This has been a blast! I want to say thanks to Matt for making this all come together, I look forward to doing this as long as we can get good articles, and there is definitely no shortage of great music so we should be set for a long time. To anyone reading this magazine, please leave us feedback about what you think. We would also like to hear who you would like to see covered in the pages of Down The Line.
Doing this interview with Knott was heavy, it is a heavy subject but hopefully everyone reading here will do something pro-active, whether it’s calling or emailing your Congressmen and women and asking for help for these soldiers that need it so badly. Get online, educate yourself about PTSS, and above all please pray for these soldiers, that the help they need would become available. When Michael and I were talking, I was telling him a story that Bill Mallonee had shared with me. We were going to include it in the article, but the article became so long that we cut it out. I want to share that story with you here, because fortunately, this story had a good ending. Bill covered this guy in a couple of his songs, “Vet” and “Friendly Fire”.
Bill was working in a psych ward many years ago, and this guy came in to get help. Bill’s job was to take notes, write them on the charts for the doctors to read. This veteran relayed his story to Bill… he had served in Vietnam, and his job in Vietnam was to guard the airfield where the cargo helicopters would land. The Vietcong would send these women and children out with armloads of what appeared to be food, but packed underneath were explosives. The obvious thought here was that if these women or children could get close enough to the helicopters, they could throw these explosives in the open bay doors, blow up the helicopters, and take out the supply lines. This soldier’s job was to take out the women and children if they didn’t heed the warnings to stop. This veteran had internalized this horror for years. He was suffering from PTSS and he had reached out. This guy had never even told his wife what had happened when he served in the military, he kept it all in until he had no other option but to seek help. The good news was that this guy was finally able to open up, share what he had been going through with his wife, his doctors and his pastor, and get the help he so badly needed. Bill never saw him again. The point is, when this guy needed help, it was there. These soldiers deserve to come home and be able to get treatment when they need it.
Thanks for reading this, and I hope that you will tell all of your friends about Down The Line magazine. We are already at work on issue number two, and I can assure you that it will be fantastic! If you want to email me directly about stuff you would like to see my email address is brokenagain143@yahoo.com Again, please leave us comments and feedback about the magazine, thanks for reading and please support all of these artists directly by buying directly from them.
