Thank You for Your Service
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4.3 • 83 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Now a Major Motion Picture Directed by American Sniper Writer Jason Hall and Starring Miles Teller
No journalist has reckoned with the psychology of war as intimately as David Finkel. In The Good Soldiers, his bestselling account from the front lines of Baghdad, Finkel embedded with the men of the 2-16 Infantry Battalion as they carried out the infamous “surge”. Now, in Thank You for Your Service, Finkel tells the true story of those men as they return home from the front-lines of Baghdad and struggle to reintegrate--both into their family lives and into American society at large.
Finkel is with these veterans in their most intimate, painful, and hopeful moments as they try to recover, and in doing so, he creates an indelible, essential portrait of what life after war is like--not just for these soldiers, but for their wives, widows, children, and friends, and for the professionals who are truly trying, and to a great degree failing, to undo the damage that has been done. Thank You for Your Service is an act of understanding, and it offers a more complete picture than we have ever had of two essential questions: When we ask young men and women to go to war, what are we asking of them? And when they return, what are we thanking them for?
“Finkel sketches a panoramic view of postwar life....A book that every American should read.” —Jake Tapper, Los Angeles Times
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism. One of Ten Favorite Books of 2013 by Michiko Kakutani (The New York Times), a Washington Post Top Ten Book of the Year, and a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Journalist David Finkel takes a powerful and harrowing look at the toll war can take on ordinary people. In Thank You for Your Service, he shares the striking true stories of a handful of soldiers who served in Iraq (many of whom he previously wrote about in The Good Soldiers). Each of these individuals returned home with either post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries, and sometimes both. They bear physical and emotional scars that don’t easily heal—and their struggles make a dramatic impact on friends and family. Finkel depicts the damage done to these returning warriors with hard-hitting candor and compassion and asks the tough questions about why we allowed this to happen. He also writes about the uphill battle advocates fight to get these veterans the treatment they need. Regardless of your views on the Iraq War, anyone who cares about America’s men and women in uniform will be galvanized by Thank You for Your Service.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
From April 2007 to April 2008, Finkel, a MacArthur Fellow and Pulitzer Prize winning reporter with the Washington Post, spent a total of eight months embedded in eastern Iraq with the young infantrymen of the 2-16 as their battalion fought desperately to survive and to make Bush's troop surge a success. In 2009's The Good Soldiers (one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year), he chronicled their harrowing day-to-day experiences as their trust in the Iraqi people eroded, their nerves and comrades were shot, and IED after IED exploded. In this incredibly moving sequel, Finkel reconnects with some of the men of the 2-16 now home on American soil and brings their struggles powerfully to life. These soldiers have names and daughters and bad habits and hopes, and though they have left the war in Iraq, the Iraq War has not left them. Now the battle consists of readjusting to civilian and family life, and bearing the often unbearable weight of their demons. Some have physical injuries, and all suffer from crippling PTSD. And as if navigating their own mental and emotional labyrinths weren't enough of a challenge, they must also make sense of the Dickensian bureaucracy that is the Department of Veterans Affairs. Told in crisp, unsentimental prose and supplemented with excerpts from soldiers' diaries, medical reports, e-mails, and text messages, their stories give new meaning to the costs of service and to giving thanks. Photos.
Customer Reviews
A hard read
This book could fairly be rated as a two- star and as a five-star, just one tragic story after another. But I feel these stories just had to be told. Very hard read, at some point I felt guilty that I was laying peacefully in my comfy chaise reading at all. I wish those commanders in chief read this book, too. If they did, they wouldn't start up wars.
Excellent film
Don’t listen to the haters. This movie is heartfelt, genuine, and just all around amazing. The sacrifices our military makes for our freedom is endless. Inspiring film to watch.
New viewpoint
Countless war novels focus solely on the war itself with little to no consideration in regards to what happens after. “Thank you for your service” nearly perfectly recounts the struggles who just went through the hardest times of their lives and their search to find the help they need.