Book Reviews

Title: No Atheists In Foxholes: Reflections and Prayers From the Front
Author: Patrick McLaughlin
Genre: Non-Fiction, Religious/Spiritual
Reviewer: Andrew Lubin

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0785297820

Experience gripping wartime stories and honest prayers by this Camp David chaplain now serving in Iraq.

When words mean less and less, but money talks more and more; when blasphemy is a best seller, and eternal war has replaced hopeful diplomacy; in times like these is prayer even possible? Patrick J. McLaughlin thinks so. McLaughlin is an active duty Navy Chaplain who has ministered to heads of state and to soldiers living and dying in the heat of Iraq.

No Atheists in Foxholes assembles Chaplain McLaughlin's experiences and prayers from e-mails, private notes, and personal conversations that take us real-time into realms of duty and spirit: from the quiet darkness of his infant son's New England bedroom on September 11, 2001, to the bomshelled medical tents and blistered Army Humvees of Anbar Province. Chaplain McLaughlin believes that prayer is not only possible, but critical. "We must all learn to pray for peace," he says, "and then become an answer to that prayer."

Title: Across the Bridge
Author: jim greenwald
Genre: Poetry, Book of Poetry
Reviewer: Lloyd A. King

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1604414294

A journey of the heart, enter and share the feelings, desires and emotions we all experience in this, the cauldron of the adventure we call life. Blended into who and what we become, who we wish to become. This is emotional poetry, sharing life and the deep feelings of the heart and soul. Each poem tells a story that I hope tugs at your heart or the corners of your mouth, and brings a tear to your eye or a smile to your heart..

Title: My Mommy Wears Combat Boots
Author: Sharon McBride
Genre: Children's, Under 12
Reviewer: Claudia Pemberton

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1434351645

As we march on through another year of war, many service members have already completed more than one deployment. Astonishingly, a lot of these service members are mothers, and they are not only balancing their commitments to their families but to the nation as well.My Mommy Wears Combat Boots is based the personal experience of a soldier and a mother who was seeking a way to explain why she needed to leave her child again and go to war. Young children are very limited when it comes to communication skills, and often have a difficult time expressing guilt, frustration, anger, loneliness and sadness and often don't realize that it's normal to feel all of this and more as the result of their mom's deployment. Books about mommies going to war are few and far between, and My Mommy Wears Combat Boots is for mothers in uniform everywhere that are seeking a way to explain to their children the emotions associated with deployment and a way to positively channel those emotions when they are away.

Title: What is a POW/MIA?
Author: John T. Dixon
Genre: Children, Under 12
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1604740299

With Savannah's innocent questions, her Mom's reflections on her lost brother, Mommy, What Is a POW/MIA is a thought provoking journey that makes us ask how we can help bring our brave soldiers home!

Title: Honor Due
Author: D. H. Brown
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Reviewer: Andrew Lubin

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0979874416

In Honor Due, the Major is an ex-Special Forces Vet whose years in 'Nam taught him the art of war. He'd worked covertly for the government until the '90s, when bone-tired of the killing, he walked away and lost himself in the Pacific Northwest. Until he's targeted by a Special Ops team, and forced to resume hunting in the old way. When he find his old Montagnard friend, former Rhade Striker, tortured and killed, and his friend's daughter hiding in the forest, he vows to take the vengeance owed his fallen brother and family. The Major's new mission is to unearth what happened 35 years earlier as South Vietnam was falling, that has triggered the current pursuit. Still mourning his Rhade wife and children killed in that far-away jungle, he doesn't expect to find, and does, another chance at love. Honor Due speaks for the soul of our citizen warriors, appealing to readers of both genders interested in the way soldiers view the world. Without glamorizing violence, Honor Due offers a tense drama and insights into the warrior's code, honor, personal responsibility and the necessity of keeping fang and claw sharp in this age of terrorism.