Winner of the Nautilus Book Award and the Military Writers Society of
America Gold Medal.
A young combat veteran hides in his closet under a pile of clothes on
bad nights. Another, home for five days, can't figure out how to talk to
his wife. And a commander's spouse recounts the soul-draining effect of
attending nearly one hundred memorial services...
When therapist Elizabeth Heaney left her private practice to counsel
military service members and their families, she came face-to-face with
unheard-of struggles and fears. Emotions run deeply--and often
silently--in the hearts of combat veterans in this eye-opening portrait
of the complex, nuanced lives of service personnel, who return from
battling the enemy and grapple with readjusting to civilian life.
Presenting the soldiers' stories--told in their own words--as well as
her own story of change, Heaney offers an intimate perspective, not of
war itself but of its emotional aftermath. Some of these stories scrape
the bone; others are hopeful, even comical. Every one reveals the
sacrifices of those on the front lines and the courage, grace, and honor
with which they serve.
