Plenty of Time When We Get Home: Love and Recovery in the Aftermath of War Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00HS2UIUA | Format: EPUB
Plenty of Time When We Get Home: Love and Recovery in the Aftermath of War Description
When SPC Kayla Williams and SGT Brian McGough met at a mountain outpost in Iraq in 2003, only their verbal sparring could have betrayed a hint of attraction. Neither could have predicted the sequence of events that would shape their lives.
Brian, on his way back to base after mid-tour leave, was wounded by a roadside bomb that sent shrapnel through his brain. Kayla waited anxiously for news and, on returning home, sought out Brian. The two began a tentative romance and later married, but neither anticipated the consequences of Brian's injury on their lives. Lacking essential support for returning veterans from the military and the VA, Kayla and Brian suffered through posttraumatic stress, amplified by his violent mood swings, her struggles to reintegrate into a country still oblivious to women veterans, and what seemed the callous, consumerist indifference of civilian society at large.
Kayla persevered. So did Brian. They fought for their marriage, drawing on remarkable reservoirs of courage and commitment. They confronted their demons head-on, impatient with phoniness of any sort. Inspired by an unwavering ethos of service, they continued to stand on common ground. Finally, they found their own paths to healing and wholeness, both as individuals and as a family, in dedication to a larger community.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 6 hours and 24 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Audible, Inc.
- Audible.com Release Date: February 10, 2014
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00HS2UIUA
When I read Kayla Williams first book ("Love My Rifle More than You") some seven years ago I didn't really like it because I didn't think the story had attained necessary perspective. Reading this book, and seeing some of the maelstrom that was going on around her during the leadup to that book's publication, I can see why - like the line goes, "you can't have PTSD if you're not post-anything yet."
In this deeper account, Williams has earned at least some of that perspective. She can now relate her story with a decade of fairly hard-won experiences, of marriage, motherhood, dealing with her own post-war trauma, and the lingering effects of her husband's brain injury (suffered in Iraq), which is the focal point of most of the book.
As the Iraq War fades from memory, its easy to focus on "heroic" narratives like "Lone Survivor" (which took place in Afghanistan). Conventional combat stories are often easy to read, with clearly defined beginning, middle and ends - familiar characters and standard plot lines. That's not how real life works - the "plenty of time" that Kayla's title describes if full of problems, ups and downs, and constant challenges.
Williams herself isn't the most pleasant narrator, and can be full of herself and self-pitying in the same sentences. She oversimplifies and generalizes. She uses ad hominem attacks against the civilians who she feels don't appreciate the effort of veterans. Her writing style is harsh and blunt, and this is not the kind of memoir that's been crafted sentence-by-sentence in a college workshop class. But, that's an honest portrayal of most veterans - especially the female veterans who she correctly points out often don't get the same credit or attention that male soldiers do.
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