Julie

A better narrator. I could not get past the first 30 or 40 minutes.

Yes.

NO WAY.

I have to pass on answering this as I didn't finish the book. I'll probably have to read it by the traditional method!

Mr. Marlantes segues quite a bit in this book, and sometimes I had difficulty switching mental gears. I think I might have understood the change in thought if I'd seen a paragraph break or something. Overall, the listening was enjoyable, but I really could not tell the voice belonged to Bronson Pinchot!

A Rumor of War by Phil Caputo. He wrote his book before PTSD became a diagnosis; however, his descriptions of the "blank stare" and the soul-crushing effects of war were right on the mark.

Oh holy cow, yes. PTSD is one of the things that one either associates with crazy vets strung out on drugs and alcohol, unable to keep a job or a home, or a label one hides behind to excuse poor behavior. NOTHING prepared me for Iraq or GTMO. In both deployments I was on a detainee health mission. I wasn't in combat (well, minus rockets fired at us). I didn't experience any of the raw trauma my fellow nurses did in the early years of the war and during the surge. My unit jokingly called what we were traumatized from was the Groundhog Day effect (referencing the Bill Murray movie). However, it was no joke. When I got home, I was lost. I sought help. I answered honestly the millions of questionnaires the Army had us fill out.... over and over and over. Yet, if I wasn't suicidal, which I wasn't, no one cared too much to figure out what was wrong with me. Overloaded behavioral health system, I guess, and I kept getting the, "You're a nurse, you'll seek out help if things get worse, right?" Mr. Marlantes hits the core of the problem of PTSD in that unless one is prepared physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, the effects of war will suck the life right out of you. It was a year and a half after I redeployed (means to go home for you non-military folk, not go back to theater) that I finally got the help I needed. It didn't take much- therapy, meds, and going to church- but I'm finally at peace with Iraq. As I prepare to head to Afghanistan this spring, I know more, but trust me, I WILL be talking about what I'm feeling and I WILL be attending church. This book is a must read for any person who has been to the Gulf during OEF or OIF. Even if you think you don't have PTSD and you're just crazy, you might feel differently after reading this book.