Bac si
Subtitle: a novel
By: Tom Bellino
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Denver
Language: eng
Number of pages: 178
ISBN-13: 9781478752219; 9781478751052
Subjects: Fiction; Man-woman relationships; Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Military interrogation; Armed Forces
Description: "Bac Si," which is Vietnamese for Doctor, takes the reader on a journey from innocence, into the jungles of Viet Nam, and back to innocence. In 1968, the United States Army conducted tests using LSD on volunteers, to determine how long a subject being interrogated, could "hold out" under the influence of the drug. Could this interrogation technique weaken the will of prisoners being questioned about military intelligence matters. Over 4 decades later, questions about interrogation techniques are still being asked. Lieutenant Thomas Staffieri, a Navy Psychologist, with a background in languages, is taken out of his role as a therapist, and propelled into behaviors he could never have imagined, even growing up in a grimy Midwest steel town. The reader witnesses Staffieri evolving from student, to psychologist, to Naval Officer, to successful therapist and writer, yet harboring a haunting secret from his duty as a "non-combatant." He had the good fortune, however, to have met, early on, someone so important in his life, who could be the only one who might free him from the demons that came at night. "Bac Si" is the exciting saga of war and love, and of innocence, loss of innocence, and the recovery of innocence.