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	Related links Department of Veteran’s Affairs Check here for comprehensive descriptions of benefits and services available to veterans and their families. VA Readjustment Counseling Service This part of the site provides specific information about Vet Centers. National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder The center’s Web site is a clearinghouse for current research, explanatory fact sheets, and information for veterans, clinicians, and family members. New Hampshire National Guard Learn more about the entity that created the cutting-edge demobilization process. Veterans Against the Iraq War This is a coalition of veterans from all wars, speaking out against this one.

A FEW MONTHS ago, I sat down with 25-year-old Jeremiah Sparks, and Tom Hannon, 57, of the Boston Vet Center near Kenmore Square. Hannon served in Vietnam; Sparks returned from Iraq last December. Despite their differing service, they shared a language, and built their conversation from a common experience.

Sparks, a South Boston native with sharp eyes, short hair, and a Southie accent, was reluctant to open up at first. But after hearing Hannon offer some thoughts, Sparks spoke freely about his time in Iraq — which included nine months spent in Fallujah, where his company was on patrol following last year’s gruesome attack on American civilians.

"I’m happy to be home, especially in one piece," he said, remembering close calls where, with "one step to the left or right ... it could have been me, and not the guy behind me. But my mind’s always over there. It’s hard to focus," he admitted. "Sometimes you just don’t feel like you did enough."

Listening to Sparks describe this feeling of preoccupation, Hannon nodded. "It’s a common theme," he said.

Sparks’s troubling memories and complicated readjustment don’t mean he’s suffering from PTSD. In fact, he’s probably a lot better off than many other veterans. Sparks — who, as a US Marine from Massachusetts, didn’t go through a demobilization process like the one in New Hampshire — sought out support at the Vet Center. And because he did, he feels even better equipped to handle things like difficulty in finding a job or missing the people he served with. His readjustment is difficult, but it’s manageable.

Compare that with the experience of Sergeant First Class Dale Garrow, who is 48 and has returned from two wars in the Middle East. In 1991, the New Hampshire guardsman came back from six months in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, where he served during the first Persian Gulf War. In February, he flew back from Iraq, where he was a truck master under Captain Hennessey.

He recalls two drastically different demobilizations. Fourteen years ago, "we were herded into a theater, we were all given the same speech at once," he says. "It was like, ‘See you later, bye.’"

"It took me two years before I got rid of my anger," Garrow adds. He didn’t seek help, he says, because "I thought it was just me."

It’s not as though Garrow’s past year in Iraq was easier, or less stressful. As truck master, it was his job to send soldiers on missions, "praying they would come back." Sometimes, his task felt so momentous that "I even went off on missions with them to get rid of some of the guilt."

But despite the weight of those memories, when Garrow returned to New Hampshire this time around, he felt "there seemed to be lessons learned from ’91.... If we wanted to spill our guts, there was a tool to do it."

EVERYONE INVOLVED in New Hampshire’s program agrees that there is still much to learn. For example, a group of female commanders will gather with program organizers this summer to discuss how demobilization can be tailored to meet the needs of female soldiers, who are seeing more combat than ever before. (No doubt, these discussions should include representatives from the VA Boston’s Comprehensive Women’s Health Center, located in Jamaica Plain. Though female soldiers were marginalized until the 1990s, Boston’s Women’s Health Center leads the nation in research on and treatment of women who have been in combat, and who deal with additional painful realities such as sexual harassment and rape.)

State officials are also sharing what they’ve learned from New Hampshire’s RSRP program. Connecticut instituted a program similar to New Hampshire’s (on a smaller scale) with one of its returning units; other states have expressed interest in establishing their own versions. While Massachusetts Army National Guard officials haven’t implemented one-on-one counseling, they have revamped their demobilization process, during which they distribute a comprehensive guidebook to all veteran’s services and benefits. The Bay State also has the advantage of being a research hub for veteran-specific medical and psychological research, where practitioners have access to current trends and developments in soldier care.

It has taken a long time, but these are all steps in an encouraging direction. Most important, military and government entities are joining veterans in their efforts to diminish the stigma associated with mental trauma.

Perhaps things might have been different if Vietnam veterans had heard the words that will greet returning guards in New Hampshire, Beebe says: "You’re safe now. You don’t need to stay on full alert anymore. Be cautious if you’re pacing the floor at midnight when everybody else is asleep; be cautious of inadvertently ordering people around at work. If these things persist — if your nightmares persist — give us a call."

Or better yet, he adds, "I’ll give you a call."

Deirdre Fulton can be reached at dfulton[a]phx.com