Let It Be Me by Ray LaMontagne

This week’s Song of the Week was suggested by MIA reader Beverley Susan Melampy:

“After surviving 11.5 days of near-death withdrawal from 23 years of Isolation, obsessed with Suicide, without a ‘hug’, induced by one of the 2 SSRIs VA Mental Health approved for the FDA as treatment for PTSD/Depression in 1991-92, it was clear ‘why’ I chased off all my friends and relatives for decades.

I became a Veteran’s Suicide Advocate and began writing letters to our Chain of Command with questions concerning the status of the Vietnam Veterans whom I resided with at Ft Thomas Homeless Domiciliary where we were volunteered for ‘failed’ PTSD Drug Research in 1991 (after watching Desert Storm unfold on TV). H.R. 841: Veterans PTSD Treatment and Psychological Readjustment Act of 1991.

Hearing “Let It Be Me” for the 1st time hit home. It was the perfect description of a Veteran’s life with PTSD after being treated with experimental drugs, labeled as “hopeless” and forever forgotten by the government who volunteered a generation of veterans for ‘failed’ PTSD Drug Research 32 years ago. It became my mantra and beckoning call for my Brothers and Sisters who were volunteered for H.R. 841 in 1991.”

-Beverley Susan Melampy