Thank You For Your Service

David Finkel’s previous book, The Good Soldiers, followed soldiers in the Iraq war. Thank You For Your Service continues the story of some of the soldiers after they return home.

All the men in this book did what was asked of them by the army. They fulfilled their duties and some were even extolled as heroes by the end of their time with their units. But what made them successful as soldiers while deployed in combat zones were the same things that made it hard for them to succeed in civilian life.

When Tausolo Aieti is beginning with WTB, he is thinking about whether this program can even help him get ready for life after the army: “He might enroll in college courses to learn a skill other than the singular infantry skill of closing in on an enemy and killing him, which he suspects has limited applications outside of war” (44). Being good at spotting possible bombs along the road is a great skill while in a Humvee in the middle of Iraq, but if when a veteran is driving along the interstate with their family, and believes they keep seeing bombs, then a skill necessary to survive in one