The Fine Art of Camouflage

by Lauren Kay Johnson

Lauren Kay Johnson is just seven when she first experiences a sacrifice of war as her mother, a nurse in the Army Reserves, deploys in support of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. A decade later, in the wake of 9/11, Lauren signs her own military contract and deploys to a small Afghan province with a non-combat nation-building team. Through her role as the team's information operations officer-the filter between the U.S. military and the Afghan and international publics-and through interviews and letters from her mother's service, Lauren investigates the role of information in war and in interpersonal relationships, often wrestling with the truth in stories we read and hear from the media and official sources, and in those stories we tell ourselves and our families.  

 

A powerful generational coming-of-age narrative against the backdrop of war, The Fine Art of Camouflage reveals the impact from a child's perspective of watching her mother leave and return home to a hero's welcome to that of a young idealist volunteering to deploy to Afghanistan who, war-worn, eventually questions her place in the war, the military, and her family history-and their place within her. 

Genres: Memoir

270 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 1, 2023

Reviews

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was reluctant to read this one, because I’m so gd over the US right now. I’m not in the mood for any nationalistic nonsense. But I really enjoyed this memoir! I’m glad I read it and it provides an important look at the futility of the war efforts in Afghanistan. I knocked one star off because it had a few typos.

[Donald Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I review this book for you, I will not mark it as spoilers because you need to read it. The other day, my friend Lauren Johnson came to mind; I can't tell you why it happened. So, I asked a former classmate who would know the answer. I have missed my graduating class reunions in the last two decades. Now, all I want to do is to hug Lauren. Why? Let me begin by saying that we were so close that if you look at my yearbook for 2002 Meadowdale High School, I am in a picture with her and another classmate.
I believe her name was Sharon. We had just finished a project in English class. She mentions something that I will always remember in her book. It was the last period of school for the day. It was 2001 and assembly day, and we all had to meet in the gym. All I figured was it was the special guest. I knew who it was because I was told she was coming, and it was Lauren's mother. I will never forget what I saw when she introduced her mother. I believe Lauren was at the podium talking a little bit about her mother before she was to speak to the senior class and talk to the whole school. When the introduction was done, she announced her mother. She gave her the biggest hug I have ever witnessed as she did so. You see, her mother was a military personnel member who had just finished her studies or was about to spend her time in the Air Force. She wanted to teach the people at the school about what she experienced and about striving for what you want in this life. I only remember a little from my memory, which was a long time ago. She gave us hope, and she encouraged us.

Why did I start this review that way? Simple: to help Lauren and anyone else who may be a classmate reading this book remember that day. Shortly after we graduated high school, Lauren got a scholarship to Loyola Marymount in California. I remember getting emails from her many years ago. However, now I understand why they stopped. I had no clue then, and I don't think it was me now.

Lauren dealt with something that I can never understand. But I can relate to it. My half-brother, whom I call brother, is in the army reserves. He has orders, but the timing changes.

We might think we understand what our loved ones go through. I have multiple people in my life who are in the military. After reading my dear friend's account of what she went through between 2009 and 2010, I do not look at the Afghanistan war the same. She was part of it before the tragic loss of all those Americans many years later in Afghanistan.

Coming home after witnessing what she witnessed, I want to hug her. The life she knew before deploying was gone. It may not be high school anymore, but I want my friend to see that I care about her. I understand why she felt so lost when you came home. I'm glad that she is a mom of twins. If you find my review, read this book because she is a fabulous person who went through a tough time.
I'm writing this for her so she knows that her dearest friend from high school took a few days, not even 3, to read her book with the help of my smart speaker, my Alexa device. If I had heard her read her book, I would have been bawling my eyes out more than I am now. I'm sad and emotional because I've missed so much. But I'm happy that former Lieutenant Lauren K Johnson wrote a book about her experience—those two decades I know now or as much as I can without her help.

If I had my way, I would turn her memoir into a film from a female soldier's perspective. I would want Lauren to be a part of it as much as she wanted to be. If you are a serving soldier in our military, I want to thank you for your service and your sacrifice.

Being in the military means sacrificing your life, the life you think you would have had if you hadn't gone. As my tears dry, I read this book with open eyes and heart. Because you don't understand what it is to be with a list of something so horrible you don't know how to put it into words.

Lastly, Lauren, please know that I will always cherish high school with you during our junior and senior years. To your husband, thank you for loving my dear friend. I'm sure you guys are good parents. Sadly, I am so far away in Ohio.

With love like a friend,
Donald Spencer Kirby

[Vic · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book begins when as an Air Force lieutenant in her twenties, Lauren is preparing for deployment to Afghanistan in 2009. She is following in her mother’s footsteps - as an Army nurse, her mother was deployed during Desert Storm.

Lauren writes in detail about her deployment including the strain of being at constant risk of attack, and of encountering IEDs - “In Afghanistan, convoys most often found IEDs by driving over them and blowing them up.” Of sending positive stories to her parents, and making sure to call them the night before every mission off base, just in case, but not telling them that she would be “leaving the wire”. Of the smaller difficulties of her posting: the dust, the FOB food, to having only one toilet for all the female personnel, and the difficulties of working in Information Operations. Of trying to build relationships with Afghan counterparts.

She writes about her growing realisation that perhaps her unit - and her role - were part of a problem in glossing over the realities of operating in Afghanistan - “Nothing here was black and white.” She also writes openly about the effects of her posting, of the difficulty and disconnect of reintegrating into “normal” life, and of losing friends and colleagues. The book is not just about her deployment, but also about how Lauren felt called to serve after 9/11, signing up as a young person with energy to burn and a family history of service; her relationship with her mother; the effects of her military service on her mental health, and her decision to leave the Air Force.

This is a thoughtful, well-written book. Highly recommended. And be warned - you might need tissues towards the end.

Note: I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review, via Voracious Readers Only.

[Military Writers Society of America (MWSA)]

MWSA Review

The Fine Art of Camouflage by Lauren Kay Johnson captured my attention from the first chapter. “My boobs hurt. My body armor was designed for men and, for obvious reasons, didn’t fit perfectly.” This is the beginning of a book that is hard to put down.

Lauren Johnson serves her country for the first time as a member of a military family at the age of seven when her Army Reserve nurse mother deploys during Desert Storm. For this child, it is traumatic. It is heart-wrenching. Lauren hates having her mother gone, but ten years later, wanting to emulate her mother, she enlists in ROTC and is eventually deployed to Afghanistan.

As an information officer, young Lieutenant Johnson acts as a liaison between the U.S. Army and the Afghan people to help promote a sense of nationalism among the Afghan people, supporting the mission of “connecting people to their government.” She deals in sound bites, base tours, presentations, media lectures, and newspaper articles. Halfway through her tour, Lauren finds herself losing her optimism and questioning whether the effort in the war-torn country is going to change anything. One day, she realizes there is no ideal plan due to cultural differences, bureaucratic red tape, and politics on both sides.

As a reader, I felt I was with Lauren Johnson on this journey. I felt her disillusionment growing in the effort to do her job of painting a positive picture. I felt the changes she experienced in a war zone, wondering when she would be the next victim of a random IED. Author Lauren Johnson’s writing is stirring and evocative.

Review by Nancy Panko (April 2024)

[Amber Zertuche · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lauren Kay Johnson has wrote an incredible story about her journey as a child of a military family, her time in ROTC, Afghanistan, and considering her own new children's future. I really enjoyed the vulnerability she expressed admitting her naivety and mistakes made along the way. I loved the first chapter where she is getting used to all her gear - I felt like I was right there with her and I too could imagine being awkward with gear made for men on me, a woman. The propaganda she experienced as a young adult and its ability to sway her was also such a powerful reminder that I was swayed, too. It's not always our fault, getting brainwashed. But once aware, Lauren shares her responsibility to made different decisions going forward. What an incredible role model for us all. The battle in her brain was extremely well written and so relatable. I've often done things I knew were not in line with my values and it takes a while to tease that out and get to the other side. All the transitions between time periods were smooth and the awareness moments were engaging. I didn't want the book to end so I really stretched out the chapters and still found myself easy to immerse back into the world that Lauren offered to her readers. This book also gave me a newfound curiosity for modern wars like Afghanistan and Iraq. It really was a jumping off point for me and I've been watching documentaries about these wars ever since. Thank you for writing this incredible story and sharing your life with your readers!

[Rachael Maag · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lauren Kay Johnson provides the reader an in depth perspective of the war in Afghanistan, as told by a person that helped prepare communications to the general public. It was interesting to read about her enthusiasm as she first joins the ROTC, and subsequently stationed in Afghanistan. Like many people with a new position, she was excited for the opportunity and ready to write about the efforts being taken to help Afghanistan. As her deployment continues, she starts to question how effective the war efforts are, and if she if feeding propaganda to the public. She also talks about some of the relationships she has while stationed overseas, and the impact this assignment has on her when she returns to the States.

Overall, this was an interesting story to read; though at times it seems to drag. She does a good job explaining her feelings throughout the deployment, and I felt that I really understood what she was feeling when she started to reflect on her assignment. It was also interesting to learn more about a different type of deployment; one in which people are sent to communicate from the front lines. Reading an insider's experience of the war in Afghanistan helped me understand the war a little better.

While interesting, I rated this 3 stars due to the times that the story seemed to drag on. At times, it seems like almost too much introspection was provided, or too much information regarding the day to day. I would still recommend this to others to read due to the perspective that is being shared.

[Elena J · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Fine Art of Camouflage by Lauren Kay Johnson is a strikingly honest and deeply human memoir part war story, part family chronicle, and part meditation on truth itself. Through her dual lens as a soldier and a daughter, Johnson captures not only what it means to serve but what it costs to carry the stories that service leaves behind.

The book unfolds across two generations of women in uniform a mother who served during Desert Storm and a daughter who followed her footsteps into Afghanistan after 9/11. Johnson’s prose is both lyrical and unflinching as she examines the echoes of war within family, identity, and conscience. As an information officer tasked with shaping the narratives of conflict, she finds herself caught between official truth and emotional truth between what we tell the world and what we tell ourselves.

What makes this memoir unforgettable is its vulnerability and intelligence. Johnson doesn’t glorify war; she dissects its moral camouflahttps://www.goodreads.com/review/new/... revealing how duty, pride, and fear intertwine with love and loss. It’s a story of inheritance, resilience, and reckoning of one woman learning to see herself not as her mother’s shadow, but as her own imperfect truth-teller.

The Fine Art of Camouflage is a literary act of courage, as introspective as it is universal a vital work for readers who seek to understand not only the military experience, but the human heart beneath the uniform.

[Liam Corley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Fine Art of Camouflage follows author Lauren Kay Johnson on her 2008/09 deployment to Afghanistan. She weaves in her mother's military service during the Gulf War as a way of exploring both her mother's more lonely, pioneering experience and the author's path through the trauma of her own deployment. The intimate view of women's combat experiences is remarkable and well worth reading on its own right. Johnson's deployment narrative rings true to the Afghanistan I experienced too—I was there a few months before her, in a different province, and did a lot of head-nodding as I read her account of the run-up to the Afghan elections in 2009. What I found most moving was the relationship between mother and daughter as it moved both of them toward healing and understanding of their military service. I found a lot to learn from as a son of Vietnam War veteran with military deployments of my own. Take note—some of the biggest gut punches come in the last fifty pages, so keep Kleenex or whiskey close by as you reach the end.

[Amanda Huffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who served on a PRT this book really resonated with my experience. I remember the hope of helping people and the discouragement, challenge and frustration that came through the month the deployment dragged on. Having served on the deployment the rotation after Lauren from spring 2010 to Fall 2010. I had heard names and vague details of stories. Lauren added depth and meaning to those stories.

People who were assigned to the PRT mission faced many challenges and the commonality between different regions of Afghanistan were similar to my own experience. I am so thankful for the bravely Lauren showed in telling her story with real depth and meaning. To be honest about the way the deployment made her feel and how she was able to get help after coming home.

Thank you for sharing your story Lauren, it has helped remind me how important our stories are and why they are so important to share.

[Mary Keen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great descriptive writer, which made some contents of this book, especially her 9 months stationed in Afghanistan, hard to read before going to bed. I do prefer memoirs as not fictional, and this seemed to be an especially vivid one.

Strongly RECOMMEND, altho strange title and odd cover illustration probably won't win over many readers who might be very interested in her story.

Good to be reminded of this US history, at least for me and a family member whom i kept telling about especially descriptive passages.

Some locations and times familiar to me, especially McChord AB near where her family was. (I think her AF nurse mom was sent from further N in WA state when Lauren and her siblings were young.)

And then she mentioned a time when we were stationed in Germany and the powers in charge decided to send people assigned there to the present combat zone --to be replaced by US troops coming in to replace them. Never made sense to me, except matching career fields, but was temporary.

There was quite a bit more about her life with updates and photos about her career and family and some flashbacks.

[Jennifer A. Orth-Veillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

After countless generational stories of sons and fathers at war, Lauren Kay Johnson's The Fine Art of Camouflage brings a fresh look to the ways war is passed down in families–not by women who waited for their men to come home, but by daughters and mothers who went to war themselves. In beautiful, clear prose, Johnson deftly takes us not only through the frontal experiences we traditionally associate with the military and war but also through those that are camouflaged. With nuance and perspicacity, she brings to light ethical crises that arise in the face of all the duties that come when a family decides to serve their country–from waiting for mom to come home and make a snack to forcing fast decisions in the combat zone.

[Vickie Chaisson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Fine Art Of Camouflage is one of the most intensely emotional memoirs I have ever read. Part of the emotional part for me is because I come from a Navy family and father expressly forbade me from entering the military. I understand so much of what was written in this book. I lived through most of the wars or conflicts written about. This book as seen through the eyes of 2 women in the same family is riveting. The feelings of loneliness and abject fear I can read understand to a degree because of my career in law enforcement.This book made me laugh, cry and reflect on children and families on both sides of a conflict. Although this is a long book I read it in one sitting as I could not put it down.
I received this as an ARC from Voracious Readers Only and this is my voluntary review.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't read a memoir centered around someone's military service, but I am so glad I did. I feel like I started this book with somewhat of a jaundiced idea of what it was going to be about, but, having just dabbed tears from my eyes, I can say this book was a real revelation. The feelings and emotions of the book really resonate and the day-to-day tales of life in a FOB were eye-opening. This book is about more than military service; it's a story about families and patriotism and friendship and war. The book is well-written and Lauren's effective way of telling her story made me laugh, cry and get angry. Kudos!

[Jonathan Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an army brat, I can say there is truth on these pages. Lauren writes from the heart and her book is filled with powerful images. Her mother served in the military, and then Lauren herself served, and you can tell the person who began this journey is not the same one we see on its final pages. She isn't afraid to ask questions on the page - about herself, her country, her beliefs or her past. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who wonders what it's like to serve in the military as a woman, or who wonders what it's like to be a family member of someone who serves. We need more books with this much heart.

[Meenal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love memoirs and wartime accounts, and this book combines them both. Lauren and her mother served in the American armed forces. They both underwent a lot of physical and mental trauma that impacted them and the others around them in undesirable ways. I'm stunned by her bravery and shocked at the troubles she recounts. I was left crying hopelessly at so many incidents.

Do read this memoir to educate yourself on the experience of the survivors of the Afghan-American conflict.

I received a complimentary review copy of the book from the author via Voracious Readers Only and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This memoir is a must-read for all of us. Lauren's story itself is powerful and essential, but so, too, are her sentences and scenes. She has dared to tell the truth, to search for it, to write it, and to share it with the public. These truths about the consequences of war, about family inheritance, about love and grief, buoy us as we continue to live in a world full of war. This is a book about breaking silences, about being the most honest we can be in order to help free ourselves and others. I cried at the end.

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Johnson's memoir, expertly written, helps fill two gaps in remembrances of war: it helps build out war memoirs authored by women during a time when women were taking on increasingly dangerous responsibilities in combat, and also gives readers insight into what war is like for public affairs. Seeing events unfold from the perspective of a person who was tasked about writing about them from the military's perspective is an often-overlooked component of what the USA was doing in Afghanistan, and Johnson sheds light on this important aspect of service with skill, wit, and honesty.

[Heather Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lauren will take you on journey of patriotism, excitement, hope, defeat, and acceptance at a time when America was confused about the mission in Afghanistan. This easy read speaks to other deployed women and helps to give acknowledgment to shared experiences. Its easy reading also helps to open the unknowing reader to the foreign experience of deployed service women. Thank you for writing your story for all of us, Lauren.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good read. This is a very different kind of military memoir by someone who wasn't in the front lines but still had a lot to grapple with, essentially being the information filter from the war zone to the American public, and also the local people in Afghanistan. It (unfortunately) feels very timely now in an era of fake news. The mother-daughter military story was also been interesting, especially as the author reflects back now that she's a mother.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and readable account of this young ladies life and experiences as a serving soldier. The dilemma begins to ponder, strike a chord with those who remember, or have an understanding of the American involvement with the people of Afghanistan and the eventual withdrawal of troops.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lacked punch & poorly edited (many spelling errors &/or improper usage). A disappointment.

[Heather Densmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a poignant story, honestly told and elegantly written. If you have ever wondered what it is like to be a female deployed in a war zone, this provides insights.

[Lynne Moses · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautifully written memoir is a compelling coming of age story and a fascinating look behind the curtain at the realities of military occupation. Johnson’s evocative writing made me feel the grit of Afghan dust and the simmering fear of imminent death. But what touched me the deepest was the clear-eyed reflection on her earnest desire to do good and her youthful naivete colliding with the cynicism and waste of blood and treasure inherent in any war effort. This book should be required reading for anyone considering entering the military as well as for the decision makers given the sacred responsibility of sending other human beings to war.