Reading is a powerful way to develop your mind and prepare yourself for the future. Here’s some great resources…
Ghost Nation – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Society by Ron and Helen Breland
Ghost Nation is a portrait of the American soldier returning home from war in this, a dual-front war within the global war on terrorism. Told with brutal honesty from a soldier on the ground, as well as a hardened army wife, Ghost Nation offers a perspective typically not open to the public. Both Helen and Ron Breland offer a glimpse into their life during and after post-traumatic stress disorder. This was written in the hope that it may help the nation of other families going through these trying circumstances find comfort that they are not alone, and that there is always hope.
Old GI’s and Sleeping Dragons by Doug Francescon
For years I wondered why my life was such a disaster following my Vietnam tour with the 1st Marine Division in 1967. Meaningful relationships were impossible. Friends and family who had been such a huge part of my life before the war meant little or nothing when I returned. Before Vietnam I’d never been in serious trouble. After my tour I was arrested multiple times for assault and disorderly conduct.
During those years I felt empty, detached and depressed to a degree that nearly ruined my life. The survivor guilt and inability to cope made each day a huge challenge. I asked over and over. “What’s wrong with me? Where did I fail”?
It took me years to understand that all this anguish was perfectly natural. I could only recover when I began to recognize how the changes caused by my combat experience turned me into an entirely different person, one who must start over to build a life that was worth living.
In this book I give examples of the things that caused the changes in me, and my reaction to them. It is not a war story. It’s a description of my long journey back from the killing fields, the kind of journey every combat vet must take so that he or she doesn’t waste the life that so many of their Brothers and Sisters will never know.
Make the journey my Brothers and Sisters. Find the love, understanding and peace that makes life worth living.
I love you Guys.
Doug
Contact: gisanddragons@yahoo.com
Victor Montgomery III, MAEd., CMAC, RAS
HEALING SUICIDAL VETERANS: Recognizing, Supporting and Answering their Pleas for Help (October 2009, New Horizon Press) by Victor Montgomery III, MAEd., CMAC, RAS, is a must-read for any veteran struggling with anguish, suffering and depression. Montgomery shows there is hope, there is a future and there is help. Suicide is not the answer and this emphatic and informative book will give productive advice and resources for veterans and their loved ones in need.
Monty Roberts
Man Who Listens to Horses: The Story of a Real-Life Horse Whisperer (December 2008, Random House Publishing Group) by Monty Roberts.Monty Roberts is a real-life horse whisperer–an American original whose gentle Join-Up® training method reveals the depth of communication possible between man and animal. He can take a wild, high-strung horse who has never before been handled and persuade that horse to accept a bridle, saddle, and rider in thirty minutes. His powers may seem like magic, but his amazing “horse sense” is based on a lifetime of experience. In The Man Who Listens to Horses, Roberts reveals his unforgettable personal story and his exceptional insight into nonverbal communication, an understanding that applies to human relationships as well. He shows that between parent and child, employee and employer, abuser and abused, there are forms of communication far stronger than the spoken word that are accessible to all who will learn to listen. This new edition features engaging photographs, a chapter that traces Roberts’s amazing experience gentling with a mustang in the wild, and an Afterword about the remarkable impact this book has had on the world.
Horse Sense for People: The Man Who Listens to Horses Talks to People (May 2002, Penguin Group (USA)) by Monty Roberts. This is Monty Roberts’s long-awaited sequel to The Man Who Listens to Horses. In this fascinating book, Monty Roberts shows us how to use the “Join-Up” technique-his amazing method for persuading a wild horse to accept a saddle, bridle, and rider-as the model for how best to strengthen human relationships. Full of memorable encounters with horses and humans, Horse Sense for People has at its core a belief in the power of gentleness, positive action, nonviolence, and trust. Roberts provides thought-provoking guidelines for improving the quality of our communication with one another, for learning to “read” each other effectively, and for creating fear-free environments. With demonstrations of the Join-Up technique selling out arenas all over the world, Monty Roberts continues to inspire enthusiasts and convert skeptics. Sure to draw many new readers, Horse Sense for People is the book Monty Roberts’s fans-be they horse enthusiasts, business managers, or book lovers-have been waiting for.
“I’m no horseman, but I know miracles when they happen. I’ve watched this magician of nonviolence change the wild rearing beasts into gentle horses under their riders, time and again, in minutes. Here he hands us some powerful lessons about healing and gentling ourselves and our relationships.” (Richard Bach, author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull)
Lt. Col Dave Grossman: Killology
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society (Revised edition June 22, 2009, Back Bay Books) by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. An eye-opening psychological study of killing in wartime–why soldiers must be trained to kill, how killing affects them, and what the military experience with killing means for society at large. Drawing on dozens of interviews, first-person reports and studies of combat soldiers, Grossman shows that almost all humans have an innate aversion to killing.
On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace (September 2004, PPCT Research Publications) by Dave Grossman, Loren W. Christensen. “This new book is what our young warriors need. At one of David’s last briefings a Senior NCO approached me and said, “Sir, the army spent 18 years and thousands of dollars teaching me to kill. This is the first time I have been taught how to deal with it.” This book will allow those not fortunate enough to hear David do their own preparation for the ultimate test.” Lt. Col. Hal McNair Professor at the Joint Spec Ops University
Warrior Mindset: Mental Toughness Skills for a Nation’s Peacekeepers (January 1, 2010, Human Factor Research Group) by Michael J. Asken, Dave Grossman, Loren W. Christensen. (Foreward by bestselling author Brad Thor). Warrior Mindset presents psychological techniques and training to develop Mental Toughness, a Survival Mindset, and a Hardened Focus. In an easy-to-read format, you will learn simple techniques to integrate psychological skills with physical and tactical training to add a dimension that is often overlooked, but necessary to achieve maximal performance excellence as a modern warrior.
Sgt. Brandi, United States Marine Corps
My first book, The Warrior’s Guide to Insanity, is meant to help those dealing with combat stress and PTSD.
