Prayer at Rumayla

Charles Sheehan-Miles

I think the hardest part about agreeing to review this book, was for me "knowing" the author. What if I hated it? What if it was awful? Fortunately, it wasn't a problem.

This novel fictionalizes but doesn't sugar coat a subject that most of us would rather not experience first hand. In fact, if the only knowledge of the Gulf War that you had was from watching CNN where they packaged it up all pretty and nice for the home audience, you're going to wonder what the author is talking about. Really though, it's less the story of the actual war, and more the story of how one man deals with the changes in himself because of the things he has seen and done.

Protagonist Chet Brown, a tank loader and (to-be) decorated hero, returns home from Iraq. All he wants is to finally get back to the US safely, take the leave he's been waiting for since he enlisted, go home to the bosom of his family, and get married to the woman he thinks is waiting for him. So much for fairy tales and happy endings. He arrives on his fiancée's doorstep but the surprise is on him when his (ex) best friend answers the door wearing Chet's bathrobe, and he soon discovers that nothing else is the way he imagined, least of all himself. Back on base, he finds that wartime military duty is significantly different than peacetime military duty.

The middle chapters of the book deal with Chet's month long leave, and what he does when he finds himself adrift. He wanders from Fort Stewart, Georgia to New York and back. Part of his journey is his search for himself, and part is his search for someone who cares enough not to ask, how it was or did he kill anyone. I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, and it doesn't spell it out, but I'm thinking that part of Chet's problems stem from PTSD. His memories and dreams are very vivid re-enactments of combat, and his (over) reactions to minor incidents and situations are characteristic. The ending is stunning, not for one second did I see it coming. It wasn't at all out of character, just a surprise to me, since I was thinking in a different direction. All in all, I enjoyed the read, if not the knowledge that this story has large chunks drawn from real experiences.