of Army History Summer 2007 Vol 13 No.1

Wizard 6: A Combat Psychiatrist in Vietnam by Douglas Bey, College Station: Texas A & M University Press 2006 ISBN 978-158544-519-6 Photographs, Index, Pp xii, 280. $19.95

Dr. Douglas Bey's account of his one-year tour as the psychiatrist of the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970 is a good read. Military historians, veterans and officers can all find important insights and perspectives in his matter-of-fact account.

For military historians, Dr. Bey offers a view of the U.S. Army's experience in Vietnam that is rare indeed. Only six Army psychiatrists were assigned to combat divisions, all late in the war. This is the only first-hand account that group has thus far produced. On the advice of a mentor, Bey decided to be an observer and chronicler of his own experience, in part to hone his psychiatric skills, in part to have a project that would make the time pass. He had an eye for detail and consulted his notes, photographs, and journal closely in the preparation of this book. From "FNGs" to "stretcher sandwiches," his anecdotes provide a rich description of the daily life in Vietnam in the supporting echelons of a combat division.

Bey's dispassionate, near clinical descriptions of his experiences should ring true with veterans, who will appreciate not only the detail, but also his honesty and fundamental respect for the men he served with and whom he treated. Bey describes arrival in Vietnam as a step "through the looking glass" in which one had to quickly set aside many stateside habits in order to adjust to the apparent absurdities of a new reality. He readily admits his status as a "REMF" in which boredom and monotony were far greater threats than contact with the enemy. To counteract boredom among his small psychiatric team, he gave his soldiers meaningful assignments, demanded high professional standards and encouraged them to research the causes of high stress in units and to recommend remedies to unit commanders. Bey's team treated a wide arry of cases, usually returning men to duty with their units, but often evacuating them to Long Binh or the States for more sophisticated treatment and/or discharge. Whatever the prescription, Bey writes of his patients with sympathy and concern.

Bey's insights into the psychiatric care of combat soldiers should prove as useful to military leaders as to historians and veterans. He organizes his anecdotes into major themes and devotes a chapter to each, such as Black and White, Drugs and Alcohol, High Stress Periods, R & R, Coping. Collectively the chapters are a valuable tutorial on the intricacies of soldier motivation and behavior in the Vietnam War, with likely analongs in the present and future wars. He reminds us that many behavioral problems (drug abuse, racial tension, anti-war sentiment) reflected soldiers' experiences in the United States prior to their military service--an army cannot long isolate itself from the society it serves. Militarily inappropriate soldier behavior could arise from many causes. Paralysis under fire due to "conversion reaction," as soldier's response to the simultaneous and opposite impulses to fight or flee; mental incapacitation from inhaling the toxic fumes of burning C-4; cerebral malaria; and "counterphobic" behavior are all fundamentally different root causes of soldier behavioral problems that Bey documents.

Bey's book is a memoir, a personal story--its strength is its authenticity. He does not attempt to place his experience in the larger context of the 1st Division's operations in 1969, nor in that of the war itself. His writing is at times dry, with too great a dependence on his journal and case notes. He can contradict himself; he claims that drug abuse did not dignifically diminish military effectiveness in the 1st Division (p. 123) but later states that it was a major problem (p. 127). Some readers may become impatient with the personal introspection in which he indulges, but it is his due after almost forty years practicing psychiatry in a small town in Illinois.

Wizard 6 is an interesting and insightful look at the 1st Infantry Division and its soldiers in Vietnam from a very unusual perspective. Readers of all kinds will be rewarded for the time they take to peruse it.

Paul Herbert Cantigany First Division Foundation Weaton, Il.