How to thank a Veteran? A Marine Corps veteran’s reading list
Often, many of us reflect on the things we are grateful for, including our veterans. “Thank you for your service” is a good start to expressing that gratitude, but we can go further by attempting to understand the veteran experience.
No two veterans will have the same experience, but there is a lot of overlap. Get to know the veterans in your life. If you don’t know any veterans, I recommend reading books written by and about veterans. These are just a few of my favorite books that convey a sense of military and veteran culture. If you have any questions about these books, want other recommendations, or want to talk and learn more about the veteran experience, please reach out! We are honored and grateful to be working with our veterans.
Fiction
- The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
- Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes
- Waiting for Eden by Elliot Ackerman
- Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain (made into a movie in 2016)
Nonfiction
- Thank You for Your Service by David Finkle (made into a movie in 2017)
- War (and the corresponding documentary Restrepo), Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging as well as this TED Talk by Sebastian Junger
- Achilles in Vietnam and Odysseus in America by Jonathan Shay
Jeremy Brewer, LCSW, a clinical navigator with the Tulane University Center for Brain Health, is a Marine Corps veteran who served in two combat tours in Iraq.
Photo by Aaron Burden