Wednesday, November 29, 2017

My Washington Times Review of 'Vets And Pets: Wounded Warriors And the Animals That Help Them Heal'


My review of Dava Guerin and Kevin Ferris’s Vets and Pets: Wounded Warriors and the Animals That Help Them Heal ran in the Washington Times.

Dava Guerin and Kevin Ferris, the authors of “Unbreakable Bonds: The Mighty Moms and Wounded Warriors of Walter Reed,” have published another fine book about wounded veterans and their supporters.

In their previous book they offered stories about the love and sacrifices the mothers — “The Mighty Moms” — of wounded veterans made in order to help their sons and daughters heal and adjust.

In their new book they offer stories about others who help the wounded veterans. The others are dogs, cats, birds, horses and even a potbellied pig.

In “Vets and Pets: Wounded Warriors and the Animals That Help Them Heal” the authors offer 15 stories about suffering veterans and the service and companion animals they bond with.

“For many of us, coming home to or cuddling with a beloved pet is one of life’s great joys. No matter how your day has gone, the unbridled excitement of your pet when you walk in the door really can make your problems seem a little less grim,” former first lady Barbara Bush writes in the foreword to the book. “Now, imagine for a moment the power of that same bond between our military veterans and their pets. For years we’ve all heard stories of how that relationship not only changes but saves lives. Their pets can make dark days brighter, the helpless feel helpful, the lonely feel loved.

“It was a love story begging to be told.”

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

4 comments:

  1. Thanks, Paul, for highlighting what seems like a fascinating book. It's interests me that the recent years of war have be catalysts for so many books about the military; during the Vietnam era, there seemed to have been too few. I wonder what has changed.

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  2. RT,

    Thanks.

    Attitudes about the military have truly changed from our time - not sure why, but I'm not complaining...

    Paul

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  3. Perhaps the differences can be found in enemies: one was an abstraction for most people (i.e., Communism, an ideology, and the domino-theory on the other side of the world), and now we have a tangible enemy (i.e., terrorists who strike at the U.S.). In that sense, now is comparable to WW2: enemies that threaten us here and now.

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