Thank You For Your Service.
David Finkel
Recently I saw a trailer for a new movie starring Miles Teller (Whiplash, The Spectacular Now, War Dogs, Divergent) entitled Thank You For Your Service. The trailer initially caught my ear as it opened with the song "Human" by RagN'Bone Man. I decided to purchase the book and the next day had finished an unbelievable novel that changed my outlook on war and our veterans.
The book follows the lives of several soldiers who return home from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Finkel opens his book with entries written by a soldier, Adam Schumann, and his return home. Adam and his family are closely followed throughout the novel, as he had many encounters with the other soldiers in the book. His stories and reflections are also a keystone to Finkel's book. Other soldiers who are included are James Doster, Tausolo Aieti, Nic DeNinno, Michael Emory, and many others who are mentioned through the recollections. Finkel chronicles how each soldier deals with PTSD, TBI (traumatic brain injury), survivor's guilt, family struggles, how to get help, suicide, depression, etc. Finkel also depicts how the lives of the soldiers are intertwined after the war, and how relationships have formed and fumbled through their traumatic experiences.
The stories revealed in this book are unlike those I've seen on the screen or read in other books. They are more real, more frightful, and more touching. Thank You For Your Service illustrates our heroes once they've returned home, and the courage it takes to seek help. The motif Finkel includes is that as the soldiers push on to escape the war, the war pushes back. No matter how hard the soldiers try to come back to their norm, the war inside them surges on.The book enlightened me to realize that it takes more than patience to help our soldiers who have come home. It takes love, commitment, and compassion.
Thank You For Your Service was an amazing read that gave me an entirely new perspective on the post-war/coming home. It is very well written, very short (256 pgs), and I absolutely loved it! Highly highly recommended.
"They are, if nothing else, all still alive, and it is something they hang on to like some kind of battle victory. . .and realize as hard as they try, the war keeps trying, too"(Finkel 225).
