Thank You for Your Service, by David Finkel

Thank you for your service. That phrase, the dust jacket; everyone can recognize immediately the title of this book is ironic. Or...is it?

American soldier's equipment., Digital ID 437722, New York Public Library

Thank You for Your Service, the latest book from author David Finkel, is about the after-war. Everyone knows the wars: Iraq; Afghanistan. And we have all heard at least a little about the after-wars. Acronyms like PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury). Injuries that might not appear in daily casualty counts, but contribute substantially to the after-war. Each day new, individual, battles in what for many may be a long campaign. And here are several of the real stories, incisively and poignantly told.

A soldier will take a bride.,[African American Master Sergeant William P. Thompkins sitting at a desk and looking at a photograph of his fiancée Delores Taylor that he holds in his right hand, Fort Dix, New Jersey, April 2, 1947.] , Digital ID 1260315, New York Public LibraryService. A theme woven throughout this book. We already know of the service of our soldiers. In the after-war service for them has been transformed. Author Finkel also gives us candid portrayals of the brigades of others drafted into this different kind of war: widows, spouses, case workers, therapists, commanders and others, all now rendering service in the after-war.

"In California, he lies in the dark, in need of forgiveness. In Kansas, so does she.
Everywhere, the war keeps trying."