4 books for the VETERANS in your life and the people who love them

Since the start of our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, I’ve met combat vets – but I have no one in my immediate circle who is a vet or has a vet in their family. Nevertheless, I am ever aware of their sacrifice and the devastating effects of these wars on them – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally. In tribute to our vets and in honor of Memorial Day, I decided to compile a short book list. I didn’t start out with these books in mind (I was actually thinking more along the lines of Flags of Our Fathers), but this is where my research took me, and appropriately so.

Regardless of your position on US involvement in these – or any –wars, I’m thinking we all can agree about one thing: our vets deserve our honor, respect, and the best medical treatment they can get. Though I have not read the books below, they come highly recommended for vets themselves and the people who love them. Each segment contains an excerpt from the book, portion of a review, and shot of the book cover.

Fields of Combat: Understanding PTSD among Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan (The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work)

by Erin P. Finley

In Fields of Combat, Erin P. Finley deftly weaves the experiences of these young men and women who have participated in the invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan into a larger fabric of the U.S. military enterprise, including the clinical responses to a health crisis in treatment and prevention of debilitating traumas of war. How Americans, civilian and military alike, respond to these veterans says as much about the mental health of U.S. society as about them.

— Matthew Gutmann, Brown University, coauthor, Breaking Ranks: Iraq Veterans Speak Out Against the War

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War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation’s Veterans from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

by Edward Tick

I am a combat vet of the Viet Nam era. I purchased a copy of Dr. Tick’s book WAR AND THE SOUL last week. I can’t begin to express how deeply it affected me as a veteran, a father and as a man. Edward Tick has brought out into the open the essence of the problem with the aftereffects of war. We are of the “don’t talk about it and it will just go away,” generation. I’m referring to the loss or corruption of every mans’ soul as a result of the horrors of war, and the lack of a true warrior class in America as DR. tick describes it. Like no other terror on earth, war is so traumatic that indeed one’s soul may be lost forever. However, it does not have to be that way. We indeed may regain intimacy, trust and a purposeful life if treated as humans with souls, not like men having to be drugged with antidepressants to keep us away and out of public sight.

— Robert Cagle

 

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The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle against America’s Veterans

by Aaron Glantz

“A breathtaking rebuke to government hypocrisy and an overdue contribution to gaining critical public awareness of this official neglect.”

— Publishers Weekly

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Once a Warrior, Always a Warrior: Navigating the Transition from Combat to Home — Including Combat Stress, PTSD, and mTBI

by Charles W. Hoge, MD

“John Denver’s lyrics about coming home to a place you’ve never been before sums up this book. A brilliant guide, and very much needed now.”

—Gordon R. Roberts, Medal of Honor recipient

In sincere thanks to all of our troops –

Laura

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