Customer Reviews

Soft Spots: A Marine's Memoir of Combat and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This slim book feels like something all Americans should read. The author paints a portrait of his experience as a Marine in Iraq which is fascinating, chilling, horrifying, and at times even briefly funny. He succeeded in helping me better understand both the mindset and the experiences of young Marines coming home from the war.

The author vividly describes his life with his Marine buddies and comrades, painting a picture of personalities, places, events, and dilemmas... and eventually the emotional reactions which begin to filter through. It's an incredibly powerful piece of writing, and a real example of "courage after fire". I'm grateful to the author for sharing both his experiences and his process of beginning to face how the war has changed him (and hundreds of thousands of other men and women).

I think this book is especially valuable for those who love a Marine (or soldier) serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, since it is unflinching in sharing an inside view of a military culture which rewards toughness and suppression of emotions. While the episodes of violence, fear, rage, and horror are at times difficult to read, they may be very helpful in understanding what the person you love has lived through. Even the harsh language and vulgar humor of the men in this story are helpful in picturing their lives and world view. The episode in which a pathetic dog is repeatedly shot at by a fellow Marine for absolutely no reason (and neither the author nor anyone else intervenes to save it) was very powerful for me, especially knowing that the author owns a yellow lab at the end of the book. (The moment in which his dog nudges his arm to ask for a pat on the head was one of the first moments when it began to feel as if the author was really home.) The author shows real courage in sharing how difficult it has been to live with his experiences in Iraq, and how difficult it is even to be sure what happened when looking back through the fog of war.

At the end of the book, I was really grateful for the moment of clarity the author experienced, realizing that he is not alone with his experience. I am sure this book will succeed in helping family, friends, and fellow citizens be better equipped to help and support veterans through the long process of coming home. Mr. Van Winkle, thank you for your service to our country both as a Marine and as an author.

I should probably begin by saying that Clint Van Winkle, the author of Soft Spots, is as much of a hero as most of the other US Marines with whom he served. Not more and not less. Those of us who haven't served seem to idolize our soldiers, but Van Winkle seems, in turn, to not want idolatry.

There are as many stories about fighting wars as there are people who are involved in war. Van Winkle wrote about something that's been whispered about for centuries, even today: mental illness. Post-traumatic stress disorder is a severe, debilitating anxiety that develops after a person is subjected to terrifying events, such as rape, witnessing a murder... or being part of a war. PTSD occurs, as per a recent [2009] study, in approximately 17% of US armed forces (all branches).

Van Winkle talks about, early in his story, opening a sandy box of mementos he brought back from his most recent tour in Iraq, a land that's mostly desert. "The box released the land when I opened it," he said. The velocity of his mental sandstorms varied. They had no rhyme, reason, or mercy.

His sandstorms occur randomly throughout the book. In most books, this jumping around would be unnecessary and, in fact, annoying. However, why should the reader be able to sift through the story neatly when the author could not?

The job was to "carry out your mission, and keep your honor clean." Marines leave no man behind - but sometimes they had to. A Forward of the book defined "Soft Spots" as the remains of a US Marine who had died in combat. The Marines fell onto religion as they hadn't as civilians, searching for something to get them through everything. The Marines were told to write Death Letters before the mission began: a Death Letter would be the letter that would be presented to the loved ones of a soldier who died in combat, as a means of closure for the family. With all that, and the death and destruction and disgusting conditions and the loneliness, it's surprising that the percentage of troops coming home with PTSD isn't higher.

Clint Van Winkle may not have received a million medals, but he told the story of his view of the war, and of his demons and hallucinations, eloquently. He told of his monsters, his uncontrollable drinking, his trials and tribulations with the Veterans' Affairs bureaucracy, and of the girl who stuck by him. His words were concise and full of description.

He has a wonderful command of the written word and of language, and it's a darned shame that his skills are needed to explain something so ugly.

My wife Kathy is a counselor with specialized training in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and she did her internship at a local veteran's center. As the significant other, I have been exposed to a great deal of pillow talk about the problems of veterans in general and those with PTSD in particular. I also accompanied Kathy to a daylong seminar where the topic was PTSD in war veterans. While all cases are of course different, there are many similarities in their cases.
Van Winkle experiences spurts of anger, memory flashbacks that are altered in many ways, he self-medicates in the form of significant alcohol consumption and keeps weapons close at hand. All these are behaviors fairly typical of war veterans suffering from PTSD. What is different about this book is how well Van Winkle describes his experiences, after leaving Iraq he graduated from college as an English major and pursued graduate studies in Wales. He learned those lessons well, his descriptions of combat missions and patrols in Iraq and his relationships with his buddies are told with an understated calm characteristic of the best writers.
There are several disturbing aspects to this book; the first is how many places Van Winkle had to go before he receives anything approaching quality treatment for his problems. The second is the realization of how much emotional, psychological and monetary treasure this nation has bled out into the soil of Iraq. These accounts will continue to be settled for decades to come and the cost will continue to be very high.

"Soft Spots" is an autobiographical book by a soldier who finds his life does not easily return to normal once he returns home from the battlefield. The book is written in the present, but shifts back and forth between his life now and his life back in Iraq. This time-shifting can be a bit confusing if the reader isn't paying close attention, but it appears to be a conscience attempt of the author to let us know how the memories of the battlefields of Iraq continually interrupt his present life.

There are times when the author speaks of troubling memories such as the shooting of a young girl. We are not told enough details to really figure out what exactly was happening or the context surrounding the shooting, so it is difficult to know how to "judge" the situation. However, I believe the author found at the time that he didn't have enough information either, and he had only time to act, not to judge. One of the things that troubles the author is that people who weren't there think they have the ability to judge the people who were there.

The author tells of his troubles finding help with the lingering problems caused by his experiences in the war. This is especially distressful when he hears all of the rest of us (people who weren't there) talk about how we honor the troops and support them, but when he really needs help, our support in most cases crumbles into meaningless talk and feel-good, yellow ribbon magnets stuck on car trunks.

This is an enlightening, well-written book that should cause the reader to reconsider how we treat our returning soldiers. It seems all extraneous words have been edited out, and there are no "slow" parts in the book that I found myself skimming through. The book holds ones attention. The only fault I can see in the book is there is not enough information about the author and especially his fellow soldiers that the reader is able to get to know them well. However, the book makes clear that when soldiers return from war, things will never be the same again. This is a good book. I like it. I give it a four star rating.

If you are the wife or significant other of a military man who has deployed, this book will give you a glimpse of what your husband will probably never tell you about. As a military wife with a deployed husband, this book tore my heart apart while explaining a lot. Intellectually, I understand what my husband does and what it takes, but this book made me understand deeper in my heart what it really costs him to serve. I cried through much of the book. It is written with clarity and raw detail. It is not for the feint of heart - but then none of the military wives I know have a feint heart. I think that every military wife whose husband patrols "outside the wire" should read this book, regardless of their branch of service.

As a Marine Vietnam veteran I was much taken by Van Winkle excellent book. I too suffer from PTSD 40 years after Vietnam and know what is like to be initially undiagnosed. Fortunately for me, after years of struggling with drugs, alcohol,and dangerous behavior, I had access to excellent VA counseling. I wish there had been a similar book written by a Vietnam veteran--I've read widely and I haven't found one as profound and as hard hitting. It would have saved me and those around me a lot of pain and suffering.

This small but very readable memoir gives you a raw look into the life of combat veteran Marine Sergeant Clint Van Winkle. The author has done something that might be considered breaking an unspoken rule. But it has been over 200 years that our military veterans of wars have suffered without the understanding of the populace they fought for. And in today's world it is worse for combat veteran when you can be on a battlefield and then home within a day.

This veteran in detail describes the adrenaline rush and the horrible sights of war. His raw honesty in this expose of his life after Iraq is one that though is not spoken of all veterans suffers to some degree or another. Hopefully by writing his limited accounts of the Iraq war and what he is presently going through at home will be cathartic and aid in his healing process.

Once a soldier has been to war he is a changed person and nothing will make you who you were before. I can attest that these stories are very similarly for every military personnel that faces ground combat in close proximity with the enemy and can see the results of what war does first hand and this book does a good job at a first hand view.

The language and description of wartime experiences are brought to life in this book and may not be for everyone. But the brutality of war and what is endured is one that this book offers a small glimpse into. The author also is honest enough to share the truth about the fog of war where you honestly cannot recall all that transpired. Plus the important realization that he needs help and though he is now in what he believes is a counseling program that is of great benefit to him, The author understands that he still suffers from the trauma and rush of the memories of what he has seen and done.

A very worthy read. Van Winkle is an excellent writer, and his story is exceptionally moving.

SOFT SPOTS: A MARINE'S MEMOIR OF COMBAT AND POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER hit me right in the heart. Marine sergeant Van Winkle was deployed to Iraq. Like others before and after him, he was doing his job and just trying to stay alive. He didn't ask for PTSD but he has it all the same.

SOFT SPOTS is Van Winkle's journey living with PTSD and how it affects his life almost every day. More than once I had to stop reading this memoir, just to catch a breath. I wanted to grab this brave marine and hug him tight.

PTSD is a life changer -- Marine sergeant Van Winkle knows this -- now. His final revelation/discovery near the end of the book is what I remember most. He realised he wasn't alone. He is not the only combat veteran that has a 'hard' time. That enlightenment I think put this loyal American on the path of discovery.

I honestly think everyone should read this man's journey and then write him a letter of gratitude for our freedom. He is remarkable.

Natalie S.

As difficult as it was to read Van Winkle's account of his time in Iraq and his struggles with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder once he arrived back home, I found myself unable to put this book down. He writes of his experiences with unflinching honesty and gives those who have never served an insight into the reality of war and its aftereffects. A must read.