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Best new books for military spouses ~ 2016
My TOP EIGHT recommendations ~ Every year I am amazed to see new resources available to military families. Books are no exception. I am sharing with you four books for military spouses that have caught my eye, are popular, and have received great reviews. Take a look!
Best new books for military children ~ 2016
My TOP EIGHT recommendations ~ My three children have endured three long deployments without their daddy. Supporting military kids is very real to me. Our family has benefited from those who have it on their heart to reach out to military kids with good quality books. Contrary to what many believe, there are MANY books for military kids (LINK to my lists). And now I am delighted to highlight some NEW military children books!
More BEST new books for military families!
If I Run (fiction)
U.S. Veterans in the Workforce: Why the 7 Percent are America's Greatest Assets -- a "Must-Read" for HR and college recruiters
Navy veteran Mike Schindler, Founder and CEO of Operation Military Family, tells the stories of our returning heroes so that we might gain a true understanding of life for returning vets and their families. While addressing some of the hardships of returning vets, Schindler also reveals another side of America's heroes―the side that celebrates the triumphs and hirable qualities offered by our veterans including:
- A Strong Work Ethic
- A Positive Attitude
- The Willingness to Do More
- Strong Job Preparedness
- Being Solution Minded
- High Energy
U.S. Veterans in the Workforce sheds light on the American heroes who come home to new heroic endeavors―the ones that make America worth fighting for.
For veterans who are transitioning out of the military, visit this LINK to see our listing of education and employment resources.
Author: Terri Blackstock
Now a USA TODAY bestseller!
Casey knows the truth. But it won’t set her free. -- Casey Cox’s DNA is all over the crime scene. There’s no use talking to police; they’ve failed her abysmally before. She has to flee before she’s arrested . . . or worse. The truth doesn’t matter anymore.
But what is the truth? That’s the question haunting Dylan Roberts, the war-weary veteran hired to find Casey. PTSD has marked him damaged goods, but bringing Casey back can redeem him. Though the crime scene seems to tell the whole story, details of the murder aren’t adding up.
Casey Cox doesn’t fit the profile of a killer. But are Dylan’s skewed perceptions keeping him from being objective? If she isn’t guilty, why did she run?
Unraveling her past and the evidence that condemns her will take more time than he has, but as Dylan’s damaged soul intersects with hers, he is faced with two choices: the girl who occupies his every thought is a psychopathic killer . . . or a selfless hero. And the truth could be the most deadly weapon yet.
COMING IN 2017 - If I'm Found - LINK
Author: Tim Hayes
New book about HORSES, HUMANS and HEALING
Riding Home: The Power of Horses to Heal is written for Equine and Mental Health Professionals, Horse Lovers and Non~Horse Lovers.
It is the first book to scientifically and experientially explain why horses have the extraordinary ability to emotionally transform the lives of thousands of men, women and children whether they are veterans with PTSD, children with autism, at risk youth as well as sufferers of addiction, alcoholism and divorce…basically anyone in emotional pain or who has lost their way.
The author wrote the book to help people and organizations like yours raise the awareness of Equine Therapy and the effectiveness of its healing.
Interested in learning more about the organizations who support military veteran families with equine therapy? Click on this LINK
Author: Luis Carlos Montalván
Service and therapy dogs offer military veterans friendship, partnership, assistance and healing. Did you know that there are numerous organizations who provide dogs to veterans? (LINK to my listing)
The best-selling Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him by Iraq War veteran Luis Carlos Montalvan captures how this special dog saved his life. All dog-lovers who have an interest in the healing power of dogs need to read this!
Tuesday Takes Me There is the third book about Tuesday. This book is a great way to show kids how dogs help people with disabilities as Tuesday narrates the journey with his owner from New York's Staten Island to Washington, DC.
New books on equine therapy, military working dogs, service & therapy dogs for veterans
Author: Nancy Furstinger
Modern wars recruit more than just human soldiers. Our canine companions also serve in the line of duty and under fire, whether helping police protect our home turf or accompanying soldiers on missions abroad. Readers will cheer for the hero dogs featured in this collection, profiled with stunning photos and inspiring tales of bravery, friendship, heroism, and devotion. Their touching stories are sure to inspire animal lovers everywhere.
If you would like to learn more about how military working dogs have played a role in our Armed Forces will also appreciate my listing of books found here - LINK.
Authors: Kimberly M. Drew and Jocelyn Green
More than one-fifth of US households with children have at least one child with special needs. Raising a child with special needs is spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically challenging. Parents of these children need encouragement to restore hope and a passion for God in their lives—but the realities of having to be parent, nurse, therapist, and caregiver make it difficult to find the time or initiative to seek encouragement.
Packed with encouragement from parents who understand this complicated balancing act, Refresh is designed to provide just what these parents need. The devotional guides parents to spiritual truths that can be applied to the demands they face every day. It offers perspective and hope through the varying stages and phases families experience, from diagnosis to loss and grief.
Each day's devotional includes a reading from Scripture, as well as stories and testimonies from parents who intimately know the struggle readers face. Their children represent a wide range of special needs, including autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, genetic disorders, chronic illness, and more. Drew and Green show how the truths of God's Word are relevant, regardless of the diagnosis. Their devotional illuminates the unique lessons and perspectives to be gained as a result of raising a child with special needs.
Insightful and powerful, Refresh will help weary parents grow spiritual roots and turn toward the Light that never fades.
You will notice that this book is not specifically for military families. Yet, it is co-crafted by one of my favorite authors, Jocelyn Green. Most military spouses are aware of Jocelyn Green's popular and highly treasured devotionals, Faith Deployed and Faith Deployed...Again.
Riding Home: The Power of Horses to Heal
Top EIGHT BEST new books for military spouses ~ 2016
Sacred Spaces: My Journey to the Heart of Military Marriage
Author: Corie Weathers
Like many military couples, Corie and her husband, Matt, an Army chaplain, accumulated significant unshared moments during Matt's deployments. Matt lost friends and fellow soldiers to combat in Afghanistan. On the home front, Corie sat with bereaved military families and walked through dark days with new widows as a friend and professional counselor. When Matt returned, he and Corie began using the term "sacred spaces" for these and other significant moments they had experienced independently. After multiple deployments, sacred spaces were taking up a lot of emotional room in their relationship.
When US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter invited Corie, as the 2015 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year, to join his team on a one-week overseas holiday trip, she eagerly accepted, hoping to gain a better understanding of her husband's deployment experience and lessen the impact sacred spaces had on her marriage.
Corie didn't choose the timing or circumstances of her trip with Secretary Carter--Christmastime, in the midst of her family's second cross-state move in six months--but it seemed the perfect opportunity for Corie and Matt to gain a better understanding of each other's perspectives.
Matt experienced life on the home front with new eyes as he moved their household belongings, prepared for the holidays, and settled their two young sons into their new school.
At US military installations and aboard aircraft and aircraft carriers in Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf, Corie spoke with military families stationed overseas and deployed troops on the ground, in the air, and at sea. She paid close attention to her own sensory and emotional reactions to these new environments and recorded her thoughts each day via video log, blog, and social media. She also wrote about the trip for Military Spouse magazine.
While she wanted to inform other military families about her discoveries, Corie deeply hoped the trip would impact her own marriage as well. She didn't choose the locations the entourage would visit, yet fate landed her in the very place that had changed the trajectory of her life.
As Corie sat in the belly of a C-17, where her husband had said goodbye to the remains of friends and fellow soldiers, as she touched with her own hands the memorial at FOB Fenty and reflected on her grief as a care team member following the battle of COP Keating, Corie realized this journey was about much more than the push-pull of duty away from loved ones.
This was a journey to the heart of her marriage, a place where she would have to leave behind her resentment in exchange for ground she and her husband had surrendered to hurt, misunderstanding, loss--and to Afghanistan.
Corie set out on this trip hoping to gain a better understanding of her husband and his deployment experience, but along the way, she discovered a whole new perspective of herself and her military marriage. By sharing her story, Corie hopes to help other military couples strengthen their marriages.
Army Wife: A Story of Love and Family in the Heart of the Army
Author: Vicki Cody
From the last days of the Vietnam War to the present-day war on terrorism, this story is a moving and poignant tribute to love, marriage, family, and the men and women who serve this nation. In describing her thirty-three-year journey as an Army wife, Cody gives an in-depth look at what it takes to keep a marriage strong, raise a family—oftentimes as a single parent—create a home, and face separations and loneliness amid the uncertainty and stresses that are so much a part of Army life.
Over the years, Cody learns to embrace the uniqueness of her circumstances, and she finds joy, self-fulfillment, and pride in her role. But when both her sons follow in their dad’s footsteps, becoming Army Aviators and flying Apache helicopters in combat zones in Afghanistan and Iraq, Cody faces her greatest challenges as a mother and again, must balance the needs of her family with her husband’s position. Full of humor and honesty, Army Wife brings the reader into Cody’s private life in a very personal way, and in doing so opens the lens for a broader view of world events.
You Are Not Alone: Encouragement for the Heart of a Military Spouse
Author: Jen McDonald
"If the military wanted you to have a spouse, they would have issued you one." -Uncle Sam
When you marry a military member, your life is suddenly no longer your own. You not only marry the one you love, but also a whole new way of life--one filled with separations, moves, deployments, and other challenges.
How to cope with this ever-changing life? Jen McDonald is right there with you. For nearly three decades as a military spouse, she's been in the trenches of this unique military world and carved out her own rewarding life.
In You Are Not Alone: Encouragement for the Heart of a Military Spouse, Jen offers a helping hand and a whisper of "You've got this!" as you make your own way. She celebrates the great moments with you, commiserates when it's not so easy, and points you to hard-won wisdom and helpful resources. Most of all, she reminds you that you're not alone on this military spouse journey.
Each daily reading is written from the perspective of faith. In her warm, authentic style, Jen offers practical tips, related Scripture, and journal prompts for further reflection. Whether it's a deployment, move, or raising military kids, find real-life inspiration and hope from someone who's been there.
Got Here as Soon As I Could: Discovering the Way Life Should Be
Author: Sarah Smiley
I'm not from Maine... but I got here as soon as I could.
Six years ago, a family from Florida fell in love with "the way life should be," and although they've never seen a moose, the Smileys intend to stay. Because say what you will about the cold winters and the messy mud season, there is no better place to raise a kid than in the great state of Maine.
Got Here As Soon As I Could is a collection of syndicated columnist Sarah Smiley's most-loved columns about raising a family in Maine. In these 100 essays, readers will laugh, cry and nod their head "yes" as they remember a time when all of America was as simple and beautiful as it still is today in Vacationland.
BEST new books for military children 2016
The ABCs of the Army
Author: Maria Cordova
From Airborne to June 14, 1775 to Woobie and Zonk!? What is a Woobie? And what is Zonk!? Find out as you read through The ABCs of the Army and sing the Army song loud and proud with your Army family and friends of all ages!
Brave Like Me
Author: Barbara Kerley
When someone is serving our country, far from home, everyone in their family has to be brave. Including -- and sometimes especially -- the kids. This book speaks to all kids in this situation in telling the story of a boy and a girl with parents away on duty. It captures the children's worries, fears, trials, and triumphs while waiting for their parents to return from service. Although the narrative tells one universal tale, the photographs depict multiple perspectives so that every reader has someone they can relate to. In the end, each child finds the strength and patience to endure the wait, showing admirable bravery and inspiring us all. An afterword looks further at the meaning of bravery and offers resources for helping kids deal with transition, deployment, and separation.
Father Is Always With Me
Author: Emmanuel Barbosa
Designed for children in the world who have relatives in the military (it includes illustrations that apply to all branches) and written by an active duty member. Father Is Always With Me is the bright and colorful story of Leonardo or as he goes Leo a child who is about to experience his first PCS and witness his daddy announce the news of deployment. Watch as his parents involve Leo in the activities and instill lessons that will help him cope through this difficult journey.
Synopsis:
Meet Leo, your new little friend whose father is in the military. Join him as he experiences his family's transfer to a new country and their first deployment. Watch him as he explores his emotions and feelings of uncertainty when he's leaving the place he once called home and learns that no matter what the distance, his daddy is always with him in his heart.
Lilla's Sunflowers
Author: Colleen Rowan Kosinski
Lilla and Papa enjoy spending magical times in Lilla’s sunflower patch. Before Papa leaves for a trip that will take him far away from home for a long time, Lilla gives him a sunflower seed. “To remember me, Papa,” Lilla whispers.
Seasons pass and Lilla’s mood falls like autumn leaves. Finally, news comes that her papa is coming home! The following summer, to her surprise, she receives letters from families with photos of their loved ones pictured with sunflowers. She learns that her gift to her father brightened the dark days for many people, and that her one small seed continued spreading sunshine across the country.
Colleen Rowan Kosinki’s lyrical style and whimsical artwork brings this story of love to life. Not only will Lilla’s Sunflowers resonate with military families but with any child missing a loved one. This is a wonderful gift for holidays celebrating our country’s military heroes as well a quiet story for bedtime read-alouds.
For kids aged 3 to 6, this is a must-have for military families or for families where one of parent does a lot of traveling and is away from the home for extended periods of time. It also serves as a charming story about sharing what you have and the benefits that can reap.
My Military Dad: Does Things a Little Different
Author: Vincent Vargas
The first children's book from Vince Vargas of Article 15 Clothing fame. Sure to be a hit with military brats everywhere!
Coloring My Military Life - Book 1
Author: Christina Rodriguez
Military life is a colorful adventure, filled with challenges, blessings, and a whole lot of red, white, and blue. Frequent moves, deployments, and close friendships over the miles are just a few common shades. Each person in a military family lives a unique life. Elva Resa's Coloring My Military Life books let you choose your palette to express your own military life experience.
Each book contains a variety of illustrated military life situations and emotions appropriate for all ages. One-sided pages offer options to use a variety of coloring materials, take pages out of the book to frame or share, or draw your own pictures or doodles on the blank side.
Coloring My Military Life - Book 1 features level-one coloring pages with simple scenes especially interesting to younger children. An adorable puppy makes snow angels, marches in a patriotic parade, and dreams of being a superhero dog.
Coloring My Military Life - Book 2
Author: Jessie Barnes
Military life is a colorful adventure, filled with challenges, blessings, and a whole lot of red, white, and blue. Frequent moves, deployments, and close friendships over the miles are just a few common shades. Each person in a military family lives a unique life. Elva Resa's Coloring My Military Life books let you choose your palette to express your own military life experience.
Each book contains a variety of illustrated military life situations and emotions appropriate for all ages. One-sided pages offer options to use a variety of coloring materials, take pages out of the book to frame or share, or draw your own pictures or doodles on the blank side.
Coloring My Military Life - Book 2 features level-two coloring pages with hand-lettering, patterns and designs, and more complex scenes especially appealing to older children, teens, and adults. Best friends, a new school day, air shows, and inventory stickers - these coloring pages are packed with meaningful scenes on many aspects of military life.
"Designing this coloring book is a project that has been close to my heart, because the military community is, in itself, a sense of home for me," says illustrator Jessie Barnes. "While I poured my own military life experiences and ideas into the artwork, my intent is for others to see themselves when they open these pages."
32+ illustrations
My Mother's Wings
Author: Sally Huss
Like many children in military families, the boy in this story misses his pilot mother when she is deployed for duty. But, she is a wise and resourceful mom who knows how to heal his lonely heart. In doing so, she gives him the key to helping other children of military parents. What did she tell him? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
All in rhyme, with happy and colorful illustrations, this story brings a smile to any child who reads it.
Tell Me a Tattoo Story
Author: Alison McGhee
A bestselling author-illustrator duo join forces to create a modern father-son love story. The father tells his little son the story behind each of his tattoos, and together they go on a beautiful journey through family history. There's a tattoo from a favorite book his mother used to read him, one from something his father used to tell him, and one from the longest trip he ever took. And there is a little heart with numbers inside—which might be the best tattoo of them all. Tender pictures by New York Times bestselling illustrator Eliza Wheeler complement this lovely ode to all that's indelible—ink and love.
After Eric Davis spent over 16 years in the military, including a decade in the SEAL Teams, his family was more than used to his absence on deployments and secret missions that could obscure his whereabouts for months at a time.
Without a father figure in his own life since the age of fifteen, Eric was desperate to maintain the bonds he’d fought so hard to forge when his children were young—particularly with his son, Jason, because he knew how difficult it was to face the challenge of becoming a man on one’s own. Unfortunately, Eric learned the hard way that Quality Time doesn’t always show up in Quantity Time.
Facebook, television, phones, video games, school, jobs, friends—they all got in the way of a real, meaningful father-son relationship. It was time to take action.
As a SEAL, Eric learned to innovate and push boundaries, allowing him to function at levels beyond what was expected, comfortable, ordinary, and even imaginable, and he knew that as a father he needed to do the same with his son. Meeting extreme with extreme was the only answer.
Using a unique blend of discipline, leadership, adventure, and grace, Eric and his SEAL brothers will teach you how to connect, and reconnect, with your sons and learn how to raise real men—the Navy SEAL way.
Interested in other military parenting books and resources? CLICK HERE
To learn more about these TOP EIGHT NEW BOOKS for military kids - CLICK HERE
To learn more about these TOP EIGHT NEW BOOKS for military spouses - CLICK HERE
Journey of a Military Wife: Devotional series (Set of 4 books) - FREE
Author: Brenda Pace
A devotional series written by Dr. Brenda Pace for military wives. Journey online through Bible stories that shed timeless – and practical – truth on issues you will encounter in a life of military service. Deployment, separation, reintegration, relocation, or many other situations, these studies will point you to the Lord for direction, help, and encouragement.
Order your FREE set with this LINK
FREE!
Author: Joseph W. Mujwit
Zip is a military working dog destined to serve in the U.S. Special Forces. Specially trained, he joins a SEAL Team and is deployed in Afghanistan's dangerous Korengal Valley with his partner and best friend, Petty Officer Todd Mitchell. Todd, the team, and their new K9 have their skills continually tested by the sinister influence of the Taliban leader who dwells in the mountains. As they battle the insurgents; the team defuse IEDs, uncover caches of weapons and withstand harassing enemy attacks. Eventually, they face dire circumstances when pursued and ultimately trapped where they make a desperate attempt to escape. The circumstances of the ensuing battle and extraction cause the team leader, Lieutenant John Kelly, to make an agonizing decision that tears at Todd's dedication to duty and his devotion to his K9 partner and friend. Can Todd and the team carry out their orders knowing that it will probably cost their most beloved member his life?
Elements of Tom Clancy and Jack London come together as A Special Breed of Warrior chronicles Zip’s training from his time as a pup and the special people who shape him into a highly skilled military working dog; to the orientation with his SEAL Team and their trying ordeal while deployed in Afghanistan. The novel is a tribute to the dedication of those that serve our country under the most extreme circumstances and the astonishing attributes of their K9 partners.
If you would like to learn more about how military working dogs have played a role in our Armed Forces, visit my exhaustive list of books found here - LINK.
Raising Men: Lessons Navy SEALs Learned from Their Training and Taught to Their Sons
U.S. Veterans in the Workforce: Why the 7 Percent are America's Greatest Assets
Refresh: Spiritual Nourishment for Parents of Children with Special Needs
Tuesday Takes Me There: The Healing Journey of a Veteran and His Service Dog
A Special Breed of Warrior (fiction)
Paws of Courage: True Tales of Heroic Dogs that Protect and Serve
Revised and updated every year, The Military Advantage, 2016 Edition is the most reliable benefits guide for Americans who have answered the call to serve in the military. These benefits amount to billions in scholarships, educational benefits, home loan guarantees, and military discounts. The 2016 edition includes TRICARE Prime and pharmacy updates, 2016 pay and allowance rates, active duty education program changes, new Navy sea pay charts, new veteran support resources, expanded service member protection policies, and changes in service member life insurance.
The Military Advantage 2016 Edition: The Military.com Guide to Military and Veterans Benefits
This booklet provides hope and healing for veterans and their families who are suffering the invisible wounds and scars of war. Moody and Trogdon provide helpful information to understand the struggles and offer effective ways to find a brighter future of purpose and peace. Topics include: PTSD, traumatic brain injury, stress of war, transitioning to home, and many more. The authors' writing flows out of experience and a genuine appreciation for those who have served to protect our country's freedom.
Other books to help and encourage our veterans with PTSD are found HERE
First Aid for Your Emotional Hurts: Veterans
Author: Michael W. Langston and Kathy J. Langston
The tragedies and traumas of war are enormous and the consequences of it change forever the lives of those who return as well as the lives of loved ones and friends of those who do and do not return. For many veterans the psychological battles continue long after combat deployments end. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder significantly affects many people and is not limited solely to war trauma. In this volume of hope and healing the authors recount their ongoing journey to hope. In an intensely personal yet broadly applicable discussion of PTSD, Mike and Kathy Langston provide encouragement and hope for all who struggle with the ravages of PTSD or who love someone who struggles with it. This is a powerful story proclaiming that recovery is possible and that the past need not control the present or the future.
Additional books for military and veteran families coping with PTSD are found HERE
A Journey to Hope: Healing the Traumatized Spirit
Author: Kathleen Hegenberger
Battle Buddies is a charming and true story about the antics of three golden retriever puppies and their journey as they are trained to become service dogs for warriors with PTSD. Battle Buddies is meant be read to children to educate them (and the reader) about how to behave around a service dog and his handler. All proceeds from the book go to K9s for Warriors in Ponte Vedre, Florida. Go to their website at K9sforwarriors.org for more information.
If you would like to learn more about the various organizations that offer service dogs, therapy dogs and companion pets for military veterans, visit my exhaustive list found here - LINK.
Battle Buddies
Goodnight Marines
Author: David R. Dixon
The best-selling Marine Corps children's book. Brilliantly illustrated by former Disney Artist, Phil Jones (Tarzan, Mulan, Lilo & Stitch), and written by an award-winning poet and active-duty Marine, this hardcover children's book will warm the hearts of both young and old as the audience is taken on an imaginative adventure that teaches about the culture & traditions of the Marine Corps. ------ A note from the author, Major David Dixon: "As a Marine and Iraq War veteran, I feel honored to represent the Marine Corps and the traditions that I hold so dear. I believe that Marines, both active duty and retired, must learn to engage the younger generation and share our proud culture of leadership. In this spirit I authored Goodnight Marines. All who read Goodnight Marines will appreciate the patriotism, heartfelt emotions, captivating illustrations, and richness of symbolism. In this book a young child gazes proudly at a photograph of his father - currently deployed to Afghanistan. The child's room is adorned with toy tanks, planes, radios, and trucks that he plays with to feel connected to his father. Then, as the child says goodnight to his dad and all of his military memorabilia, the toys come alive in his vibrant imagination. Kids, of course, love the quiet protagonist - the child's best friend and stuffed animal Teufel Hunden (Devil Dog). Unfortunately, this young boy cannot yet pronounce such a difficult German word, so he has named his friend "Tuffy Hound." The real spirit of Goodnight Marines culminates on the final page, where the moon shines on the father's picture next to his son - sleeping safely in his room with Tuffy Hound. I hope my fellow warriors enjoy reading this to their children as much as my wife and I do. A portion of the proceeds from this book will benefit Tillman Scholars through the Pat Tillman Foundation."
Rosie the Response Boat
Author: Tyler Benson and Kristy Benson
Rosie the Response Boat is the newest Coast Guard team member. She is a good leader and works with the other rescue boats to teach new Coasties how to prepare for missions. Proppie is mistrustful of Rosie because she is new and different. But when Proppie has mechanical problems and is frightened, he discovers that Rosie is not only a good leader, but she is also a great friend.
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Best NEW books for military & veteran families from 2016
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Benita Koeman of Operation We Are Here is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. When you purchase a product that is linked to Amazon, I earn a small commission which in turn helps me to continue with my mission of providing resources to the military community and military supporters. Learn more...
Author: Kristine Schellhaas
Less than 1% of our nation will ever serve in our armed forces, leaving many to wonder what life is really like for military families.
He answers the call of duty in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Pacific; she keeps the home fires burning. Worlds apart, and in the face of indescribable grief, their relationship is pushed to the limits.
15 Years of War: How the Longest War in U.S. History Affected a Military Family in Love, Loss, and the Cost Of Service provides a unique he said/she said perspective on coping with war in modern-day America. It reveals a true account of how a dedicated Marine and his equally committed spouse faced unfathomable challenges and achieved triumph, from the days just before 9/11 through 15 years of training workups, deployments, and other separations.
This story of faith, love, and resilience offers insight into how a decade and a half of war has redefined what it means to be a military family.
Recommended for military families and military supporters. Additional memoirs about military families are found HERE
15 Years of War: How the Longest War in U.S. History Affected a Military Family in Love, Loss, and the Cost Of Service
Author: Tyra Manning
A remarkable story of love, loss, and hope
Author Tyra Manning learned that her husband had been killed in the Vietnam War from her psychiatrist at the Menninger Clinic, where she had been hospitalized for clinical depression. After years of battling addiction and depression, and coping with the tragic loss of her father at a very early age, Tyra's worst fear had come true. Larry had been shot down over the Laotian jungle while flying a top-secret mission, just two weeks before their daughter s second birthday.
In this beautifully written, poignant memoir, Tyra Manning recounts how she was able to persevere in the face of devastating loss. With courage, love, and determination, she overcame her grief and fulfilled promises she made to Larry before he left for Vietnam. She ultimately earned a doctorate of education from the University of Kansas and became one of the nation's top school superintendents.
When Tyra received a call from the air force in 2006, she was able to keep one last promise to Larry. His remains had finally been excavated after thirty-five years, and she was able to honor his wish to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Where the Water Meets the Sand explores themes of loss, depression, addiction, courage, and love and offers hope to individuals and families who have also dealt with the loss of someone close to them.
Additional books for and about Gold Star families are listed HERE
More new books...
Where the Water Meets the Sand: A Memoir
When Daddy Comes Home: A Children's Book on PTSD
Author: Maggie Hundshamer
PTSD is a very tough subject for children to understand. Author Maggie Hundshamer, a USMC veteran, has written this book to help you explain the subject to your children and give them a way to help you as much as you help them.
Author: Sarah E. Dautel
Ajax was born with a sword in hand. He dreams of being a valiant warrior, but tragedy strikes. It is perseverance alone that will bring Ajax through his darkest hours.
Ajax Bound for Glory is a children’s picture book inspired by the ideas of honorable service, perseverance through adversity, and success despite disaster. With a sprightly rabbit in a starring role, this story explores the reaction to disappointment in a proactive way. Its daring content — a training accident that results in major injury — is presented in a light and reassuring way that children of all ages can appreciate.
View the entire list of books for children of military combat wounded warriors HERE
Ajax Bound for Glory
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Author: Tim Hayes
The Fundamantals of Equine Assisted Trauma Therapy, with case examples from working with members of the Armed Forces“ is a peer-reviewed, must-have reference for any professional who wants to be involved in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy. Numerous case examples illustrate the use of Equine Assisted Trauma Therapy principles as it takes readers step by step from necessary theoretical basics to the skills and techniques that constitute clinical equine assisted trauma work. This unique resource is an indispensable guide to develop and implement Equine Assisted Psychotherapy techniques in your practice and is the most comprehensive book available dedicated to both equine specialists and mental health professionals.
Interested in learning more about the organizations who support military veteran families with equine therapy? Click on this LINK
The Fundamentals of Equine Assisted Trauma Therapy: With Practical Examples from Working with Members of the Armed Forces
