“Okay.” We were down in the basement. It was musty and cold. His wife was upstairs measuring for curtains. “What should I say?”
I can’t begin to describe the expression on his face. Equal parts haunted and proud and relieved.
“Just say, ‘Welcome home,’” he told me. “That’s all.”
So that’s what I’ve said for many years, and I say it again now, to all those who have served.
Welcome home.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book was fun and challenging to write, and I didn’t do it alone. I’d like to thank many people who have helped me along the way.
Thanks to Margret, sweet patootie, artist and reader and expert editor of far too many drafts, and to Duncan, my hero and role model. I can’t wait to see what you both do next.
Thanks to Mom and Maryl for many years of encouraging literary criticism.
Thanks to Dad for spreadsheets and fatherly advice, some of which I actually acted on.
Thanks to Bob and Dani for a quiet space to work on Washington Island. Thanks to Taylor for her encouragement, and Robbie for his enthusiasm.
Thanks to Danny and Chuck for all those excellent conversations, diatribes, and rants.
Thanks to Aimee O’Connor for an encouraging read at a crucial time.
Thanks to Collectivo Coffee (formerly Alterra) for being my second office, where the java is strong, pastries are available, and there are voices other than the ones I hear in my head. ?Viva la revolución!
Thanks to Brett Elver for answering my questions about finance—the liberties I’ve taken with reality are mine, not his.
Thanks to WFB friends for shared meals and liquid therapy and for making all those fantastic kids.
Thanks to Dale W. Davis, the first Marine I ever met, force of nature and certified piece of work, and to his wife, Jan, a strong woman and force of nature in her own right. Thanks for the great conversation and advice over the years.
Thanks to my teachers, including but definitely not limited to David Shields, Charlie D’Ambrosio, Maya Sonenberg, and David Bosworth in Seattle; Warren Hecht in Ann Arbor, who taught me to write a good sentence; and Mike Huth of SHS, gone but not forgotten. Thanks to Scott Wilson for his carpentry tutorial, and for our continued friendship since then.
Thanks also to many writers, including but not limited to Nathaniel Fick, whose book One Bullet Away helped illuminate one Marine lieutenant’s thinking; Tim O’Brien for The Things They Carried, which sure cleared up one young man’s idea of war as glamorous; Phil Klay for Redeployment, which was a personal revelation for me as both reader and writer; and David Finkel for the reporting and writing in Thank You for Your Service. These last three should be required reading for all aspiring architects of future wars.
Thanks especially to those men and women who shared their experiences online or in person. I still haven’t talked to enough of you.
And last but definitely not least, thanks to the wonderful Barbara Poelle at Irene Goodman Literary Agency for taking time out of her third trimester sabbatical to read this book and find it a home (yes, she’s that kind of agent). Also to the astounding Sara Minnich at Putnam for her extraordinary eye and ear, as well as the rest of the design and editing team at Putnam. They are the reason you’re reading this today, and I am supremely grateful for their time and patience and professional expertise.
If you’re reading this in a language other than English, that’s due to the efforts of Heather Baror-Shapiro, of Baror International, who boggles my mind.