Rule Number Two by Heidi Squier Kraft

Heidi is a clinical psychologist and writes about her seven month deployment in Iraq in 2007, in Al-Anbar province with the Marines, as part of logistic support services. She had to leave her twin boy and girl at age fifteen months, and describes putting this issue “away”, essentially ignoring it, until the end of her stay. She can’t put away the basic issue and challenge in her work while there, which is to help the soldiers deal with death. Heidi does not discuss the politics of the war, and her attitude in writing and while ministering to the soldiers is simply made up of her empathy and depth of feeling for what they are going through. She tells of one soldier’s trauma of withholding fire on a child throwing what appeared to be an incendiary device, without commenting on whether this situation is typical of one a soldier might face. Ms Kraft does say, however, that An-bar Marines “did not have the same opportunities” to see cheering and waving Iraqis “found in other regions of the country”. When you read the book, her straightforward narrative speaks to you regardless of your politics, and is a testimony to a job well done.