After: The Battle Has Just Begun
By: R.J. Belle / Narrated By: Amy Rubinate, Alex Hyde-White, Betsy Baker, Eric Martin, RC Bray, Jeffrey Kafer, Gary Sinise, Scott Brick, P. J. Ochlan, Punch Audio
Length: 3 hrs and 40 mins
Awesome; no politics, just heart and soul and healing in words and actions
We’ve plenty of audiobooks in both our Veterans Day and Memorial Day pages as I’m somewhat, uhm, obsessed?! with men and women who have been through a lot, all for each other. Every now and then, I admit, I go on a rant at what I see as unjust reasons for sending our military out to live, fight, kill, and die. I scorn the elites who send them out with shoddy equipment and even shoddier reasons.
And I KNOW that’s not what ANY Veteran needs or wants to read/hear.
And so I do so heartily apologize, and it’s why After by R.J. Belle is so terrific. Cuz, you see, it focuses on the people who go to War and who now have to continue battles long after they’ve come “Home”. Plus, Belle infuses such Hope into each of these After Stories.
Eight men (Tho’ yessss women are returning home with just as many obstacles and unseen landmines that set them back) are introduced, and we learn of just how they became “damaged” by what they’ve seen, by what’s happened to them, by how they try to cope upon their Homecomings. It’s also of what’s available for them, the resources, the concepts of what’ll help as they try to find Lives within the Norms of our consumerist society.
The upshot? Vietnam Veterans learned these things and really opened doors by fighting for all the ways THEY would’ve been helped when THEY returned Home.
Also? We’re no longer a country that goes to war; we’re a country whose Military goes to war. Our country, the government, the populace at large are NEVER asked to do anything. We toss off “Thank you for your service” as tho’ we’ve done well by Veterans, and we chuck medals occasionally, refer to Veterans as Heroes, never considering that to them p’raps the Heroes are the ones who gave everything, their very lives. The individuals who came back in coffins with flags draped over them, with Escorts and grieving families waiting to bring them to final resting places.
Belle also brings up how society glibly spouts: 22 A Day, but I have to quibble a bit on this. She posits that it’s said without really thinking or doing anything about, that p’raps buying a t-shirt with that emblazoned on it is common. No, I don’t think so. So here, for everyone, this is what it means: Service members die by suicide at a rate of 22 a day.
There, said. How on earth can that be a reasonable rate for us to swallow? And yet we do.
Within After, Belle herself struggles with her own family as during her interviews her life was changed by a Veteran she fell head over heels in love with. She watches as darkness descends on him, wishing to go back to the days where the comments: He’s a changed man since he met you, -and- Wow, you’ve helped him so much were appreciated, were counted upon. Cuz, you see, you can’t Unring The Bell. Sure her partner is doing “well” and finding reasons to live, but No, what happened to him will forever be back there, looming, as even he feels despair descend, thoughts of suicide coming to mind.
Prepare for stories of utter horror, of men who’ve come back damaged, limbs blasted apart from IEDs, Traumatic Brain Injuries being just as prevalent. Prepare for how the program created by a single woman wishing to actually do something concrete, the Warrior Foundation Freedom Station has changed the lives of so many Veterans as they begin the transition from always at war, being fully able-bodied, to their New Selves. At the Freedom Station they can learn from other Vets, and they’re given the chance to learn how to adapt, how to find long-sought-for independence.
Healing occurs, and it’s GLORIOUS to listen to.
I made the mistake once of dashing over to hold the door open for a Vietnam Veteran as he was entering the post office, using his walker. He’d jokingly said that he “Ain’t dead yet!” but accepted the gesture. But then I added that Vietnam Veterans were my heroes. THIS made him somber, and so I scrambled to express just what they meant to me as a kid, their struggles that showed me resilience, their utter devotion to each other that brightened hard times.
Don’t call a Veteran a Hero on Veterans Day 2022, as the term is enTIREly loaded by their experiences. But do give them a little more than a Thank You For Your Service. Maybe add an: I Wish The Best For You.
I dunno…
But After, with its accounts of horror, with its accounts of fighting for a place in Society, in Life, bestows an enormous amount of dignity and respect to our Service Members.
No, our country doesn’t go to war, but we, our American Society, have gotta step up to the plate and pick up all those battles Veterans fight for.
They go to war, have each other’s backs.
We should have their backs as well…
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.