John couldnt believe his eyes as he tried to shield himself from the bullet racing toward him. He told himself it had to be a dreambut it wasnt. It was just the beginning of the hardship and humiliation that his fellow soldiers would inflict upon him. When an unexpected personal attack (In theColumbia Recruiting Battallion/ with duty in the Charleston South Carolina Army Recruiting Company Oct 1997 to Feb 2001) threatened Johns military career, he had to draw upon a reservoir of undiscovered strength that his past experiences had instilled in him. Johns story is the story of an American soldier who refuses to accept defeat, never give up, and will journey to hell and back in order to fight for the one thing his enemies are determined to destroyhis honor.

John couldn't believe his eyes as he tried to shield himself from the bullet racing toward him. He told himself it had to be a dream-but it wasn't. It was just the beginning of the hardship and humiliation that his fellow soldiers would inflict upon him. When an unexpected personal attack (In the Columbia Recruiting Battallion/ with duty in the Charleston South Carolina Army Recruiting Company Oct 1997 to Feb 2001) threatened John's military career, he had to draw upon a reservoir of undiscovered strength that his past experiences had instilled in him. John's story is the story of an American soldier who refuses to accept defeat, never give up, and will journey to hell and back in order to fight for the one thing his enemies are determined to destroy-his honor.

The author of this book used the book as a therapeutic attempt to get his experiences out. Instead of keeping them all bottled in. He writes about everything from roadside bombs, small arms fire, and how he deals with the stress of returning to America after a horrific tour in the desert of the middle east. He shows patriotism and wants to keep his Lieutenant's memory alive. POW, MIA, KIA, you are not forgotten!

Scarred by memories of World War II, soldier Sam Richardson returns home in 1946 and strives to manage changes in his family, which includes a young son who barely remembers him and a wife with a new sense of independence from her wartime job.

Describes the author's childhood relocation from France to the U.S., where as a naturalized citizen he joined the military and served multiple tours in Afghanistan before he was wounded while protecting his patrol from a suicide bomber.

Life after war is not what you expect it to be. Whether you have served in front-line combat or experienced second-hand the destructive forces of war-your soul has been impacted. For war survivors and their families, life after war can be a confusing time. What happens after war? What can you expect? What issues will you face? In Close to Home, combat survivors and their families find a raw, tell-it-like-it-is, compassion-filled account of what survivors often go through when they come home. Facing deep emotional, mental and spiritual wounds, war survivors feel shattered on the inside. In this book, survivors find hope, inspiration and encouragement to pick up the fragments of "life before war" and rebuild a new identity. Families gain invaluable insight into what goes through the hearts and minds of survivors and what they can do to help. The journey to healing is long, but it no longer has to be silent. "This is an important book because it confronts an issue which thousands of soldiers face-how to return to "normal" life after war ." --Edith M. Lederer, co-author of War Torn: Stories of War from the Women Reporters who Covered Vietnam

The first combat memoir of the War on Terrorism: the gripping story of a young man’s transformation into a twenty-first-century warrior. Born into a family with a long history of military service dating back to the Revolutionary War, Andrew Exum enrolled in Army ROTC to pay for his Ivy League education. Shortly after graduation in 2000, he joined the infantry, then endured the grueling rigors of Ranger School before becoming a platoon leader with the storied 10th Mountain Division. He thought that perhaps, if he was lucky, he and his men would see action on a peacekeeping mission. Then came the fateful events of September 11, 2001. Called to action as a twenty-three-year-old, he led his troops into Afghanistan to root out the hard-core remnants of Osama bin Laden’s forces. Thrown into the maelstrom of modern war, Exum contended with Afghani warlords, cable news correspondents, and the military bureaucracy while hunting a desperate enemy in a treacherous land—and on a mountain ridge in the Shah-e-Kot Valley he would confront and kill an al-Qaeda fighter. After returning home, Exum struggled to come to terms with the media coverage and public perception of the war while seeking to make peace with the man he had become. By turns harrowing and reflective, this powerful memoir gives voice to a generation of soldiers that has risen to confront the threats of a dangerous new world.