Early this month after returning from the Romance Writers of America Conference in San Francisco, I was delighted to pluck an advance copy of Brenda Coulter’s new Love Inspired release, At His Command, from the mound of bills, magazines and advertising circulars greeting us.
At His Command is the third story in Love Inspired’s popular Homecoming Heroes category romance line, a limited series from Steeple Hill honoring the men and women now serving in our armed forces and the heroes at home who support them.
This book, Coulter’s fourth, displays the hallmark of what we’ve come to expect from this award-winning author: a plucky heroine, a hero to die for; wry, witty romance and gut-wrenching emotion.
In this story, Army Lt. Maddie Bright returns to Ft. Bonnell in Prairie Springs, Texas, to recuperate from an intense year of combat nursing in a Middle East war zone. Her path crosses with Jake Hopkins, a war vet wounded several years prior who wrestles with PTSD and his memories of a split-second combat decision that resulted in the death of Maddie’s brother, Noah, Jake’s best friend.
Maddie and Jake’s growing relationship as they care for a young refugee suffering from a life-threatening injury while awaiting news of the fate of their dear friends, a military couple MIA in the war zone, kept me turning pages.
This afternoon I was prompted to recall Coulter’s rich characterization of Nurse Bright when I read Jason Cohen’s moving “My Turn” essay on page 14 of the September 1st issue of Newsweek. It was titled “The Tragic Bond of War: As a fellow soldier I share a special connection with my patients. When one dies, I lose a piece of myself.”
Kudos to Steeple Hill and all the writers in the Homecoming Heroes series for reminding us of the men and women of our armed forces who daily put themselves on the line “to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
In past generations, nearly every American had a close family member or neighbor in service. Now with an all-volunteer military, that seldom happens. According to Col. Andrew J. Bacevich, USA, Ret., a graduate of the USMA at West Point whose son Andrew was killed in Iraq last year; fewer than one per cent of our countrymen now serve. So most Americans, other than those who live in communities supporting a military installation, have little or no direct contact with members of the military or their families.
I know firsthand. We’ve got skin in this game. I’ve prayed a close family member home from five tours in the Middle East, the last two spent in war-torn Iraq. He’s still on active duty and likely to remain so until he retires many years hence at the ripe old age of forty-two, God willing.
And as I’ve witnessed the heroism of his wife and his young children in dealing with these separations, I appreciate the attention stories like At His Command direct to the members of our armed forces and their families. Particularly when I recently read that a transportation company at Fort Knox, Kentucky, was gearing up for its sixth tour in five years.
But in contemplating my son’s future deployments and the sacrifices this Kentucky unit and their families have been asked to make, I believe with all my heart that all our servicemen and women deserve more than mere platitudes of support or yellow magnet ribbons made in China slapped on our cars.
To honor our troops, each of us must make ourselves worthy of the sacrifices we are asking our men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan to make in our name. I urge everyone to do his or her part to support our troops by fulfilling the role our founding fathers envisioned for each of us: by exercising due diligence and casting an informed vote this November.
Granted, that’s easier said than done.
This week and next both major political parties will be holding their conventions and rhetoric from their podiums will fill the airwaves and cover miles of newsprint. The messages in these speeches will be reinforced with a barrage of ads followed by an army of spinmeisters shaping our perceptions on talk shows sponsored by media that may have a vested interest in the election’s outcome. Our job is to separate the facts from the fictions.
Like other military moms, many times I have heard people say they don’t have time to follow current events or they’re just too tired to bother. After a day of long hours on the job or running the kids to ball games and swimming practice, they say, the last thing they want to do is survey news sites on the web or watch C-Span. All they want to do is chill out with an episode of “American Idol” or “Grey’s Anatomy. I can appreciate that.
But I hope they’ll reconsider. We owe it to the 4,147 soldiers, sailors and airmen who have made the supreme sacrifice. We owe it to those currently serving on active duty and in the reserves. Lastly, we owe it to our children, our grandchildren and the country we’ll leave to them.
I’ll climb down from my soap box now.
In closing, Brenda Coulter’s At His Command should be on the shelves of your local Wal-Mart, Target, Border’s or Barnes & Noble starting today. But you’ll have to hurry, they won’t be there long.
You can also order the book from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0373874960.
While you’re at it, you might also want to check out Brenda’s clever blog, No Rules. Just Write. at http://brendacoulter.blogspot.com.
Don’t forget to vote!
