A Podcast Worth Listening To

On my way to my sister's, I caught an episode of This American Life. One of the stories revolved around David Finkel's book, The Good Soldiers. Several excerpts were read, sharing the perspectives of different soldiers who were involved with "the Surge". I teared up several times. One soldier and his wife talked about their struggles - the wife, frustrated that she was having to make all the family decisions while her husband was away, dealing with the car breaking down on the highway alone, handling her 4 year hold child with down syndrome as she vomited at a restaurant, etc. Her husband fearing he's not the same person he once was and how he is going to handle being back home. Another soldier described how he felt when he got home on leave and saw his 17 year old son's beat up old truck, leaking oil everywhere. He struggled, knowing there was a possibility that after he went back to Iraq that he wouldn't come back home, with the decision on whether to repair the old truck or buy his son a new one, even though they didn't have much money. And there was the soldier describing waiting for the helicopter to take him home...for good...after finally admitting that he was having suicidal thoughts. Ugh, it's heart-wrenching.

I'm terrible at storytelling and summations, so I highly recommend checking out this particular podcast, as it was definitely eye-opening for me. It's not that I do not have an appreciation for our troops, because I do, but it's hearing stories like these that open my eyes to just how much they do for us and how much they've given up for us and our country.