Brandy

by Doug Lucas, Wade Symons (Foreword)

War is filled with horrors we believe only the warrior on the battlefield fully understands. We also tend to believe those who have borne the brunt of combat are the only warriors… this belief is entrenched in our conviction that the warrior is the one who carries and uses weapons of destruction. We honor the dead of those we consider warriors and we care for their wounded. In the minds of most….warriors are the only combatants on any field of conflict.This is as false and foolish as the belief that you only understand warfare if you have taken part in the life and death fighting in the arena of combat. Large or small arenas whose contest happen in countries most have never heard of or have names few would recognize and whose deadly struggles will affect some far more than others.Forgotten or unrecognized by most is a class of warriors who are always engaged in mortal combat in every arena of warfare. A class of warrior who rarely enters the arena…and is rarely recognized by any but those who have. This special breed of warrior will witness more death and destruction in a day than most combat infantrymen see in a year. They live in the same filth, wade in oceans of blood, absorb the stench of death, and handle the repercussions of combat with skill and knowledge.These warriors fight a never ending battle with death's attempts to claim his right before the allotted time given each of us. There are divisions within this special warrior class. Some who enter the actual arena of combat are called field medics or corpsman, a few are titled doctor, but a special group of warrior embraces the rank of nurse.During the Vietnam war most of the nurses were women. On a hourly basis for their entire tours they received, routed and cared for the torn and broken bodies of men who we recognized as warriors. It took far too long for everyone to realize these nurses…these true warriors existed on any battlefield. It took even longer for anyone to consider the possibility these rocks of medical care may've been damaged or fractured by the trauma inflicted on them as they cared for those we consider warriors.Brandy Masters is one of these hero's….one who served and is starting to pay the emotional cost for her service. Combat can and will alter the very essence of one's strength to a degree few understand. She…like most damaged warriors, failed to understand what was happening to her. Because of the fractures inflicted on her mind and soul by the daily exposure to the true horrors of combat she begins to pay the warriors price for service to her nation. She breaks off an engagement to the man she truly loves and considers leaving medicine or at a minimum finding something she could do in medicine which won't damage her further. Brandy doesn't understand the why or what, but is beginning to understand something is desperately wrong. Brandy doesn't understand why her pain is increasing, but fully understands it is nightmarishly real. Brandy's fictional journey is only a tiny glimpse of the horror some of these women shared with the men we recognize as warriors.She's lucky…I write fiction. Brandy finds someone who has had the exact same life and death struggle she's fighting. Someone who knows how to help her…help herself. Brandy's story has a happy ending because luck, friendship and love intervene. The man she broke her engagement too, realizes his love for her was one sided and selfish…but real. With help from many sources, he sets out to find and win back the very love and trust she held for him…and he almost destroyed.In the beginning most of the women who fought the real battles my fictional Brandy fought…were forgotten warriors left on the battle field as the unrecognized causalities of war. Brandy is like these strong, brave, and deserving of all of our respect and admiration.

187 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 22, 2013

Reviews

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

The battlefield warrior experiences many horrors, but author Doug Lucas reminds his readers some of war's horrors weigh heaviest on those we rarely even think of as warriors. In particular women, who nursed the soldiers of the Vietnam War, might pay a huge emotional toll without knowing what is going wrong with their lives. "Strong, brave, deserving of all our respect and admiration," nurses such as the fictional Brandy deserve to have their tales told.

Driving home from Bethesda, missing her exit, tired and haunted by the loss of "her boys," who always seem to die on a Friday evening or Saturday morning... Brandy's voice is so entirely believable you can hear her talking from the page even as the weight of trauma bends her down. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, a hugely expensive phone call is followed by drinks, and a dying boy doesn't know how hard everyone's fighting for his life.
The dialog's spot-on. The details all feel right. And Brandy's internal musings hold a wealth of honest pain, as do those of Reggie far away. I used to love watching MASH, and the same sense of trauma, with total breakdown held just at bay, pervades this novella. By turns confusing, haunting, enthralling, sad and wonderful, it's filled with timely and genuine details, deep knowledge of the hurts of war, and nice observation of human nature, all driven by the internal and external dialogs of real characters.

In a powerful turning point, a wise man talks to Brandy. "I took those memories and the crushing pain they carried and stuffed them in a box deep inside my mind," he says, but it's time for Brandy to stop denying she has a problem, and relearn how to sleep.

A well-told tale of the past, filled with relevance for the present, this might be my favorite yet from Doug Lucas.

Disclosure: I think I received this as a gift, but I can't remember. Anyway, this is my honest review.