When Jerry Martin returned from his one year of service in Vietnam, he had lost several friends at war. But he also had lost friends at home, he said.

"We had anti-war people spitting on you, calling you names," the veteran and Colonial Heights resident recalled yesterday. "I didn't agree with the war, either, but you still got to do your duty."

Martin rarely talked about what he went through until recently, when he joined Band of Brothers, a group of mostly Vietnam combat veterans who visit the McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

The veterans, many dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, have been meeting each week for the past four years. Yesterday, they celebrated their first family picnic at American Legion Post 137, on Sunlight Avenue off Broad Rock Boulevard.

There with his wife, Laura, Martin talked openly about his war experience. Dozens of other veterans from the area did the same. They shared photos of comrades who died in war and talked about their frustrations when they got back home.

Band of Brothers has become a social support group for many veterans, said Lawrence M. Davis, one of the founders and a Marine Corps veteran. During the weekly sessions, participants learn to deal with issues such as anxiety and depression, he said.

The group, which operates without any government funding, has about 70 members, Davis said.

Joel Blum, a psychiatrist in Mental Health Services at McGuire, said the group has helped the soldiers heal from their physical and psychological injuries.

"The social support is so important. For years the Vietnam veterans would not even come to the VA. They felt estranged," Blum said. Although they were serving their country, "they didn't come back as heroes. . . . This is a war that was not won."

Band of Brothers members hope the support will expand to a new generation of soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, whether by guiding them on how to get help from Veterans Affairs or helping them find other support groups, Davis said.

"We are here to help them so they don't have to walk through what we had to walk through," he said.

Byron Ferrell, who in July came home from his second tour in Iraq, now calls himself an unofficial member of Band of Brothers. Through the group, he has met other servicemen, he said.

The group has been particularly valuable to his father, Cleavester Ferrell Sr., a Vietnam veteran.

Soldiers today have more support groups than when his father came back from war, said the younger Ferrell, who is with the 237th Engineer Company, a unit of the Virginia National Guard based in West Point.

"It was a lot different from when we came back. There's a lot of stuff now. It is just about the soldiers taking advantage of what's being offered," he said. "When my father came back, they had nothing."
Contact Luz Lazo at (804) 649-6058 or llazo@timesdispatch.com.