Wounded Warriors: A Soldier's Story of Healing Through Birds

Description

Robert Vallieres struggled to find his "new normal" when he returned home after serving in the military. An accident in Kuwait left him suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI) internal injuries, leaving him in constant pain. After clinics, bottles of painkillers, and behavior modification pills, hope seemed to vanish. Until a local weekly newspaper ad caught his eye: a bird-watching trip to see raptors in the mountains of New Hampshire. Emily Dickinson's poem that states,"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tune--without the words, and never stops at all," sprang to his mind. Wounded Warriors is Vallieres's story of self-healing from crippling"invisible" wounds with the help of birds. The problems of (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) do not have a definitive solution. His story of recovery offers a winged hope to thousands of military personnel who suffer this physical and mental internal battle.

Robert C. Vallieres is a Persian Gulf War veteran. He lives with his wife and son in Concord, New Hampshire, and volunteers for the New Hampshire Audubon Society. Vallieres received a BA in Fine Arts from Notre Dame College in Manchester, New Hampshire, and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Spirit of New Hampshire Volunteer of the Year award in 2009.Jacquelyn M. Howard is an environmental management specialist, naturalist, avian field biologist, and writer. CINDY PARSONS is a spokesperson for Warriors Speak, a division of the Wounded Warriors Project, and a full-time caregiver for her son, Sergeant Shane Parsons, a double amputee with a traumatic brain injury.

-While filming with Mr. Vallieres for the New Hampshire Public Television documentary Journey of the Broad-Winged Hawk, I felt a sincere sense of peace that birds brought to him and a belief that other wounded veterans could begin healing simply by observing the beauty of birds that live among them.---Phil Vaughn, producer, New Hampshire Public Television--Phil Vaughn (11/12/2013)