We meet Kelsi Sheren, who joins the military at just 19 and has every intention of getting to Afghanistan (from Canada asap after training) to help rid the Country of the Taliban and restore some peace for the majority there
We follow her early life and how she was bullied for her size and then her struggles and wins as she trained and literally did as she intended and arrives in Afghanistan
We then experience the full on horrific nature of war as seen through her eyes and how what she saw and was a part of shaped her current life, it is detailed, at times gruesome, very real and continually stirs emotion in the reader
All the way through the book we are let in to how ‘PTSD’ is ‘hanging around’ and waiting to appear (via a narrative)and cause Kelsi more trauma than she already has suffered, it’s very poignant and you grow to despise it as you do a nasty character in a fiction book, however there is no love to hate with this character, it is determined to use everything in it’s takeover of the authors mind spirit and soul……BUT and there is a but the book is called ‘Brass & Unity’ for a reason, one I wont tell you but it is worth waiting for!
There is a wealth of accolades at the beginning of the book, normally I wouldn’t read these but I started the first and they are from real people with real things to say, 100% worthy of a read, also I loved the section on various PTSD therapies and what they do and how they work, the author notes and acknowledgements really form part of the whole experience of the book too
Impossible to not be moved and not to respect this lady and I so hope her being able to write all of this down and share ultimately helps her and others she is reaching out too