Agamemnon achilles commander wrongfully seizes the prize of honor voted to achilles by the troops achilles experience of betrayal of whats right and his reactions to it are identical to those of american soldiers in vietnam. Achilles in vietnam combat trauma and the undoing of character audible audio edition jonathan shay md david strathairn simon schuster audio amazonca. In combat the soldiers social and moral horizon then shrinks to a small group of trusted companions like the vietnam soldiers buddy or achilles beloved friend patroklos under the stress of combat the soldiers rage grief and sense of abandonment and disconnection culminate in a berserk state in which he commits successive atrocities using first person accounts of vietnam . Achilles in vietnam compares and contrasts two wars separated by 27 centuries dr shay is a boston area psychiatrist who works with vietnam combat veterans in the department of veterans affairs outpatient clinic he is also on the faculty of tufts university school of medicine his purpose in writing this book is to put before the public an understanding of the specific nature of catastrophic . Achilles in vietnam combat trauma and the undoing of character jonathan shay md phd achilles in vietnam combat trauma and the undoing of character new york atheneum 1994 236 pages 2000 us j onathan shay has written a remarkable book this book is at once erudite eloquent and outspoken even though canada was not involved in the