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

by Lee Burkins

The history of the government's treatment of returning combat veterans has been long absent from the public's awareness. Lately, a plethora of documentaries presenting the wounded veterans' plights are currently making their way into the American public's consciousness. After their initial treatments, the wounded service members from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan face an ongoing battle to receive appropriate care and financial assistance. The Department of Veteran Affairs has historically been drastically under funded, under staffed, and overworked. The costs and consequences of war are unpredictable. America is unprepared.A book most relevant to the current situation of our government's treatment of the homecoming warrior is 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, Paperback

First published February 1, 2003

Reviews

[Maeve Hodgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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