The Wounded Warrior

This book is a poignant collection of fourteen personal stories of Native Americans whose pathway to healing has been found within the beauty, spirit & mystery of their own culture & heritage. Their words offer insight into their plight & struggle & take the reader on journeys through the pain of emotional, physical, & sexual abuse, neglect, broken families, poverty, oppression, & alcoholism into the joy of healing & recovery through embracing their own culture & spirituality. These stories are wrenched out of the deep scars of grueling emotional & physical memories. Those who are similarly suffering will find both solace & inspiration in the pages of this book. Those who are seeking a better understanding of all humankind will find an eloquent portrayal of a culture too long ignored, & a people towards whom we have too long been indifferent. One CANNOT be indifferent after reading the compelling stories within this remarkable & courageous book. Most will not only learn something about themselves but find a bit of healing for their own lives. This book promises to stimulate more feeling & more discussion than any other book on the lives of contemporary Native Americans. To order contact: Two Rainbows Distributing, 1329 S. 93rd St., Omaha, NE 68124. 402-398-1977.

Speaking from experience, longtime renewal leader plumbs the depths of burnout, offering help and healing to believers going through this "dark night of the soul."

“I have had the chance to meet Melissa and hear her amazing story in person. In this book, Melissa shares insight on how she became a warrior and fought back to become the champion she is today. She is a great example of perseverance in the face of what appears to be insurmountable hurdles. Her love of country is strong and carries through her joining the military and representing Team USA in the Paralympic Games. A true champion in many ways.”—Jackie Joyner Kersee “Melissa’s story of strength and courage is not only incredibly moving, it is a must-read for anyone facing any challenge. Clearly her passion for country and sport drives every one of her accomplishments. From a young gymnast like I was, to representing the United States in Paratriathlon, Melissa inspires us all with her story of overcoming unimaginable adversity and what it truly means to be unstoppable.”—Shannon Miller Melissa Stockwell has been a restless force of nature from the time she was a little girl speeding around her neighborhood on her bike, to her tumbles and spills as a high-level gymnast and Olympic hopeful, to joining the ROTC in college as an outlet for her patriotism and love of America. After 9/11, she was deployed to Iraq as a commissioned Army officer, where she suffered the injury that would change her life forever. After a long and challenging recovery at Walter Reed Hospital, she exercised her power of choice to channel her energy into competition, winning three Paratriathlon World Championships and medaling at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Her journey weaves service to her country and the heartache of a painful divorce along with founding a successful nonprofit, launching a career in prosthetics, finding new love, and becoming a mother to two children. Along the way, she meets all the living American presidents and inspires others with disabilities—through a story that is riveting, moving, and an inspiration for anyone who would choose to live their life to the fullest.

For every wounded warrior, there is a wounded home--an immediate and extended family and community impacted by their loved one's war experiences. Every day service members are returning from combat deployments to their families. And every day war comes home with them. When a combat veteran struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or traumatic brain injury (TBI), every member of the family experiences the effects. Spouses, parents, and children must undergo changes on the home front, a process that resembles the phases of grief. Confusion, hurt, anger, guilt, fatigue, and fear lie behind their brave smiles and squared shoulders. Wounded Warrior, Wounded Home gives hurting families a look inside the minds and hearts of wounded warriors and guides them in developing their own personal plan for physical, emotional, and spiritual wholeness in the wake of war. The authors, one the wife of a career US Navy SEAL and the other a clinical psychologist and Vietnam veteran, speak from their own experiences of living with PTSD and TBI. They also share insights from dozens of families and careful research, offering readers a hope-filled way forward.

""Critically dissects allegations of Wounded Warrior Project mismanagement and the NGO's response. Provides a better understanding of how the nonprofit world operates, how it should work, and provides lessons for all charities and non-profits."--Provided by publisher."

Robert C. Vallieres struggled to find his ônew normalö when he returned home after serving in the military. An accident in Kuwait left him suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI) internal injuries, leaving him in constant pain. After clinics, bottles of painkillers, and behavior modification pills, hope seemed to vanish. Then a local weekly newspaper ad caught his eye: a bird-watching trip to see raptors in the mountains of New Hampshire. An Emily Dickinson poem that states, ôHope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tuneùwithout the words, and never stops at all,ö sprang to his mind. Wounded Warriors is VallieresÆs story of self-healing from crippling ôinvisibleö wounds through the help of birds. The problems of TBI and post-traumatic stress disorder do not have definitive solutions. His story of recovery offers a winged hope to thousands of military personnel who suffer these physical and mental battles.

A heartwarming dog story like no other: Tuesday, a lovable golden retriever, changes a former soldier’s life forever. A highly decorated captain in the U.S. Army, Luis Montalván never backed down from a challenge during his two tours of duty in Iraq. After returning home from combat, however, his physical wounds and crippling post-traumatic stress disorder began to take their toll. He wondered if he would ever recover. Then Luis met Tuesday, a sensitive golden retriever trained to assist people with disabilities. Tuesday had lived among prisoners and at a home for troubled boys, and he found it difficult to trust in or connect with a human being–until Luis. Until Tuesday is the story of how two wounded warriors, who had given so much and suffered the consequences, found salvation in each other. It is a story about war and peace, injury and recovery, psychological wounds and spiritual restoration. But more than that, it is a story about the love between a man and dog, and how, together, they healed each other’s souls.

The 12 year-old was conscripted to fight a losing-war between Nigeria and the new state of Biafra. He was taken alongside his uncle on their way to harvest fruits in the rural parts of the Igbo heartlands, much against their will. It was determined as a desperate attempt of the nearly vanquished army in the uneven sided war of genocide waged against the much hated ethnic group. At that point in time, men and boys of almost any age were taken to combat to stave the impending defeat by the well trained and equipped assailants who used all at their disposal including: hunger starvation (total malnutrition and abject poverty) to achieve their end. After more than a year in the ill prepared role of a soldier; without a gun, the child- soldier was picked unconscious from the rubble of a bombed out shelter at a college compound that served as a make-shift army barrack. He was bleeding profusely and his left leg was shattered and he was unresponsive at the scene. His uncle who had tried to protect and keep him alive was also severely injured. However, both recovered, though with visible external and internal wounds. They shared the same hospital for wounded soldiers when the war ended; with the routing of the ill-equipped army that was fighting only for survival (with no meaningful arms, ammunition or military organisation) The intervention of the international Red Cross and the religious charities protected and sustained the wounded service men and all the ethnic population who symbolically considered all as wounded too. The end of the war saw the then 13-year old back at his secondary school. As his physical, emotional and psychological being was put together he continued his studies even to the highest level of academic and professional achievement. The novel ends with the former child-soldier receiving his accreditation and taking his Hippocratic Oath to practice medicine: (to care and save not kill.)