Down Range: To Iraq and Back

by Bridget C. Cantrell and Chuck Dean

Trauma changes people: It changes values, priorities, worldviews, and most of all it changes how we relate to others. Painful, life-threatening experiences take people beyond the normal day-to-day... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1933150068
• ISBN13: 9781933150062
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: Pine Hill Graphics
• Length: 156 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Buy a copy for your shelf, and a copy to give to a friend.

This book is spectacular. Not everything in it applies to all combat veterans, of course. But it can be a lifesaver if you can get your loved one who has been through combat to read it. It saved the mental health and the marriage of a couple of friends of mine, and I'm grateful. I've ended up buying 6 copies because I keep finding people to give them away to. It combines the 'I've been there too' perspective of a Vietnam veteran with the knowledge of a Ph.D, and it can be invaluable in helping veterans seeing that they are not alone, that they are not 'broken', and that help is available. It can help their loved ones to understand what the veteran is going through, realize that what seem to be insurmountable problems in their relationships may just be the veteran struggling to deal with his wounds any way he can. Soldiers and families of soldiers: buy it and read it even if you don't think you'll need it. Read it so you have the wherewithal to help a friend in need, if nothing else. And to combat veterans of OIF/OEF: if you get out of the service, immediately register at the VA. If you don't register w/in two years of discharge, your eligibility for health care, even for combat-related conditions, is severely limited. Register upon discharge even if you don't think you'll need the help... because you'd rather have the option and not need the help, than need it and be ineligible.

Terrific, informative, timely book

Kudos to Chuck Dean and Bridget Cantrell- I am very grateful for finding this book. How I longed for such a book back in 1968, when a soldier I loved came back from Vietnam with PTSD. I didn't know what I was dealing with then, only that our lives were not normal.Those of us whose lives were personally affected by Vietnam, during and after the war, suffered from a lack of information, as well as the general apathy of the American public. Many of us survived our experience on our own,yet carry deep scars. Many didn't survive at all. It is heartening to know that our latest warriors and families will have this life-altering, mind-saving, packed with knowledge guide to help them along the rocky road of living with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder on a daily basis. This book should be read by the general public, so that they would gain insight into the challenges faced by those sent off to foreign lands, to fight their battles. Read it, share it, and pass it on. We'll all be better for it.

A must read for all soldiers and families

I received this book for free from the mobilization station when I was leaving for my overseas duty and it is available to all soldiers all you have to do is ask. A must read for all soldiers returning from operations in the Middle East. You have so many things in your mind that you cannot explain or understand and this book helps put your feelings and thoughts into perspective. I highly recommend that all soldiers request and read this book and share with their families. Acclimating back into your life that you left is a hard thing to do and it can also be quite the challenge for those left at home that don't understand what we saw and did, so help them out and give them this book! All family support centers should be able to help you out and if you can't find it anywhere in the Army system, then buy it! It is worth the cost to help understand and to help your families welcome you home again.

Excellent book

This book really hit home for me having served in Afghanistan in 01-02 and then Iraq in 2003. I think it could be very helpful for families too.

Sgt "Swede", Marine-Sniper, Vietnam.

Thanks! For about 35 years I lived in denial of the term PTSD. Being a self-sufficient Swede, martial arts instructor, logger,a combat-Marine and finally a pastor I didn't believe my attitudes had little or anything to do with the war. After reading Chuck's book "Nam Vet and now "Down Range:To Iraq and Back", the latter containing professional insights by Dr Bridget C. Cantrell, I am now convinced that Vietnam in fact have negatively influenced my life drastically. Thank you for taking time and making this a literature of hope for me and my wife. We are looking forward to become involved in helping others as well in their endeavors to overcome the traumas of the past. May God bless your work with veterans and their families of the past, the present and in the future. Thanks again. Bjorn "Swede" Dahlin