Wounded Warriors.(Book review)

Wounded Warriors

Mike Sager

Da Capo Press

9780306817359 $16.95 www.dacapopress.com

To most readers, the term "Wounded Warriors" refers to those Marines, soldiers, and sailors wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan. Author Mike Sager, however, an experienced investigative reporter and son of a Marine officer, has widened the term to include some individuals to whom the term 'dysfunctional' could easily be considered charitable

Very possible the title of the book will confuse most readers. "Surely Wounded Warriors" refers to those Marines in the program at Camp Lejeune's Maxwell Hall? Sager has written a gripping account of how these Marines are coping with their combat- altered lives. An experienced interviewer, he lets the Marines' stories speak for themselves as he talks with several enlisted men as well as Lt Col Bill Maxwell founder of the Wounded Warrior program. Through the firefights and I.E.D.s remembered by those who fought in Anbar Province, Sager lets the Marines describe the firefights, mortar attacks, and IED's that wounded them, as well as how they're coping now. Powerful stuff.

But to Sager, "Wounded Warriors" includes others besides the Marines. He follows a middle-class heroin addict ... Vietnam-era expatriates living in Thailand ... a 13-yr old Philadelphia kid who fights pit bulls, a 650 lb fat man?Kobe Bryant?Rev Al Sharpton ... Marlon Brando ... Sager's definition of a 'wounded warrior' is far broader than a typical Marine or Army active-service or veteran would ever consider.

There is no doubt, however, that Sager cares for his subjects. There are no value judgments made, no aspersions cast. Sager is simply telling the stories of some truly dysfunctional and pathetic members of society, and he relates their stories in a manner that make the reader sympathetic.

But any reader who has experienced combat, or has had friends or family members serve overseas, will be hard-pressed to feel any sympathy for the likes of Kobe Bryant, Rev Al Sharpton, and Marlon Brando. At least the morbidly-obese 650-lb man is happily married and runs a thriving free-lance electronics design business, so this 'wounded warrior' has overcome his disability.

The definition of a 'wounded warrior' is very broad to Sager as he writes of Brando being a recluse on his private island, Bryant signing basketballs that he'll sell for $ 699, or Rev Al wondering about the food he'll be served when he gets locked up. But in the real world, these stories pale in comparison to that of the LCPL at Maxwell Hall describing the firefight in which he's wounded and his buddy's killed.

But perhaps the new definition of 'wounded warrior' is how one responds to the challenges around them?and yet one more reason why those Marines in the Lejeune and Pendleton Wounded Warrior barracks remain the elite of American society today.

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