There are no Flowers in a War Zone: Memories, Nightmares, and Flashbacks of a Vietnam War Survivor

In this collection of poems and prose, Camillo “Mac” Bica, a former Marine Corps Officer, Vietnam Veteran, and philosopher, invites you, albeit hesitantly, to join him on a very personal journey of introspection, exploration, and analysis. Through the relative “safety” of poetry and prose, Bica reflects upon his memories, nightmares, and flashbacks of things he did, didn't do, ought to have done, and ought not to have done, as a Marine Corps Officer in Vietnam, as a veteran laboring to come to grips with the experience, and as a friend, advisor, and mutual benefactor to many veterans he accompanied in this perilous journey of healing. What Bica offers the reader in this book is a jumble of very personal recollections and insights about war and the struggle to restore a sense of normalcy in its aftermath of PTSD and Moral Injury. Primarily it is a tribute and a voice for the many with whom he walked the road of war and recovery, so many now gone, who were sacrificed so tragically for a cause they believed just and necessary.

“Bica is a poet of war who speaks with the heart of a warrior. His perspective is passionate and poignant, and his analysis razor sharp, always with a deep humanity in his voice.”

--Rita Brock & Gabriella Lettini, Co-Authors of Soul Repair: Recovering from Moral Injury after War.