Kathie Costos, also known as "Nam Guardian Angel," is a certified, ordained Chaplain and member of the International Fellowship of Chaplains ("IFOC"). The daughter of a Korean War veteran, and the wife of a Vietnam veteran, she has been active in veterans issues since the 1970s. For the last 25+ years, she has focused on Vietnam veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
As a chaplain with a devout Greek orthodox background, Kathie nevertheless believes that "no matter what church people belong to, they belong to the family of God as God's children." Years of volunteering with Vietnam veterans and their families has taught her to take care of the spiritual needs of people and not just the already "faithful."
Kathie is the author of a well-regarded book, called For the Love of Jack, His War/My Battle -- about how her family coped with the legacy of PTSD that her husband returned with from the Vietnam War. She self-published the book immediately after 9/11, out of concern that the word needed to get out about what PTSD was, before many more people began to suffer from it. The book is available for downloading on her website, and Kathie has also produced many educational videos about PTSD that are also available on her website. A list of those videos include the following, but because Kathie is always expanding the list of videos she's made about this topic so close to her heart, it also makes sense to "favorite" her on YouTube, where a list of all her videos is linked, here. A list of those videos current as of this writing include the following (each is hyperlinked to YouTube or Google video, so you can watch them directly):
- Wounded Minds: PTSD and Veterans (Google)
- Coming Out of the Dark: PTSD and Veterans
- When War Comes Home, Part One
- When War Comes Home, Part Two
- Hero After War
- Death Because They Served - PTSD Suicides (Google)
- Wounded and Waiting, Part One
- Wounded and Waiting, Part Two
- Women At War
- The Voice, Women At War
- Nam Nights Of PTSD Still
- PTSD After Trauma
- PTSD Not God's Judgment
- Homeless Veterans Day
A link to Kathie's website about PTSD is here. For a direct link to the book she wrote about her husband and family surviving PTSD, click here. For a link to her ever-expanding list of videos about PTSD and veterans, click here.
A favorite quote of Kathie's: "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." -- George Washington.
