On Monday, Art&Seek, Fort Worth Opera and Tarrant County College South Campus are hosting veterans and those who care about them for a discussion Glory Denied: Coming Home from Modern Conflict, about the experience of returning from war, how that’s changed since Vietnam, and how one soldier’s story became a book, then an opera.

Joining us will be Tom Philpott, author of Glory Denied, the story of Col. Jim Thompson, America’s longest-held POW and Tom Cipullo, composer of the opera based on the book.

But we’re especially grateful to two men who’ve agreed to share their perspectives Monday night to get the conversation rolling.  Charles Overstreet, a Tarrant County College professor, served in Iraq and is an expert in combat-related stress. And Robert E. Carroll will share some of the challenges he and his fellow soldiers faced returning from Vietnam.

Here’s a little bit more about both.  Hope you will join us Monday night. The event is at 7:30, at Tarrant County College South Campus, 5301 South Campus Drive. It’s free, but please reserve your seat.

Prof. Charles Overstreet teaches psychology at Tarrant County College and is a specialist in post-traumatic stress disorder assessment and treatment. He’s also a Major in the US Army Reserve Medical Services Corps and was deployed three times between 2003 and 2009, once to Landstuhl Germany and twice to Iraq.  Overstreet also helped Tarrant County Judge Brent Carr design and implement the assessment program for a new Veterans Diversion Court Program.

Robert E. Carroll was injured when his infantry company was ambushed in Vietnam in 1969.  A native of Marlin, Texas, he moved to Fort Worth when he was 11. Mr. Carroll worked for almost 3 decades for Texas Steel Co., and he recently retired from the U.S. Postal Service.  He’s receiving treatment for a PTSD diagnosis and is also  currently enrolled in computer classes at Tarrant County College.