Mount Pleasant, MI – August 1, 2008 – The Chaplain’s Assistant, a powerful new novel by author JT Caldwell, follows a year in the life of a soldier whose innocence is lost, priorities are changed and belief in God and country are shattered – overnight and forever.

Opera singer and teacher Ted Bertson never wanted to go to Vietnam. Recently married and with a promising career on the horizon, being drafted was not part of his plan. But once the draft notice came, a twenty-year journey through the endless brutality of war and a private hell called post-traumatic stress disorder followed.

While Bertson’s story is hardly unique from the tens of thousands of soldiers who’ve served in the last 40 years, little has changed in their treatment from the people around them and the government that called them to service.

Mr. Caldwell hopes The Chaplain’s Assistant will serve as a call to action for all Americans to regard veterans and returning soldiers of current wars as people who’ve endured the unimaginable and will have difficulty fitting back into the lives they left behind four or more years ago. “They’ll need special help, understanding and lots of patience from their families,” he says, “and renewed support from a government that apparently helps them only as long as they’re fighting.”

About the Author
JT Caldwell is a Vietnam veteran who served in the U.S. Army from 1969 – 1972 as a Chaplain’s Assistant. Today he is a noted critic of the government’s treatment of the troops returning from Iraq, Afghanistan and other wars. He has appeared on radio stations throughout the country discussing ways in which these soldiers can reacclimate themselves back into their former lives. Mr. Caldwell, who lives in Michigan, is also an opera singer and Professor of Music at Central Michigan University, a position he’s held for 30 years. He is internationally recognized as an author and teacher of Dalcroze Eurhythmics, a century-old methodology for teaching music.

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