24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Crisp, sharp, harrowing --- and heroic, August 24, 2009
This review is from: Shadow of the Sword: A Marine's Journey of War, Heroism, and Redemption (Hardcover)
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This non-fiction account of Sgt. Jeremiah Workman, an Ohioan Marine veteran of the Iraq war and the Dec. 23, 2004 battle in Fallujah, is one of the most impressive and yet harrowing accounts of war I've ever read. With able assistance from John R. Bruning, Workman brings to life the terror and heroic responses of U.S. Marines in current-day battle and honors through retelling many dramatic historic events and traditions of past generations, who died fighting some of America's most brutal enemies.
Meanwhile, Workman weaves in his encounters with personal demons born in Fallujah. For his heroism in that grisly battle against Jihadists, Workman received the Navy Cross for heroism --- "the highest award for bravery" the U.S. gives to servicemen, and second only to the Congressional Medal of Honor. It was awarded to only 18 men since 9/11, most of them posthumously.
Like all survivors of trauma that killed family or friends, however, Workman felt unworthy. He felt that in reality, his deceased best friends, fallen in Fallujah --- Montana cut-up Raleigh Smith, Hoosier Lance Cpl. Eric Hillenburg and fellow Mustang-lover James Phillips --- had earned the medal given to him. So had the other surviving Marines --- Bronx-born Phillip Levine (who lost family on 9/11), Cpl. Steve Snell, Lance Cpl. Jason Flannery, Sgt, Sam Gardiola, Smith's best friend Jerrad Hebert, and Sergeant Jarrett Kraft (a non-commissioned officer whose WWII and FBI veteran grandfather blessed the returning Workman in Navajo "for protecting my grandson"), and others.
As heroic as were Workman's battlefield efforts, all the more so are his descriptions of the causes, effects and difficulties of recovering from post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). This diagnosis, officially accepted by the medical community only in 1980, affects hundreds of thousands of veterans of foreign wars, from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. It also effects hundreds of thousands of rape victims, and undoubtedly millions of abandoned children worldwide, whether they've been adopted or not.
Repeated exposure to extreme trauma or stress, like battle (or abuse), causes repeated adrenaline rushes --- literally infusing victims with drugs, albeit naturally and internally induced. "In Iraq," Workman writes, "we lived on the edge. Our bodies grew accustomed to the daily adrenaline infusion combat gave us. I became a junkie...." Upon his return home, Workman "went into withdrawal."
Incredibly, Workman constructs his story in such a way that readers experience his battlefield traumas alongside he and his Marine brothers. We know as little going into the thick of battle in the high-end Fallujah mansion of a former Ba'athist official as Workman and his fellow Marines. We know only that the men are "mopping up" --- searching for arms caches and Mujahadeen cells, when suddenly he and at least 10 other U.S. Marines are caught in a fierce firefight whose origin and perpetrators they cannot discern. Deadly AK-47 firing thickens in the approach to the grand home, and intensive "kill zones" surround the fence and inside that, cover portions of its thick, surreal suburban lawn. Firepower sprays the entrance --- as well as the marble foyer and cement and marble stairwell leading to the second floor, where two or three, maybe more, U.S. Marines are suddenly trapped.
Only as he nears the present day does Workman finally reveal the sum total of the events --- with summaries from the perspectives of several surviving Marines who approached the house from different angles. Thus, readers can see, hear, and feel the flying bullets, bits of shrapnel and pieces of concrete and marble breaking off the stairs. Thus we can almost smell the black smoke, and feel ourselves scorched by home-made incendiary bombs in fierce 110 degree heat that alone can consume a man's breath. Workman killed more than 24 jihadists during the fight in which he also he lost three men. But he thought for a very long time that he had killed no one, and the fight had been for naught. That thinking also induced a sense of shame and guilt that he had survived and his friends had not.
Shadow of the Sword brings to life the horrors of war --- and the psychological horrors of post traumatic stress disorder, however it was caused. This is a book that readers will never forget, whether they are also veterans, PTSD victims of another sort, family of PTSD victims, or simply Americans with pride for their country, and thanks for the young men and women of the U.S. Armed forces.
--- Alyssa A. Lappen
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Combat and PTSD, August 7, 2009
This review is from: Shadow of the Sword: A Marine's Journey of War, Heroism, and Redemption (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
PTSD stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and it is one of the effects of having been in, and survived combat. People who have experienced combat situations can experience it as a result of the immense tension and stress of combat. Because you are doing things and seeing things that are violent, gory, and very intense, your brain reacts to the shock and fatigue with this reaction. I do not like the use of the term disorder, because it has very negative implications about the sufferers, but there are significant implications to the people who are affected by PTSD and their families and friends.
This book is about the PTSD that affected one particular solider. He is a marine who fought in the tough urban environment of Fallujah in Iraq. As a Corporal, he commanded a section of Marines as they were engaged in house clearing operations in that city. On one of their patrols, his platoon ran into an intense fire fight that lasted over three hours and resulted in three of his mates being killed. Corporal Workman's heroism during the fire fight was astounding and resulted in him being awarded the Navy Cross which is the second highest medal given for heroism under fire, second only to the Medal of Honor. While Workman did all that he could possibly do, three Marines died and he suffered from PTSD as a result.
This entire book is written as a first person account of what PTSD feels like to one of its victims. The chapters are short and they bounce around between events in Workman's life after he comes back from Iraq, and flashbacks to those three hours of the battle. It actually starts with a nightmare sequence that Workman has when he is already in the States as a way to set the stage. The writing style is perfectly suited to the story it tells. Workman was paired up with a writer to help him in getting this story out and their collaboration is obviously successful. The whole book is written in very short sentences which help bring the urgency and the insanity of what was taking place to life. Even the chapters that deal with Workman's struggles with PTSD after he comes back from Iraq are in that style so that it is clear to the reader how this affects his life. There are plenty of anecdotes of how the malady affected his life and he ties his experiences back to many others that he meets in a very effective manner to help in understanding what he is going through. Another interesting thing that the writer puts in is a set of text in italics which represents the conflicting emotions and thoughts that go through Workman's brain and body as he describes the situations he is living through.
As the book goes along we note that we are approaching a twin climax. On the one hand, we find out more and more about what happened that day in Fallujah, with a clearer understanding of just exactly what took place there and why the fight was as brutal and deadly as it was. On the other hand, we are witnessing the climax of Workman's battle with PTSD and how he manages to work his way to a situation that he states means "coming to terms with it". He knows that it will never go away - but he is also determined to not let it affect his relationships with other Marines, his wife, or other people that he comes in contact with.
This is a very honest portrayal of what took place in the battlefield and in his life. It is not hiding much, nor does it try to glorify what took place. All of which makes for some very intense reading and difficult passages to get through. This is not one of those memoirs that glorify war and the people who fight in it. It is much more meaningful as an explanation of what PTSD is and how it affects a person than anything else. Many of the passages brought tears to my eyes as I realized the full horror of what he is experiencing and living through. This is a book that should be read by mature individuals who want to understand how wars and combat affect some of the people who fight them. I feel a richer understanding of PTSD as a result of reading this book, and I am a veteran myself.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Searing and Noble Autobiography, August 2, 2009
This review is from: Shadow of the Sword: A Marine's Journey of War, Heroism, and Redemption (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Co-written with John Bruning, Jeremiah Workman's autobiographical account of his combat duty in Iraq - and his subsequent personal battle against the devastating effects of war-induced Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - is a riveting tale of one man's struggle against an enemy without, that breeds an even more dangerous enemy within. Shifting back and forth between his service with the Marines in Fallujah and his desperate attempts to put his life back together upon his return to the U.S., Workman writes with uncommon candor, honesty and insight about his harrowing experiences, turbulent emotions and damaged psyche. Workman's ordeal is deeply affecting, all the more so because - as he makes abundantly clear - he is but one of tens of thousands of brave soldiers who risked their lives and have sacrificed their psychological well-being for the love and safety of their country.
I highly recommend this book without reservation to any and all readers who wish to gain a better understanding about the true nature of modern day combat, and of the dedicated men and women who choose to serve in the armed forces. "Shadow of the Sword" could not have been an easy book for Workman to write, and he is to be congratulated on a difficult and important job very well performed.
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