The Broken Poet

My father William Christian Dethlefsen served in the Army air Corp during WWII in North Africa and Italy and my father in law Riley Mack Tidwell served in WWII with Ernie Pyle and after the war helped with the making of the movie Go Joe with Robert Mitchum . My husband was a marine during Viet Nam and I served later during peacetime at Walter Reed as a medic under President Raegan. I am the only woman veteran in the entire family. Being in the service was my way of recapturing the life that I had and lost and replacing it with another love the military and our country. I made many bad choices in life that I can't undo though I was driven by the illness called bipolar I was told I would never work again but tried desperately to find a job where I could afford to get my children back under my roof but people wouldn't let bipolar have a chance. I scored highest in nursing school but was rejected. I suffered as years past with delusions, highs, lows and psychosis and left a trail of destruction in my path. I live all alone now away from my family and friends wishing I was back in the army where I didn't have the time to think about my miserable life.