It's not often that I pick up a book about something other than the Vietnam War but I'm so glad I did. The Unexpected Storm: The Gulf War Legacy by Steven Manchester is amazing! It's not that the war was amazing but rather the way the author has depicted it and perhaps amazing is still not the right word to use. As I opened Chapter One for the first time Steve was talking about being onboard the C-5A Galaxy plane that was taking his National Guard unit off to the Middle East. He wrote candidly of his feelings toward the war and his fellow soldiers. He was open and honest throughout the entire book.
This was the first time the American public watched as members of the National Guard and various Reserve units around the United States were being deployed along with their active duty counterpart troops to serve their country. No it's not the first time units of that nature were deployed but this time was different. Everything was aired on television and the country quickly became aware of the sacrifices our men and women in uniform were making. Many were leaving spouses, children and jobs behind. In some instances both parents of children were being deployed and their children were being left with grandparents or other family members.
Steven's group was no different. Many members of his Military Police (MP) Company from Massachusetts were married and had families. Throughout the chapters he reflected on some of them. He spoke of how he and "his comrades have come to heal their nation from a ghost that has haunted them for two decades: the poltergeist of Vietnam." He wrote of seeing "the after-effects of 41 days of uninterrupted bombing." AND how "The Arabian Desert has been used as a testing ground for every new weapon in the American arsenal.
...
" He held nothing back including his feelings and emotions. The war itself ended on 28 February 1991 but that's when Steve's group was really put to work. However, Steve's war began earlier when he was first injected with the many shots required of the soldiers before they could deploy. They were already getting ill from those shots and the pills they were forced to swallow frequently that were supposed to protect them from various known nerve agents. Now "Steve's body is invaded with its own ghost of torment." He and his fellow soldier's have been "brutally introduced to `The Mystery Illness'" better known to the American public as Persian Gulf Syndrome.
As Steve sat onboard that C-5A he reflected on his life, family, friends, and how he got to that point in his life. He realized he was 23 years old and now responsible for ten other lives in his squad. His wife was being left behind, out of work due to a back injury, to handle everything that he normally did.
He wrote about growing up in a loving household in New England-an area that I'm very familiar with-of his school years, and his best friend. Steve spoke of their very special friendship. His friend wanted to go in the Marine Corps but Steve thought that joining the Army and being trained as an MP would help him in his ultimate goal of working in Law Enforcement. They chose the Army National Guard. He wrote about their Basic Training, the first MP Company they were assigned to, and the company that Steve transferred into that eventually went to Saudi Arabia.
Steve wrote of his parents and siblings. He spoke of his uncle who served in Vietnam and how that war affected him. This author readily shared the love of his life, his girlfriend who became his wife, with his readers. They had a story book romance which went bad in large part due to the after effects of the war.
Steve wrote about finally getting the word that his group was returning home. They attempted to smuggle some souvenirs out. They were on their way to the most glorious homecoming scene in decades in the US. Steve had seen and experienced so much. He wrote "the Army had broken him down....He was affected physically, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually."
The soldiers were whisked through out-processing-nothing like what they went through when they were in-processed. "The Army wasn't even pretending to care. Like their Vietnam War predecessors, Uncle Sam just wanted them off his menial payroll." They soon learned "It was going to be a long fight." This was going to effect his relationship with his wife too.
His book went onto explain what was done to him, how it effected his relationship with his wife, and what he ultimately did. When his wife became pregnant he worried the whole nine months that he would have passed on his illness to his son. Steve spoke of deciding to change jobs and how he came to realize what would make him feel better.
As I said at the beginning this was an amazing book. This is one book that needs to be read in its entirety by everyone. Go through his life with him, journey to a foreign land, and pray for him as he goes. This is truly an inspirational story even though the author has changed the names of the people and units to protect them and wrote it in third person. I highly recommend it.
