Plenty of Time When We Get Home: Love and Recovery in the Aftermath of War

Following a harrowing war experience, Williams (Love My Rifle More than Me) shows readers a view of veterans often absent from current American media: the healing of and love between two battle-traumatized U.S. Army veterans exhausted from facing inner demons and struggles with bureaucratic red tape. In October 2003, Sgt. Williams, an Arabic linguist with the 101st Airborne Division, was smitten with a fellow soldier, Brian McGough, who was severely wounded with a brain injury caused by shrapnel from a roadside bomb in Iraq. Stateside, the two marry, but post-traumatic stress derails McGough%E2%80%99s re-integration into the civilian world. Williams not only details his erratic behavior%E2%80%94the heavy drinking and his abusive treatment of her%E2%80%94but also her own struggles in a nation largely insensitive to its female warriors. Both of these vets survive a slew of challenges in their psychological battles, overcoming the defects of their start-and-stop union with grit, love, and a sympathetic support network of former troops. Rising above recent memoirs by celebrated female soldiers, Williams%E2%80%99s account is ruthlessly raw and objective, aiding our greater understanding of the obstacles faced by veterans stateside. Includes an appendix of resources for military veterans. (Feb.)