Jim Gilliam’s Point Deception explores the psychological effects of war through his protagonist, Tim Kelly, a Coast Guardsman, who has a terrible experience in trying to cope with and rationalize the deaths of three of his friends. Because his friends were killed in a “friendly fire” incident, their deaths have been made less noble and almost trivialized in an attempt to defer blame from department to department and assuage their consciences, making it all the more unbearable for Kelly.
Kelly is “deeply mourning” the loss of his friends and begins drinking “more and more” and “searching for someone to pay for his loss,” a search most likely fuelled by the deferral of responsibility that was occurring around him, looking for someone to blame in order to find meaning in and make sense of the death of his friends. He begins “slipping deeper and deeper into depression, sapping his strength, robbing him of sleep.”
While in Saigon, he finds that his days are bearable, but after the sun goes down, “Kelly became morose and his drinking escalated until some nights he didn’t know how he managed to get back to his hotel room.” At an Air Force Officer’s Club, Kelly’s self-destruction segues into the true depths of darkness; “He had so much to drink that he was beginning to relax and forget for a little while, the heart tearing pain of his friends’ senseless deaths; all killed by the very same pilots whose club this was.” Upon seeing them recount a story, moving their arms and hands “as if strafing a target” and laughing, Kelly assumes in delusion that they are finding humor in recounting the attack on the Point Deception. Eye witnesses recall seeing him “suddenly begin to shake” and “as though possessed by demons” jumped up from his table and throwing bottles from nearby tables at the pilots.
Although Kelly is a character created by Jim Gilliam and the story a work of historical fiction, the themes are very much present in society today. Mental health problems plague returning Iraqi veterans, left too damaged by their experiences. In a recent study of 103,788 veterans, 32,010 were diagnosed with mental health and/or psychosocial problems that included post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, adjustment disorder, depression, and substance abuse. Through Jim Gilliam’s character, Tim Kelly, Americans are able to gain a deeper understanding of the forces attributed to the development of these disorders and, through understanding, be able to compassionately empathize with the thousands of shattered veterans who return to our country.
Find out more about Point Deception by visiting www.pointdeception.com.