Three Joss Sticks In The Rain (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781516952274)

Peter M. Bourret has lived in Tucson, Arizona for over sixty years, where he attended twelve years of Catholic school, graduating from Salpointe Catholic in 1965. After he served with the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division as an 81 mm mortarman in Vietnam during 1967 and 1968, he studied at the University of Arizona, graduating in 1971 and received a Masters Degree from the U of A in 1974. He taught in Tucson for his entire teaching career: social studies for seven years at Apollo Middle School; then, English for eighteen years, seventeen at Sahuaro High School. Bourret was the subject of Strands of Barbed Wire, a documentary about his PTSD and his return trip to Vietnam in 1991; he also participated in Vietnam Across America, a documentary produced by his son Jeremy Bourret which examines PTSD and its legacy with Vietnam War combat veterans and their families. He has traveled extensively, including two trips to Vietnam 1991 and 1999. During the Bosnian War in 1993, he brought humanitarian aid to Bosnian refugees. Bourret has volunteered in local public schools, teaching writing to second and tenth graders; currently, he volunteers at the VA, teaching classes about PTSD to veterans who are experiencing PTSD symptoms. He has been a guest speaker on the topic of PTSD to nursing students at the VA Hospital and speaks on this subject at the University of Arizona College of Nursing. He hosts a monthly coffee and chat with a group of Korean War and World War 2 veterans. He also has been a guest speaker on the topic of the Vietnam War and PTSD in local high schools for the past twenty-five years. He also presents poetry readings at local high schools and libraries. Bourret is a charter member of Detachment 1344 of the Marine Corps League and is a life member of Vietnam Veterans of America. He has received 1st place awards in 2014 and 2015 from the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival. War: a memoir, which deals with his PTSD, was published online by The Writers' Circle, Inc. in June of 2014. The Physics of War: Poems of War and Healing, his 1st book of poetry, was published in early 2015; and Land of Loud Noises and Vacant Stares, his second book of poetry, was published in March 2015. Snowflakes from the Other Side of the Universe, published in August 2015, deals with aspects of the author's perspective on life. Three Joss Sticks in the Rain is his first novel. Currently retired, Bourret is in the process of writing his memoir.