populations from all walks of life. The veterans who started working in the early Vet Centers eventually began to reach out and serve World War II and Korean vets as well, many of whom had suppressed their traumas or had self-medicated for years. Veterans, particularly in Southern California, were responsible for many of those early lobbying and subsequent Vet Center treatment programs. They founded one of the first local organisations by and for Vietnam veterans in 1981, now known as Veterans Village. Vets were also largely responsible for taking debriefing and treatment strategies into the larger community where they were adapted for use in conjunction with populations impacted by violent crime, abuse, and man made and natural disasters and those in law enforcement and emergency response. Other notable organisations that were founded then included the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and the National Organisation for Victim Assistance. The organisations continue to study and/or certify post-traumatic stress disorder responders and clinicians. There are still, however, many proven cases of individuals who have suffered psychological damage from their time in Vietnam. Many others were physically wounded, some permanently disabled. However, advocates ignore the many successful and well-adjusted Vietnam veterans who have played important roles in America since the end of the Vietnam War such as Jim Nicholson (former Secretary of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See), Al Gore, Frederick W. Smith (founder and president of Federal Express), Colin Powell, John McCain, Craig Venter (famed for being the first to map the human genome), and many others. To find closure, thousands of former American soldiers have visited and some have decided to move permanently to Vietnam to confront the psychological and physical remnants of the Vietnam War. They participate in the removal of unexplored mines and bombs, help people affected by Agent Orange, teach English to the Vietnamese and conduct Vietnam War battlefield tours for tourists. In popular culture The Vietnam veteran has been depicted in fiction and film of variable quality. A major theme is the difficulties of soldiers readjusting from combat to civilian life. This theme had occasionally been explored in the context of World War Two in such films as The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and The Men (1950). However, films featuring Vietnam veterans constitute a much larger genre. The first appearance of a Vietnam veteran in a film seems to be The Born