Fives and Twenty Fives by Michael Pitre

Fives and Twenty Fives: A Novel, Michael Pitre. Sydney: Bloomsbury, 2014. e-book, 317 pps

I believe Michael Pitre when he says he was there in Iraq. Fives and Twenty Fives is his first novel. It is a fictional Iraq in which a platoon is out fixing potholes blended in with the aftereffects for some members of the platoon. From the interpreter to the people he met along the way before landing in the somewhat safe haven of the Army as a terp to the leaders and the grunts, the smell of war is intermingled in its pages.

All of my paternal male relatives have served in various wars and actions. Of those who came back, they were changed. Those who didn't make it back live on in my memory.

As a youngster, I didn't understand the why behind wars. As I got older, I learned about the huge vastness of empty grayness between the over-simplified version of black-and-white that we were compelled to learn in school. 

My quarrel today is not with the veterans. My gripe is with the president who felt it his duty to show up in Saudi Arabia to honor an old now dead king and to greet a new king who is more of the same. Because Big Oil is more important than lost lives and because beheadings in the background become white noise that he can somehow sleep through. Those kings in Saudi Arabia support beheadings of the citizenry and human rights advocates who dare to disagree. Five beheadings happened during the first week of the new king's rule. I don't understand how the president was able to sleep at night in that country knowing that human beings were suffering and continue to suffer cruel deaths.

We as a country have to wake up and smell the gasoline. Campaigns for us to lessen our usage have failed. We need to develop our own resources in our own country NOW so that we can become independent from those other countries who provide us with oil but would just as soon kill us all or place us under the bondage of Sharia as look at us as human beings. We are the infidels who must rise up.

Secondly, we ought to continue to develop modes of transportation [cars and like that] which are "green," that is depend upon renewable sources to run.

But we, in our own stupidity, will not do these things. We will continue to have presidents who kiss foreign asses for Big Oil.

sapphoq reviews says: A true winner of a novel. Highly
recommended. Must read. It is haunting. Read this one.

Until Tuesday, by Luis Carlos Montalvan

Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him, Luis Carlos Montalvan.  New York: Hyperion: 2011.  e-book, 234 pps.

Luis Carlos Montalvan has written a fine book about his relationship with his service dog Tuesday.  Montalvan was injured in Iraq.  He suffered a brain injury there, but not knowing any better-- neither did the medical doctors sad to say-- he went back.  Having acquired a hellish case of post-traumatic stress disorder along with a fractured back, he returned stateside.  He wasn't doing so well.

Tuesday was a young golden retriever.  He suffered a few setbacks during his training.  He also had/has a goofy sense of humor and refused to heel properly.

Montalvan traveled to Tuesday's training center with three other disabled vets.  And he took Tuesday back to New York City with him.

At first, Montalvan continued to have difficulty navigating the world outside of his apartment.  He began an emotional investment with Tuesday.  That and switching his care from one V.A. to another one helped him to stabilize mentally and to progress.  And progress Montalvan did.  During the book, he went back to school and also realized a lifelong dream. 

Montalvan was forced to advocate for himself as a disabled vet who had a service dog which was a necessity rather than just a regular sort of dog.  Even so, he suffered from inexcusably rude behavior and was denied entry in some places.  He gradually began to fight back and acquired a large bundle of e-mails.  The e-mails show that discrimination against service animals definitely still exists.

sapphoq reviews says:  The book Until Tuesday held my interest.  I was able to identify with Montalvan.  Although I had never been in a combat zone, a few of his t.b.i.-related difficulties are similar to mine.  Until Tuesday was an easy read, enjoyable and fascinating.  Recommended for all who like animals, care about service animals and their human partners, or love a disabled vet.