Veterans stories cut through the fog of war
Review
“Civilianized: A Young Veteran’s Memoir” by Michael Anthony; Pulp/Zest Books (192 pages, $16.99)
“The Road Ahead: Fiction From the Forever War,” edited by Adrian Bonenberger and Brian Castner; Pegasus Books (368 pages, $24.95)
JIM HIGGINS
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
5 hrs ago
In his memoir “Civilianized,” Michael Anthony, a young veteran of the war in Iraq, shares cigarettes and slugs of peppermint vodka with a homeless Vietnam War vet outside a liquor store. Referring to their respective homecomings, the Vietnam vet mumbled that it was bad back then, “but not as bad as it is now.”
The surprised Anthony nearly spit out his sip of vodka.
“After all the stories I’d heard about veterans returning home from the Vietnam War, being called baby killers, being spit on, rallies against them and the war. There was none of that for us.”
But, the older veteran said, he would rather have someone passionate about the war spit on him than “to shake hands with someone” who didn’t care.
Mulling that over, Anthony reflected: “Everyone wanted to shake my hand, give congratulations, and thank me for my service. But people didn’t care. Not really. … People didn’t know we were still at war.”
http://missoulian.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/veterans-stories-cut-through-the-fog-of-war/article_c3e1aef9-a2d5-55b0-a41a-67eafbc28f93.html