Shadow of The Sword Book Review
What can I say about this book? Can I tell you what SSgt Workman meant, how great he told his story? Can I tell you how to overcome PTSD? No, I can’t. I can tell you the things that jumped out to this Combat Veteran, things he may or may not have meant or realized. I can tell you his story is authentic.
Jeremiah draws you in to his battles. The story is written well. It flows in a way that creates your desire to keep reading, hoping the next page brings you and Jeremiah peace and victory, hoping that trust will be restored, hoping the wounds will heal. Jeremiah is tempted to quit, but with the help of true friends, present and past, he drives on. Only when his will is suppressed by prescriptions can his drive to win every battle retreat.
My interpretations of his experiences are tempered by others I’ve known that have experienced PTSD, PTS, Battle Fatigue, or any other name you want to give it. It is tempered by my own experiences, and of my own studies into works such as LTC Grossman, in On Combat. It is tempered by my role of witness in the Joe v. Jody battle. It is tempered by my own reactions to issues of trust and betrayal.
As with many Sheepdogs, Jeremiah’s battles began long before he could fight back. But fight he did, from the first time he picked up a curtain rod to defend his mother, while still a child. And his path to sheepdog never relented from that day forward.
In a world where trust is too often betrayed, he found a world where it means life and death. To this new world, he dragged with him the very few his old world had allowed him to trust.
And when he became the one trusted, it crushed his soul that he believed that trust was betrayed. It didn’t matter that he knew he had given every ounce of his fiber that day. It only mattered that his mind knew three Marines fell that day. It mattered that every fiber of his body wanted to save those Marines.
While some readers will focus on two of his battles from the one firefight, Jeremiah shares many battles before and after the firefight that contributed to the battle he fights now. One cannot ignore the pain a Warrior feels when bad news is no longer avoidable from the home front, even when we wish the best for Jessica and for them because she is the one woman Jeremiah expresses he needs most.
We cannot ignore that Jeremiah’s small victories against the negative effects of the changes of the Stresses of the Battlefield come in his realization and commitment to the Values that drew him into the Corps: Honor, Fidelity, and Trust. We cannot ignore that the drugs that “made him normal” damaged as much if not more than the symptoms they attempted to relieve. We cannot ignore that his resolve to victory flourished most when he realized he was needed most.
Jeremiah has allowed all into his group therapy by exposing his struggle with these challenges, but it is Jeremiah that deals with, that battles, and in the end must accept that some things just are. He did everything he could that day in Fallujah. He is a hero for having faced his fear, overcome his fear, and repeatedly risked his own life to save the lives of others.
And others that face these challenges can also learn from his: that part of “healing” lies in accepting those facts they can’t force themselves to believe.
In accepting that changes are normal, in accepting that death sometimes chooses randomly, in accepting that he lives that he may tell their story, it is not so much that he heals or that he beats this new enemy, but that he accepts as allies, the ghosts that his mind forced to haunt him.
While his bout with PTSD is of the more severe cases, his experiences can assist those with less intense cases. It can be used as a case study for those that study and treat the symptoms. It can allow others to learn the sacrifices a Warrior makes to Defend Our Nation.
Or, at least, that is what jumped off the pages to me.
More on SSgt Jeremiah Workman:
His Navy Cross ceremony was the first article we posted on him on 4/26/2008.
In New Challenges, Old Ghosts, MTD on 5/18/2008 allows Jeremiah to demonstrate his modesty, to deny his heroism, to request the conversations turn from his medal to his favorite sports team. It was also in this article that MTD first broke the news that Jeremiah was to author a book he planned to title "Shadow Of The Sword.
On 12/12/2008, we posted his story of how he earned the Navy Cross.
On 12/21/2008, MTD provided the first review of the book, Shadow of The Sword.
On 12/25/2008, On Christmas Day, on the 4th Anniversary, we learned how then Cpl Workman had spent his Christmas in 2004, another perspective on how he earned the Navy Cross, a look into how Warriors spend the holidays.
A few days ago, MTD returned to post the new video starring Jeremiah (posted below) and his commentary and updates to the story found here.
On 9/15/2009, Shadow of The Sword shipped and we posted some new videos with the announcement.
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