By Joseph Sapia | Correspondent

Robert F. Smith has been there, done that – experiencing alcoholism and two failed marriages after serving with the Army in the Vietnam War.

He knows what it is about when a combat veteran returns home and hits a wall.

“I did three tours in ‘Nam,” said Smith, 66, who was in Vietnam for some 23 months from 1967 to 1969. “When I got out, the last thing you could tell me is that I have a (combat-related) problem.” 

But the proof expressed itself through improper use of alcohol and drugs, failed marriages or taking part in high-risk behavior. “Racing motorcycles, cars, anything with an adrenaline rush,” Smith said.

Now, Smith, a licensed therapist in private practice, is running the Family Education Series, part of the Veterans Counseling Program of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton. The program offers confidential individual, family and group counseling to service members and their families.

Like all programs offered by Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton, this program is “mission driven,” explained Lisa Thibault, communications manager, CC Department of External Affairs. “Our mission is ‘inspired by the Scriptures as reflected in Catholic Social Teaching, to alleviate human suffering and improve the quality of life of individuals and families, especially the poor and vulnerable, through service, advocacy and community building,’” she wrote in a recent email.

Begun in January, the series has done just that, offering weekly workshops on topics affecting military families including the impact of deployment, returning from combat and combat-related stress. Recent topics included post-combat risk-taking behaviors; helping children cope with post-traumatic deployment issues; supporting the bereaved at home and downrange; survivors guilt, and a return and reunion workshop for spouses. The sessions were held in the DARE NJ office (the former Imlaystown School) in the Imlaystown section of Upper Freehold Township.

“Each one (session) addressed a specific need,” Smith said, noting that the idea of the free program – open to current or former military and their families living in Mercer, Burlington, Ocean and Monmouth counties – is “to reach service members, get help (for themselves), even if they don’t think they need help.” Participants remain anonymous in the program, he stressed.

Smith hopes to run another cycle of the program from early April to June. It will be scheduled on need, meaning the sessions could run on weekends, as they did formerly, or on weekdays.

While the Family Education Series in the Diocese of Trenton is new, Smith, a Catholic who lives in King of Prussia, Pa., has run similar programs at military bases, mostly on the East Coast.

What kind of issues are out there for veterans and their families? Smith sites such things as simple stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol and drug abuse, anger, relationship issues and sexual harassment, some of which he experienced himself.

“I came home in ’69,” Smith said. “The country didn’t have a climate for veterans, I went right into a marriage destined to fail, I drank,” and expressed a lot of anger, he added.

 Today, sober since 1984, Smith is proud of his 18-year marriage, and has earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree. “I guess I was saved,” Smith said. “I’m one of the lucky ones.”

For more information about the Family Education Series or the Veterans Counseling Program, contact Robert Smith at [email protected], or call 609-256-1377.