Poetry Review: ‘Thirty Years Ago’ A War Veterans Bitter Reminisces

CONROE, TX -- I was recently asked to a poetry reading by my friend Dr. Ken Davis, a retired physician, who is privy to a small group of verse loving instructors at Lone Star College - Montgomery. Since, I love a challenge I accepted with pleasure. The poet, Juan Manuel ’DOC’ Pérez, is an interesting man; a war veteran like myself, in fact from my time during Operation Desert Storm. He is a proud Mexican-American Indian, tall, tough and imposing, although I suspect he is a gentle giant; but at one time he wouldn’t have had any scrumples in snapping anyone’s neck who got in his way. It’s sorta like that Syrian bus driver I occasionally write about; the one that wanted to go to Damascus, while I needed to get back to the Persian Gulf, of which the disagreement was quickly settled when I drew my sidearm. Well, both Pérez and I are a lot nicer now. In a way, Juan has always been a poet, writing for girlfriends, and even experimenting with gothic poems. He’s written about his Chicano and Indian heritage, and even science fiction. While lil ‘ol me, I don’t know my ‘hai’ from my ‘ku,’ but we chose to express ourselves in different ways; and we write for the same purpose, to free ourselves from the demons that should be locked away in the dark crevices of our minds.

It was the pandemic that slowed Juan down enough to put his thoughts of Desert Storm down on paper, and the culmination of his contemplations resulted in ‘Thirty Years Ago: Life And The First Gulf War.’ It’s a wonderful recollection of his memories from all those decades ago, when ‘DOC,’ a notation assigned to any Navy Corpsman, showed up on the sandy shores of Saudi Arabia assigned to a Marine Corps Battalion during Operation Desert Shield, unsure of his future, but anxious for the adventure to come. What Pérez lived was the fury of a hundred hours of war, coupled with a devastating plane crash of allied troops post-conflict that can weigh on a heart and mind for a lifetime.

The fifty-short sonnets, based on his desert war service, are a compelling work, each beginning with “Thirty years ago.” You can palpate the depth of his feelings in describing what he saw, something akin to victims of other experiences knowing Juan is true in talking the talk, and walking the walk. His vivid description of a plane crash in Saudi Arabia on March 21, 1991, where over 90 Senegalese coalition soldiers perished in a plane crash in a traumatic event that has been a ton of bricks on his soul for over thirty years. His identifiers from the scene, would easily be known to soldiers and marines, following a battle as they pass the destruction to consolidate their position.

Pérez’s delivery is passionate, and being a history teacher of nearly 30 years, in a way, you have to be an entertainer to keep the students interested. No doubt his underlings know of his experiences and have garnered a rare heartfelt respect for a teacher that few educators achieve.

Of course with exposure to marked events in our lives, there is the likelihood of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is ever apparent, whether we want to acknowledge it or not; and it’s no different with Pérez. Every Veteran deals with PTSD in their own way, even if they dealt with the same event. For some it's very dramatic, and emotive. While others it’s there, but can be conveniently tucked away under the surface. Few Veterans can truly relegate their distraught observations into nothingness. Still others rely on a concoction of medications and a CPAP to retreat the unpleasant memories to the depths of dreamland that the unconscious mind can’t access. Pérez avoids that route fearing it might be a detriment to the relationship with his students, so he happily accepts the recurring nightmares, for their sake.

Pérez read his collection of sonnets in one sitting. I loved it. His short sentences. It's stuff you crave from the likes of Ernest Hemingway or Ian Fleming. Forcing the reader into a double or triple timed pace to live at the near explosive heart’s velocity at which the events were dealt with by Pérez. It’s a short sixty-six page journey to the sands of Iraq and Saudi Arabia. No doubt Juan’s written expressions are his way of healing himself, to the point of writing to forget the pain; but you get to the point in Sonnet 29:

Thirty Years Ago, third shot of Mescal.

I want to forget, but “I” won’t let me.

I urge you to explore this amazing account from a man, who’s able to put you in the desert, trodding the sands he walked. I believe it will be an awesome addition to any lover of poetry or history student, and in local circles may certainly be part of the curriculum in time.

Thirty Years Ago: amazon.com/Thirty-Years-Ago-Life-First/dp/B0BTRQSSHK