Thank You For Your Service

Patti Walker finally gets Schumann into a facility. However, it is all the way in California (the Schumanns live in Kansas), and Saskia is angry. She is mad Patti sent him there, and mad that Schumann goes. She is left being essentially a single parent, trying to keep ahead of creditors for the four months Schumann will be gone.

She reads how the facility is set up and is, once again, jealous. There’s golf, bowling, fishing, and swimming. It sounds like a vacation to her. Schumann shares minor details in his texts and calls about the fun or relaxing things he is doing. He doesn’t talk about all the therapy sessions, during which he discusses his most painful memories and attempts to figure out where things went wrong. Schumann especially doesn’t share how he thinks the place might be helping. When he left, he put a flower with a note out for Saskia, vowing to return a better man after his time at the facility. 

Fred Gusman founded the center Schumann rehabs at and handles the day-to-day, since he started working with Vietnam veterans in the early 1970s. He picks up Schumann from the airport and drives him to the center.