Soldier's Heart: An Inspirational Memoir and Inquiry of War

by Lee Burkins

Extremely relevant to the current situation of our government's treatment of the homecoming warrior is the book 'Soldier's Heart' by Lee Burkins. This book is possibly the most honest inquiry of war and its consequent trauma ever written by a combat soldier. Burkins, a former Green Beret, writes with the emotional firepower of an automatic weapon. Novelistic in nature, 'Soldier's Heart' weaves and braids the grime, blood, and guts of the experience of war with the world's past historical treatment of the warrior returned home. He humorously reveals the uncompromising assault he and a handful of pugnacious veterans made upon the bureaucracy's neglect of the combatants. Sit in a Veterans rap group, walk the jungles with the tribal warriors Burkins led in combat and follow the inner world of a warrior's struggle to comprehend the reasons behind humanity's penchant for war and the government's reluctance to acknowledge the trauma now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (A story from Soldier's Heart was presented as a documentary on the History Channel)

324 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2003

Reviews

[mike allen]

Answers to the Question... Why Wars?

Mr. Lee Burkin's book describes in detail the first-hand journey into the depths of historical cycles that have plagued this species ever since they started de-volving! (Read as of opposite of evolving).
Thank you for your journey, and your suggestions for others to use to break the cycles of those who create and instigate wars for themselves and for profit at the expense and destruction to all those who have to deal with the consequences.

[Maeve Hodgins]

More than a War story.

This is a wonderful book which vacillates between the deeply personal, and brutally honest,memoir of a man forged into a weapon of war to a profoundly philosophical treatise on the healing power of love. There is a gritty realism to the compassionate insights shared by the Author and his descriptions of the existential moments of Epiphany which led him to a deeper awareness of the fragile nature of our humanity are lent credence and gravity by the imagistic language who he employs in relating them. A must read for anyone interested in understanding the internal struggle which lies at the heart of revealing the true self. A clean shot of truth.

[Patrick]

A masterpiece of a memoir and slice of military history from a member of the legendary MACV-SOG unit. Probably the single best book on returning from war and the struggles that combat veterans face trying to truly come home. Full of action and insight, this book will bring tears to your eyes and open your heart.

[Steve]

Lee's memoir of his time in Special Forces in Vietnam, life as a vet in the '70s, and all that is wrong with the geopolitics of war. thoughtful and thought-provoking.

[Kyle Jones]

Pieces of his life / Don't always hang together / (But life precedes books)