BERNARD
My name is Bernard. I’m a veteran. I stay at the Mayflower up in High Springs. I’m from Connecticut. My mother is Native American Cherokee. We’re very close. She’s my beneficiary. My father is Afro-American. They’re still living. My father is seventy-five and my mother is seventy-three. They reside up in Connecticut and I’m down here in Florida. I don’t have any family here. I just have the VA system; I call that my family. I’m a lifetime member with the Disabled American Veterans.

I went in the service in ’75 and got out in ’78. I was in Germany. I worked on weapons and cleaned the gas masks and I got exposed to Agent Orange. I was in pretty good health when I first joined and then I got exposed to chemicals in active duty. Since the exposure, sometimes I have a psychiatric condition and my skin breaks out on my back, arms, and neck.

I go to the psychiatrist every three months at the Gainesville VA. The first time I saw a psychiatrist was in Germany. They had me stay in the military hospital. I knew then that I was having problems. It has been some years now. Back then they just said I had a psychiatric condition. They didn’t know about the chemicals and my skin until later when I got discharged. They put me on a psychiatric medicine that I take in the morning and I take at night, and they put me on some skin medicine. The psychiatric medicine helps me so I don’t hear voices. If I get real depressed and hear voices, they tell me to hurt myself. They tell me to go sit in the graveyard and be among the dead--I don’t know why. I couldn’t figure out why they were telling me that, and that used to bother me. When I sit in the graveyard I feel comfortable. I guess they told me to just go some place peaceful.

When I left Jacksonville I came to the Gainesville VA and they brought me here. They told me about the High Springs Mayflower. They told me it’s an assisted living facility for veterans. I told them I would give it a shot. I’ve been here a little over a year. Things are pretty good here. It’s a nice little town. I’ve met a lot of people. I’m pretty friendly. When I go in the store, I play with the kids or I’ll say, “how are you doing?” I’m pretty good with people. I have friends at the Mayflower too. I’m pretty close to my next-door neighbor, and I talk to him more than anyone.