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Hidden Battles on Unseen Fronts

When the War Comes Home—Stories of American Soldiers with Traumatic Brain Injury and Ptsd

Celia Straus author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Casemate Publishers

Published:15th Dec '10

Should be back in stock very soon

Hidden Battles on Unseen Fronts cover

This book is crafted around soldiers’ personal descriptions of their war experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq, culminating in life-altering injuries to the brain and psyche, along with the equally dramatic story of their recoveries. An irony of America’s 21st century wars has been that while our combat medical and medevac capabilities have grown enormously, the nature of many of America’s soldiers’ wounds have undergone a subtle change. Men and women who survive the thick of combat, including repeated concussion blasts, increasingly present a difficult-to-detect kind of injury, no less debilitating than wounds from bullets or shrapnel. Hidden Battles on Unseen Fronts documents the increasing cases of physical or mental brain trauma among U.S. vets that are a result of more soldiers surviving flesh wounds in battle. The book includes interviews with troops and family members and essays by internationally known mental health professionals, veterans’advocates, and members of the Veterans Administration and Department of Defence, all of whom work to support those affected. From combat soldiers and even amputees, who discover that their greatest disability is their head, to support personnel such as Devore Barlowe, who returns from Iraq with severe PTSD, but still juggles her job and the single mothering of two young children, the voices of these warriors reinforce the book’s over-arching theme of resilience and courage. About the Author Celia Straus is author of best-seller Prayers On My Pillow, and a film writer and producer who has been writing about the war experiences of service members and their families since 2003.

Thankfully the U.S. military’s battlefield support has vastly improved since prior wars. However, the signature wound of 21st century warfare—Traumatic Brain Injury, as well as PTSD—may lie beyond the current reach of standard medical procedures, and is more evidenced by the postwar stories of the soldiers themselves. In this book we get a thorough look at the travails of our veterans who may currently be undiagnosed and without help, but whom we are all committed to support. All royalties for this book will be donated to wounded warriors with TBI and PTSD. EXTRACT Nick’s “Alive Day” was June 8th, 2006. Eighty miles north of Baghdad, the vehicle he was riding in as a gunner was hit with an IED. The blast occurred directly beneath his feet. His scalp was torn off and both of his ankles were broken; the right one severely crushed. “I felt like my head split apart and then I lost consciousness.” Faye Firth got the call early the next morning from a captain at Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany telling her that her son, Nick was alive but badly injured. She rushed up from North Carolina in time for Nick’s arrival to Walter Reed Medical Center from Germany. What the captain hadn’t mentioned were the 47 staples on Nick’s scalp. When Faye saw Nick, his head was so swollen she could barely recognize him. “But I never let on that I was shocked, or fearful, or angry or depressed,” Faye says, “Because I knew he was watching me. He was measuring his condition by the look in my eyes. I had to stay positive for Nick.” “I knew what had happened to me, even though I wasn’t lucid,” recalls Nick. “I was determined not to die.”
Drawing from reflections of soldiers as well as much psychological and medical insight, HIDDEN BATTLES ON UNSEEN FRONTS brings attention to the real problem facing our recent war veterans. * The Midwest Book Review *

ISBN: 9781935149408

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

320 pages