As You Were: To War and Back with the Black Hawk Battalion of the Virginia National Guard

by Christian Davenport

Overview

A powerful, enraging, tear-jerking reminder of how so few Americans have sacrificed so much during the so-called' war on terror'. the best kind of war book. - Alex Kershaw, author of The Bedford Boys and Escape from the Deep

"Through the voices and experiences of five very diverse members of the Virginia National Guard, As You Were gives the great majority of Americans who have not been sent to war a sense of the experiences of our citizen-soldiers and the family, employment, and health problems they face reentering American society after experiencing combat." - David R. Segal, Drector, Center for Research on Military Organization, University of Maryland

"A sad, stirring, sometimes maddening story. Christian Davenport writes not so much about combat, but rather the home front--the struggles of the families left behind while their providers go off to war and of the solders themselves as they stagger back to a civilian world that declines to reward, or even betrays, their sacrifice." - Fred Kaplan, "War Stories" columist, Slate; author of Daydream Believers: How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620458976
Publisher:	Turner Publishing Company
Publication date:	05/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Christian Davenport is a reporter for the Washington Post. He was embedded with the Virginia Army National Guard's 2-224th, and his work covering the military helped uncover some of the iconic photographs of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

PART ONE: MOBILIZATION.

1. Miranda: No One Likes a Sulky Soldier.

2. Ray and Diane: Hurry Up and Wait.

3. Kate: Be All You Can Be.

4. Mark: Sir, I’m a Citizen-Soldier.

PART TWO: IRAQ.

5. Miranda: The Terrorists Ate My Homework.

6. Ray and Diane: Keeping Up Appearances.

7. Kate: Jody’s Got Your Cadillac.

8. Miranda: Graduation Day.

9. Craig: Welcome to Game Time, Lieutenant Lewis.

10. The National Guard: The Nation’s Best Defense Bargain.

PART THREE: HOME.

11. The 2-224th: Don’t Take the War Home with You.

12. Miranda: Learning to Talk about War.

13. Kate: Practicing Normalcy.

14. Mark: Keep Your Boots On.

15. Ray and Diane: Seeing Suffering.

16. Craig: The Two O’Clock Lull.

17. Miranda: The Pedicured, Door-Gunning Ivy League Veteran.

Epilogue: Citizen-Soldiers: The Conscience of a Nation.

Index.

Editorial Reviews

Following the experiences of five members of 2-224th Aviation Regiment, Virginia Army National Guard, from federal activation through a one-year deployment in Iraq and back again, Washington Post reporter Davenport reveals the heroism and sacrifice of citizen-soldiers across the country. Like thousands across the country, these five find their lives violently shaken by notice of activation, pulled from families, careers and, for Miranda Summers, a senior year at William and Mary. In Iraq, they found a war zone waiting encountering insurgent gunfire flying into Baghdad, Fallujah and Ramadi; on rescue missions; or flying an "angel flight", the first leg escorting a fallen soldier home. Davenport, embedded with the regiment on their 2005-06 deployment, follows up on his story with accounts of home-side challenges. This book honors well the citizen-soldiers of the National Guard and the Army, Navy and Marine Corps Reserves, while giving readers a vivid sense of life before, during and after engagement in a far-off war.
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Publishers Weekly

Davenport was an embedded Washington Post reporter in Iraq. He focuses on three men and two women as exemplars of their unit, the Virginia Army National Guard aviation regiment, suddenly called up and deployed in Iraq. He follows their time there as well as their return home, changed by the war. This positive view of citizen-soldiers will find readers.

—Edwin B. Burgess

Library Journal

* Following the experiences of five members of 2-224th Aviation Regiment, Virginia Army National Guard, from federal activation through a one-year deployment in Iraq and back again, Washington Post reporter Davenport reveals the heroism and sacrifice of citizen-soldiers across the country. Like thousands across the country, these five find their lives violently shaken by notice of activation, pulled from families, careers and, for Miranda Summers, a senior year at William and Mary. In Iraq, they found a war zone waiting encountering insurgent gunfire flying into Baghdad, Fallujah and Ramadi; on rescue missions; or flying an “angel flight”, the first leg escorting a fallen soldier home. Davenport, embedded with the regiment on their 2005-06 deployment, follows up on his story with accounts of home-side challenges. This book honors well the citizen-soldiers of the National Guard and the Army, Navy and Marine Corps Reserves, while giving readers a vivid sense of life before, during and after engagement in a far-off war. (May) ( Publishers Weekly , April 20, 2009)

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