No Exit from Vietnam

No Exit from Vietnam is a subversive, issue-driven memoir of the US-Vietnam war and its aftermath. In 2021, the Department of Veterans Affairs discontinued a prescription for Vicodin that Bob Armstrong had been taking for a back injury he sustained in 1976, ten years after he left the US Marine Corps. What began as an appeal to the VA to reverse this decision became this memoir, weaving together meditations on war and its social ills with a searing portrait of America in these perilous times. Drawing on his personal experience, the author recounts his time serving as a photographer in the 3rd Marine Division. Told with thrilling tension, his words and his photos, a selection of which are featured in the book, paint a vivid picture of combat in Vietnam's jungles. Alongside gripping tales of action, the book offers a larger social commentary on the treatment of veterans and their healthcare. The VA reduced opioid pain medicine prescriptions from 679,000 vets in 2012 to 247,000 in 2020. Armstrong recognizes the dimension of the drug crisis, yet also believes an untold number of responsible veterans have been deprived of pain medicine they need. With humor and cynicism, the author shares his insights into living with pain and his frustration with the bureaucratic system that controls access to medication. He admits his opinions at times seem perverse and twisted, but only because he is "off his med."

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