Struggles of a Warrior Nation by Nicole Tung

Information

Submitted on: 10 Mar 09

Category: General

Rating:

Description of Essay as provided by photographer:

Native Americans Veterans’ Forgotten Battle with PTSD

Whether they went to war in Japan in the 40s, Vietnam in the 60s, or Iraq in the 2000s, all Navajo Nation veterans come home facing the same challenge: dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but without adequate help from the Veterans Affairs. Nearly 22,000 Native Americans have served, or are currently serving in the armed forces in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. An estimated 30 percent return and suffer from PTSD. The conditions many face on coming home, however, are hardly those needed to help them through the psychological and physical damages inflicted in war. No Veterans Affairs hospital exists on the Navajo Nation, the country’s largest reservation. This forces veterans, often desperate for psychological help, to drive hours away, to cities like Albuquerque or Salt Lake City. But some face racial discrimination or an unsympathetic psychologist there. Often dealing with anxiety disorders, nightmares, or suicidal thoughts, some try traditional healing methods, but many resort to alcohol or drug abuse, as they try to keep their lives together on a land that is as harsh as it is beautiful.

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/digg_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/reddit_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/dzone_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/stumbleupon_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/delicious_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/blinklist_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/blogmarks_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/furl_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/newsvine_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/technorati_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/magnolia_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/google_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/myspace_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/facebook_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/yahoobuzz_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/sphinn_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/mixx_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/twitter_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/jamespot_48.png

http://vewd.org/contest/wp-content/plugins/sociofluid/images/meneame_48.png

Viewing 11 Comments

matteich 1 year ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

Judges Comments:
Nicole – Some of my favorite images from this entire competition were in your essay, which is also a unique and fascinating topic. The flip side is that your subject is a hard thing to show and will require a bold visual approach to drive it home. I’d love to see you continue on this path, telling the story through landscapes, daily life images and then intimate, stylistically consistent portraits of Native Americans who suffer from PTSD. Some compelling written or audio interviews would give this even more impact. Your aesthetic sensibilities are strong and I feel this story, more than any of the others really, has the potential to be a uniquely moving essay. I’d urge you to keep working on it and please let me know if I can be of some help by offering thoughts or eyes on edits. Great work.

reply edit reblog flag

1 /people/matteich/ /people/matteich/following/

Nicole Tung 1 year ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

Hey Matt, thanks so much for the feedback. I really appreciate it, and you're right, it needs a much more bold, visual approach, which I'm still trying to find a voice through right now. As a start to it, I have since changed my edit to include making some of the photos clearer, one or two of these in this edit are actually photographs of photographs that the veterans brought back, and I've tried to make that clearer (the other edit's on my own site)-- it's a contrast between the now, their land, and the memories/nightmares they live with-- though translating a psychological issue into something meaningful and visual was the difficult part. I am also putting together a multimedia piece with the veterans' audio added in, I hope to get to show you that at some point, and I also hope to expand this particular story to focus on natives in general, on other reservations. Thanks again for your support, I could definitely use your eyes and thoughts on edits to come!!

reply edit reblog flag

http://www.nicoletung.com

panosskoulidas 1 year ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

panos skoulidas
March 17, 2009 at 11:20 pm
please… ALL…
BUY THIS BOOK BELOW…( GOTTA pay bills :)))))))
please support the californian struggling artist…

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/610452?utm_source=TellAFriend&utm_medium=email&utm_content=610452

thank u!

reply edit reblog flag

1 /people/panosskoulidas/ /people/panosskoulidas/following/

Nicole Tung 1 year ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

looks like a pretty wicked book, congratulations!

reply edit reblog flag

http://www.nicoletung.com

panosskoulidas 1 year ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

Nicole,
how did you get such terrific access?

reply edit reblog flag

1 /people/panosskoulidas/ /people/panosskoulidas/following/

Nicole Tung 1 year ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

I got access through one of the veterans whom I was in contact with previously-- as it so happens, his is a military family, and other veterans living on the reservation were quite accessible to meet with. The VA office helped with some contacts as well, but a lot just had to do with driving out and finding people-- wish I could have spent much more time with them.

reply edit reblog flag

http://www.nicoletung.com

panosskoulidas 1 year ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

Just got back... long day shooting... hello all...
Actually i just came home from the EMERGENCY ROOM.. a DEAR FRIEND suffering tonight,
that explains my absence...

Anyway, i need to get some rest...
What made you "connect" to your subject?

reply edit reblog flag

1 /people/panosskoulidas/ /people/panosskoulidas/following/

Nicole Tung 1 year ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

Sorry to hear about your friend, I hope it all turns out alright.

What made me connect to the subject was perhaps the unfamiliarity of it all, I had no connection or relation to it when I initiated the project, and then finding myself immersed in it was a steep learning curve, but it became a part of me in a lot of ways. Trying to convey the psychological issues that they go through (the post-traumatic stress) was a hard thing to convey in photographs, but I realized how much the land they live on had to do with it, the isolation, and often the tension that seemed in contrast. Hope this kind of explains a little bit more....

reply edit reblog flag

http://www.nicoletung.com

Nicole Tung 1 year ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

On another note, I was also just completely enraptured by Native culture, that is so unlike anything I live with here in New York. It's so beautiful, delicate and filled with a great deal of meaning.

reply edit reblog flag

http://www.nicoletung.com

panosskoulidas 1 year ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

NICOLE,
honestly you took this competition to another level...
the "opener" photo is Amazing... Josef Koudelka...
Edit is tight... i got a "feeling" immediately...
I can dare to say that a great "book" is on the start...
Overall , this is the number one essay by far....
i will come back with questions but i am astonished...
Huge Bravo... you excelled ....

reply edit reblog flag

1 /people/panosskoulidas/ /people/panosskoulidas/following/

Nicole Tung 1 year ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

Hi Panos,
Thank you so much for your very kind words... I really appreciate it, and I'm very happy to hear that you got a 'feeling' immediately, because that's what it's all about, and I can only hope the photos and subject conveys that. I have to say, I found it both difficult but wholeheartedly consuming shooting this important topic, and connected with it. Fire away with any questions, I'm curious to know what you'd like to ask! Again, thank you.

reply edit reblog flag

http://www.nicoletung.com