A Shattered Sleep

Like so many young men of his generation, Rob Johnson has returned from a tour in Vietnam to a war-weary nation caught in a monumental struggle over a host of societal issues. Rob has encountered tragedy both in his personal life and his war experience. Nothing is the same. Everything has changed including him. Now a twenty-two year old, decorated combat veteran, Rob enters a new battle, a very personal struggle for re-entry. Who is he? What's his true identity? He's equally shaken by the war and a hostile reception from an exceedingly vocal anti-war movement. His true enemy is an all-too-common, but little-understood demon known in the 70s as "battle fatigue". There's no one he can turn to, no one whom he trusts. Certainly no one to whom he dares reveal his darkest secret. Many years later he's still serving his country as a Navy fighter pilot, but is still waging war against those same demons. He's found no peace, still being haunted by a series of frightening nightmares. These nightmares are insistent reminders of the horrors of Vietnam. His calm, outward persona belies the heated battle raging inside. A sudden, most unexpected reconnection with a compassionate person from his past, changes his prospects. She's someone he implicitly trusts. Can she persuade him to open up about Vietnam and unearth his dark secret? Can she accomplish what he's been unable to on his own?