Sirens: How to Pee Standing Up—An Alarming Memoir of Combat and Coming Back Home: How to Pee Standing Up-An Alarming Memoir of Combat and Coming Back Home

by Laura Naylor Colbert

Bronze Medal Winner from the Military Writers Society of America! There’s a steep learning curve for every American soldier who deploys to the Middle East war zone. Much of that involves culture shock, and the excitement and confusion also applies to female soldiers. And when that female soldier is also a Military Police Officer, the curve gets bent way out of shape. Laura Colbert was heartland-bred and tough enough when the Army sent her to an MP unit in Baghdad, but she quickly discovered soldiering in Iraq involved a lot more than she expected. How to establish her military cop cred? How to deal with chauvinistic soldiers? How to deal with Iraqis—men who disrespected her and women who initially distrusted her? How much military law applied in a lawless land? And dealing with even the simplest things, like how to pee standing up. Laura managed it and survived, but the learning curve just bent in another direction when she came home from war suffering with stress and anxiety that eventually bloomed into Post-Traumatic Stress. “...Since she got back, Naylor has been on a new mission, one she believes also serves her She shows...what the war is really like for the soldiers who have to fight it.”
—Dee J. Hall, Wisconsin State Journal “Colbert...has told her story...in the hopes of relating the reality of her war to people half a world away who experienced it only through increasingly small TV news clips and articles in print publications.”
—Nathan Phelps, USA TODAY Network

244 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 29, 2019

Reviews

[Military Writers Society of America (MWSA)]

MWSA Review

Sirens: How to Pee Standing Up by Laura Colbert is an incredible true story of life during a military deployment. This should be required reading for every politician and higher-ranking officer who has forgotten what it’s like on the front line.

Colbert’s writing style takes you to Iraq, where you experience the discomfort, homesickness, and fear alongside her. Without bogging down on too much detail, she packs a lot of information into her description. Added photos bring her words to life.
I enjoyed and appreciated her honesty in portraying the good with the bad, the things she is proud of as well as the things she’s not so proud of.

I highly recommend Sirens to anyone who is considering joining the military, so they can go in with eyes wide open. I also recommend it to civilians who need to understand what military men and women give up to protect America’s freedoms that are so easily taken for granted.

Review by Dawn Brotherton (April 2020)

[Okimura1170 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spc Laura - An army reservist who was in Iraq in the early period 2013-2014 for 16 months. It was suppose to be a 6 month posting but with 5 or more extensions ( I stopped counting) ...the time more than doubled. This is gritty read of service life in Iraq as military police. How the weariness started and became more burdensome with each extension. However, this book is rarely grim despite the author's difficulties. I am constantly amazed as the number of well-written books about service life by normal soldiers ( as opposed to the Special Forces genre)
This book never flags and will repay your investment of attention.
Borrowed Defence Library Service

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

The acronyms were way too much for me. However, that aside, the story was truly written from the heart. The authors emotions brought my own emotions to the forefront. I have a new and clearer understanding of our veterans struggles. TY to all who have gone to bat for us. Forever in my prayers. I wish I could say or do more, but I can depend on the Guy that I send my prayers to 💕

[Kathy Schouten · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve heard Laura’s presentation about her time in Iraq, and like that, this book is so well written it feels like she is having a conversation with you. She writes clearly, with description, with humor, and most importantly with honesty.

[Cara Orbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book and I recommend anyone read it. I loved the raw stories and excellent narrative of a strong woman experiencing war. This is a book I will recommend to everyone in my life, especially those with Wisconsin pride

[Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

An honest, open, and detailed experience of war during and after deployment. Laura's testimony had me laughing, crying and kept me captivated the entire time. Thank you for soul searching, writing, and sharing the words that many people cannot.

[Annie B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having met this amazing woman at an author event, I was eager to read her story, and was not disappointed.

[David Duppler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book. She did a wonderful job describing her experiences before and after her deployment. I highly recommend this book.

[Bruce Houtler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wisconsin author

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

A great point of view from the female soldier perspective on war. A must read for anyone who knows a veteran with PTSD. It was hard to put the book down one I started reading it.