As you were: to war and back with the Black Hawk Battalion of the Virginia National Guard

The Iraq War radically transformed the typical ‘one weekend a month, two weeks a year’ commitment of many National Guard soldiers around the country into lengthy, grueling tours of duty in Iraq. Little has been written about the tensof thousands of Guardsmen and women sent to Iraq and the unique challenges these citizen-soldiers have faced in serving their country -- and then coming home to the civilian world. Washington Post reporter Christian Davenport was embedded with the Virginia National Guard's 2-224th aviation regiment and witnessed the hardship and heroism of its members firsthand, from their sudden call-up, through their return from overseas, to new battles faced on the home front as they struggled to rebuild their lives after the war. He tells the story of five of these remarkable soldiers, and a wife at home -- a teacher, a fifty-something Vietnam vet, a sorority girl-turned-door-gunner, a born leader, and a young woman unable to find her place in the world. Their experiences tell the hidden story of the nation's many part-time National Guard soldiers thrust into full-time war, including how the lure of tuition-free college education bought many an unexpected tour of Iraq and how some female soldiers have volunteered for security missions despite the ban on women in combat. But perhaps most of all, it explores what it means to be a soldier in a time of war when so many have turned away from service. By continuing to follow these soldiers, and their families, for more than a year after the war, Davenport chronicles the difficulties these soldiers face returning home: lost jobs, financial woes, the inability to relate to a society that has never been so divorced from the war its country was fighting and the dismal failures of a system that wasn't created to help them. They face challenges at every level -- but every one of them serves with dignity, pride, and no regrets. Depicting these soldiers as heroes, not victims, As You Were reveals a hidden dimension of the war, and providesan intimate look at the patriotism and courage that inspire those who have fought it and the rest of of us as well.

• ISBN: 978-0-470-37361-3
• Editorial: John Wiley & Sons
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Páginas: 272
• Fecha Publicación: 08/05/2009
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés