by Dave DeMars
news@thenewsleaders.com
“Thank you for your service.”
Gary Reberg was one of the 2.7 million uniformed military personnel who served in Vietnam. But now Reberg needs more than just a thank you for his service because Reberg suffered a stroke that almost cost him his life.
A benefit to help defray medical costs and some home modifications so he can live at home will be held Saturday, Oct. 1 at the Sauk Rapids VFW on Benton Drive. The benefit will include a spaghetti dinner, a meat raffle and a silent auction. Among the items to be auctioned off are a freezer, a metal fire ring, yard ornaments, paintings and other sundry items.
According to Reberg’s daughter, Prudy Reberg, her father was 17 when he went into the service. He served two tours in Vietnam in an infantry unit. His first tour was five months in the Mekong Delta where he cleaned up jungles as a member of a land-clearing outfit. Then he was deactivated to Hawaii where he spent nine months because they had to be out of a combat zone for at least six months before they could be sent back into combat.
His second tour was for one year, a full tour. That time he started in Laos and headed toward the border in South Vietnam. His unit was charged with cleaning out a 15-mile corridor of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which was a main enemy-supply route. During the last month of his tour, on March 14, 1971, a mortar was dropped on them and killed five guys in his platoon. Gary luckily survived the attack and was able to come home on April 21, 1971. Since then, he has suffered from severe post-traumatic-stress disorder or PTSD, although he tried to find ways to cope with it.
In 1975, Gary married his wife, Patricia. They have been married for 41 years and have three children – Scott, Jaimie and Prudy; and nine grandchildren.
Like many veterans, Reberg didn’t discuss much about what he had done or seen while serving. But he managed to begin his career with the VA hospital in St. Cloud. He got married, settled down in the area, raised three children and became a part of the community.
“My Dad is an amazing man, husband and father,” said daughter Prudy. “We all honor him every day, have the highest respect for him and unconditionally love him more than anything in the world.”
In 2005, Reberg retired from the VA, and he and Patricia moved north to the quiet town of Cook in 2007. Prudy thinks the move might have been related to his PTSD.
“It probably was a factor,” she said. “He doesn’t like traffic, lots of crowds and lots of people. He likes the quiet when there is no one around.”
The PTSD was always there and would manifest itself when he awoke from sleep, Prudy said. She recounted one time when her father was napping on the floor in front of the television. Her brother, Scott, stepped across his father’s body to turn the television off, and Reberg awoke with the unease and fog of a soldier on the battlefield, and then he body-slammed his son before he realized what he was doing. It was a frightening event.
Even asking him questions about the details of his enlistment and looking for old pictures sets Reberg off. He said after answering a few questions that he probably would have nightmares and probably wouldn’t be able to sleep at all.
After serving in the military, and working with other veterans at the VA, Reberg thought he was in his “Golden Years.” But fate plays tricks, and Gary Reberg suffered a stroke. He was airlifted to United Hospital in St. Paul and stayed there for about a month.
“He was non-responsive and they didn’t expect him to make it,” Prudy said. “When they brought him out of sedation, he would have major panic attacks. When he didn’t recognize the people around him, his blood pressure would go up and his heart rate would rise, and then they would have to put him under sedation again.”
Prudy and her brother tried to explain to the doctors that Reberg suffered from PTSD, but for a time the advice was ignored. Finally, a psychiatrist recognized the panic attacks as PTSD-related. Treatment changed and once the new medicine was administered, he was able to wake up without panicking and without his blood pressure skyrocketing.
Treatment was successful, but there is more rehabilitation. Reberg has been able to return to his home in Cook, but that posed a whole set of new challenges. The home has always been heated with wood Reberg cut on the 40 acres of forest. Now he has trouble walking, and there is residual weakness. Cutting his firewood is out of the question. The heating system has to be retrofitted to electric baseboard heat. There may be other modifications, but that is the biggest and most costly one, and the winters get really cold in Cook. It’s a cost the Rebergs would have a hard time meeting.
And the bad news just keeps coming.
“On Monday, Sept. 26, my dad traveled back to United Hospital in St. Paul to have his artery looked at and to possibly get it cleaned out on Tuesday,” Prudy said. “Both of his carotid arteries were 95 percent blocked which likely caused the stroke in July. During his earlier stay at United Hospital, he had one artery stented, a G-tube inserted and a tracheotomy due to acute respiratory arrest. At Regency Hospital (where Reberg went for rehabilitation after the stroke) he was wean(ed) from the trach to breathe on his own.”
“Thank you for your service” is a phrase you hear often whenever a veteran from one of our wars is introduced, but as Reberg’s loved ones know, it’s a nice thought, but right now Reberg needs more than a thank you so he can go on living in his home.
The best way to help Reberg is to go to the benefit for him Oct. 1 at the Sauk Rapids VFW.
A GoFundMe link has been set up and can be accessed at gofundme.com/2mghr9ac. If anyone wants to donate items for the silent auction or needs to contact the family, his daughter Prudy Reberg is acting as family spokesperson. Her email address is prudence358@gmail.com.
