The Things They Cannot Say

Daniel actually found this book a while back, I'd say November/December. You know, around Christmas gift buying time (wink wink). He was looking into it (found it on Reddit) and then thought I would really dig it. He was right. He showed me this clip:

Then told me that there's a whole book coming out telling about the lives of many in the military. The real, unfiltered stories. The writer also has a story of his own to tell.
Daniel ultimately couldn't get this book for me for Christmas, it didn't even come out until January. Eventually, I did get my hands on it and started reading it one night during my grave shift. I was hooked. I couldn't put it down. It didn't take long to read it. It was hard to read, though. The details of the lives of these men are hard to read.
In this book, the "chapters" are stories about a different person. What I really enjoyed was at the end of each there was a postscript, if available, telling you the most up-to-date info the writer had on the person before publishing this book. It was nice to know a little extra, like what happened and how they're doing.
This book has taken my personal favorites number one spot. Who would have thought my favorite read would be nonfiction. Aside from reading this for pure interest, it was also filling a second purpose. I am doing a huge paper as my senior project to get my bachelors in Psychology, this paper is about PTSD and mindfulness. This book is serving as a nice additional resource and reference. As a person who isn't heavily involved in the military and who doesn't have first hand experience with PTSD and its affects on veterans and how it comes about, this book was an amazing insight into that world. Of course, it doesn't give me any right to say I understand any of what they're going through, but it does widen my perspective and helps me understand the best I can without going through it myself.

As you can see, I super marked the book. I didn't want to completely ruin it so I stuck to tabs. I'm in love with post-it tabs. Anyway, I super tabbed it because there is a ton of interesting things in this book to keep track of. For my paper in school as well as my own self interest. 

If you believe this is the kind of read for you, if you can handle what can be seen in war, done in war, and all of the continuing wreckage after (mentally and physically), then this will suck you in until the finish. I'm not meaning to be grim, there's some hope in here as well. 

Find the book here.

Until Next Time!