PREFACE

The world was changing rapidly, almost on a daily basis, yet I was stuck in time. Not being able to go  back and not ready to proceed I remained in limbo just trying to make some sense of my life. To much had happened in a short time and I was not equipped with the tools to deal with such change. I was not afforded the opportunity to detox, either physically or emotionally, so I floundered from job to job avoiding everyone I knew. Paranoid, guilty, and ashamed Of being a soldier I imploded to the edge of disaster. I carried so much guilt for leaving my friends behind that I refused to even see the very people that shared my fate and saved my life. I was useless as a man, a husband, and a father struggling with a life that had no purpose or direction.

Several years after my military experience I was married with two children and landed a job with the Long Island Railroad and welcomed the opportunity. It was my employment physical that sent me spiraling down yet another rabbit hole. I was informed by the railroad that my employment offer was withdrawn due to a foreign object found in my back. I was an insurance risk and they were not prepared to accept the responsibility. After seeing my own doctor it was confirmed that I had a bullet left in my back. The bullet was inoperable and actually lodged in a vertebrae just short of my spinal cord by a half inch physically threatening my mobility. Worse yet I thought the Army discharged me without informing me of my true condition. I was devastated and reverted back to my old ways of alcohol and drugs. My struggle wasn't over and seemed to increase with every passing day.

After rebounding from the railroad incident I progressed and tried to assimilate back into society. It had been an uphill battle all the way but I had a job and was expecting another child. My wife had insurance and we were both required by the carrier to secure genetic counseling. My physical revealed irregularities in my testing and further evaluation was necessary. Military records were requested and later confirmed that I had been contaminated with Agent Orange. My area of operations in Vietnam was CORPS III along the Vietnam-Cambodian border and was the most contaminated area in all Southeast Asia. I was given a list of ailments and conditions I should be aware of and one immediately stuck out above all the rest. It was birth defects in children. I already had four children and was expecting a fifth. Of course it's almost impossible to prove but two of my children were born hearing impaired with auditory processing disorders. Again I spiraled knowing that my military career, the Vietnam experience, had followed me throughout my adult life. I couldn't shake it and I still had not yet acquired the tools or social skills to deal with my issues.

The Veterans Administration in the sixties and seventies was overwhelmed with stories like mine or even worse. Their diagnosis at the time was the same for all veterans and that was drugs. The VA administered more drugs to veterans than most countries have in their arsenal. Ups, downs, seconal, valium, sleeping pills, muscle relaxers, and even quaaludes until they were taken off the market. 

Above and beyond the pharmaceuticals the VA gave us travel money to come in for appointments. A group of us would cram into a van, go to the VA, get drugs and money, and party for another month. This process would repeat itself each and every month for ten years. There was no real counseling or problem solving taking place at the VA just drugs. The Vietnam War ushered in a new era in the Veterans Administration and it was reflected in their treatment. Overwhelmed by sheer numbers alone the Vietnam Veteran was a new species of soldier with new problems they were not unequipped to deal with. The political climate at the time was also not conducive to this new veteran and his problems. In fact the Vietnam Veteran represented everything America hated at the time and that included the VA. I was on my own like everyone else, diagnosing and self medicating, with no end in site.

Artist, Frank Romeo

"WHY" , oil on canvass, 24"x36"

Accompanied by a story etched on glass.
Property of National Veterans Art Museum Permanent Collection

Twenty years had passed and the world was changing and that included both the VA and myself.  What hadn't changed were the demons visiting me nightly and the guilt and trauma I carried each day. Like a functioning alcoholic I remained a functioning psychotic even without the drugs and alcohol I'd given up years earlier. I elevated my functioning level to a social acceptability by reverting back to my prior skills of survival and refused any medication that would dull my senses.

I was seeing a psychiatrist and I told him my story from beginning to end including the horrors of war as a teenager. I was diagnosed with PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and he explained it to me for the first time as plain as day. When an individual or a group of individuals are traumatized and they don't deal with it and push it into their subconscious it will eventually surface. It may take years or even decades but it will surface. 

I thought for a moment and realized that according to that criteria the entire country had PTSD as related to Vietnam experience. America hah yet to deal with the Vietnam Veteran and his issues and in fact has done just the opposite by driving him underground. 

It was at that precise moment that I realized I wasn't alone. There was an entire generation of men just like me and my feelings of isolation, loneliness, and being different were not just mine to own. These feelings belonged to a generation of men long ignored that society had turned its back on. It was as though I was struck by lightening and I experienced an epiphany of sorts as I began my new journey. 

I stayed up for days reliving every experience I had from firefights to the day I got shot, from addiction to prison, from lost jobs to birth defects while continually crying uncontrollably. Each story was accompanied by a doodle until finally I realized what was happening. With every stroke of the pen the movement of my hands coincided with a thought and I was unconsciously, uncontrollably and without the benefit of formal training creating art. As if I were finger painting for the first time as a child the energy stored up in me for decades exploded onto my pallet.

I painted everyday but was unsure of my direction and I was concerned about the reaction from others so I hid my artwork away. A catharsis venue not meant for public viewing along with being conditioned over the years to suppress  my feelings I was at a loss with my newly discovered revelation. Was I moving to fast? I felt as though I was learning to walk again and I needed to take baby steps so I hid my artwork away. I was not sure if I ever wanted it to see the light of day. Eventually, after its discovery, it was dubbed "Closet Art" for this very reason. The artwork of a generation of men ashamed and shunned for their involvement in one of the most unpopular times in American history was now surfacing all around the world. A twenty year cycle of trauma had come full circle as a generation generation of mean created a story through art. This was not just my story now this was my generations story to own and to understand. This was a story of healing and survival, this was our story of hope.

Realizing my work is not just art but a journal of American life and not just my personal diary but a story of a larger struggle it takes on historic importance. Knowing this importance I began collecting art from other veterans. I included their art together with my own as a presentation to others in a spirit of healing and learning. I thought that perhaps in my struggle I could help others in theirs and what took me thirty years to learn could perhaps save a life in today's world. At the very least I could possibly help another who is still yet to understand and struggling. Just to know its OK you're not alone sometimes is enough. It is with this spirit  of hope I started THE ART OF WAR. My programs are a vehicle to help others young and old alike to step out of the shadows and into the light and reach understanding and hope. 

THE ART OF WAR program has been seen by thousands of students, 

educators, and veterans in the past 20 years and continues to receive praise. 

To view my art collection click on:  Vietnamartwork.com

To view a lecture in progress click on 

picture below after you visit

     Vietnamartwork.com

One of my first presentations was at 

Bay Shore High School, where it all began.

Press release via National Veterans Art Museum web site and Utube
announcing a new art opening in Chicago, "Tenacity and Truth", 2013

National Veterans Art Museum

"Frank Romeo, this weeks featured artist, served in the US Army in Vietnam.
Romeo conducts lectures and seminars on the Vietnam experience and is
involved with art therapy. His art is concerned with establishing an emotional
connection to the viewer and starting a dialogue about the realities of
Vietnam. This conversation is powerfully apparent in "WHY", now on display in our Tenacity and Truth exhibit. Devastatingly human and immediate, this piece drives home the pain, confusion and profound dignity of a generation shaped by war."

CLICK TO VIEW ART INTERVIEW:  http://youtu.be/5ZjvKKt6XxU

After it's discovery my work received local acclaim as "Closet Art", a veteran breaking the psychological chains of war. Chanel 12 aired a mini special called "Making A Difference" promoting my work. As the program snowballed it took on a life of its own as I received national attention. Featuring my art in a national exhibit and later on tour around the country I received numerous accolades from the New York City mayor's office and the Congress of United States. Internationally I was honored by the Australian government for work with their veterans. 

To date I continue to showcase art and lecture to students and educators featuring a first hand experience. The artwork speaks for itself but coupled with a story it illuminates a show-and-tell journey through war and the human experience. The struggle with trauma coincides with everyday life and everyday situations. I answer questions forthright with honesty and candor yet I fall short of closure and an end to the story if there is one. I seek to bring more to the table than just rhetoric and so I am going back to recapture an experience that shaped my life. To help others by helping myself I will share my journey on an interactive Blog. This is extreme group therapy for my generation and probably the largest session ever held. To the best off my knowledge this has never been done before live on a daily basis. This will be the war experience in real time then and now through my own traumatized viewpoint searching for answers.

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