Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian, Pembroke Pines, Florida, USA May 9, 2012 E Mail: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: "War and the Finality of Death: Now You See Me, Now You Don't!"
Today, U.S. President Barack Obama uses the term "Overseas Contingency Operation." However, it is simply a repackaging of the "'War on Terror" initiated by then US President George W. Bush. Translated, it is close to a two decade global military struggle against any terrorist organization and regime accused of supporting in any way or being connected to militant Islamists and al-Qaeda posing threatening pretensions to America and its allies. The last straw was the "911 attacks." There were many precursors, You pick the main one: The origins of al-Qaeda's inspiration of worldwide terrorism as a reaction to the 1979-1989 Soviet war in Afghanistan, the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in August of 1998 in Kenya and Tanzania, Osama bin Laden's February 1998 signing of his "Fatwa" as the head of al-Qaeda, declaring war on the West and Israel or even the aborted January 1, 2000 bombing of the Los Angeles International Airport. None of the aforementioned compared to the September 11, 2001 New York City, Washington D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania attacks which killed 2,993 people. American war fever was piqued. U.S. armed forces initiated its War in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. The stated goal was to dismantle the al-Qaeda terrorist organization and eliminate Afghanistan as its base. Although President Bush promised to remove the Taliban regime from power and replace it with a democratic state, over a decade later Americans continue to battle the Taliban insurgency and die in the process.
It is those American lives lost that are chosen as the prevailing theme of Tina Marie Fitzgerald's book "Emily's Robert E." While this can be seen as a heartbreaking love story, it is not designed to have what Fitzgerald terms a "Feel good story with a happily ever ending." Wars kill. America should know. The Revolutionary War of 1775 to 1783 killed 25,000 fathers, brothers, etc. This was a drop in the bucket to the U.S. Civil War, claiming a total of 625,000 Confederate and Union lives. Although there were the Indian Wars, the Spanish American and Philippine wars, it would take until 1916 for America to enter the "War to End All Wars." World War I claimed 116,516, and a little over two decades later our nation joined the fray against Hitler's, Mussolini's and Tojo's Fascism, killing 405,399 of us. We weren't finished though. Becoming the "world's policeman" against Communist expansion, 36,516 would perish from 1950 to 1953 in Korea and 58,272 in Viet Nam, not to mention the 2,500 still today missing in action, never to be accounted for. After nationwide protests and uproar over America's involvement in Vietnam all being based on a sham attack in the Gulf of Tonkin, the leak of the Pentagon Papers and Nixon's embarrassing exit, this country needed a good reason to go at it again. The end of the war in Iraq claimed 4,477 American dead and 31,965 wounded. The still ongoing operation in Afghanistan stands at 6,280 killed and a staggering 41,936 seriously wounded.
Author Fitzgerald makes the reader think carefully about the above statistics. She asks you, the reader, the following; "Casualties aren't just about lives that can never be given back but also about lives seized. When a soldier's life is taken, who immediately thinks of the widow, widower or orphans that were created? It doesn't matter what side a soldier fights for, the results are the same. People rarely think about those who are left behind or about any impending consequences resulting from a person's death; soldier or otherwise. Not only was Fitzgerald herself a former Army Veteran, she did her homework to write this. Meticulously researching America's Spring, 2003 Iraqi invasion dubbed "Operation Iraqi Freedom," you will find a diary in this book any Veteran will concur as to its accuracy. Describing time spend in the desert of Iraq's "big sandbox" is true to form. There's an added plus; many anecdotes Fitzgerald included were based on true events in her own life. Hailing from Central, Pennsylvania, Fitzgerald creatively included hometown characters, intelligently weaving them into the story. This is also the author's catharsis, infusing the storyline with personal situations in her own life. At the tender age of fifteen, Fitzgerald lost a very important friend, using Emily's Robert E." as a release, analyzing feelings and emotions she had kept to herself for years. Volunteering as an Army Vet, Fitzgerald after five months of marriage was in a near fatal automobile accident. The repercussions were ugly; her marriage ended and her military career was cut short. Turning bitterly vitriolic, Fitzgerald lost many friends.
However, there was a silver lining, as it served as the impetus to start writing this book with the elements all magically falling into place. Then another twist of unexpected fate, or circumstance occurred. Fitzgerald met Laurie Holt. Eerily seeming to tell the story of Holts's loss of Marine Lance Corporal David R. Baker, her son, the story seemed to be written about her and her family. Killed by an "Improvised Explosive Device" like a roadside bomb or booby trap in Afghanistan while on point, Holt's very first tour would be his last. Fitzgerald mentions her book "Emily's Robert E" provided Holt with the fortitude to go on with life. The author wrote; " Laurie said I saved her life...my book was a light for her. We remain strong friends to this day. I was in attendance at the Honor and Remember flag presentation for David this past November, and I actually took part in the service. Fitzgerald wishes no accolades for this book, and she embodies this in her actions. Not only is the author a self-appointed Veteran's advocate, Fitzgerald writes, talks and teaches about U.S. Military History and what it means to Americans. She comments; "If I only touched one person by the words in my book, then I accomplished what I set out to do."
Other issues are brought up in "Emily's Robert E. "The storyline is about a reversal of traditional roles, with the husband staying at home with a child and the wife getting deployed to the war zone, taking on the risks associated with being in a combat zone. Nevertheless, Fitzgerald brings up poignant truisms, such as the egocentric point that if a story doesn't end well, the public doesn't want to read about it unless it is about someone else. Since America took on the English in 1775 to 2012, a total of 1,529,230 U.S. combatants have gone to an early grave, 1,529,230 have been wounded and 38, 159 never found. This book could be about anyone's experience after a loved one dies. In conjunction with the previous stated casualties, Fitzgerald asserts: "Without anyone to remember, the memories of those who have died fade in vain." Want a little taste of what it feels like to lose a son and daughter post 911? Read "William Koch's painful account of how he and his wife Christine are forced to deal with the death of their son Stephen and daughter Lynne in "Casualties of War." Marie Fitzgerald minces no words when she scornfully writes: "Despite All the support and patriotism exhibited by Americans after 911, it didn't take long for people at home to become complacent, even cynical about Iraq. After the war, Iraq was the furthest thing from anybody's minds, unless they got the knock on the door: "We regret to inform you." This book will teach you never to take tomorrow for granted, as Fitzgerald's story will embody.
Finally, Fitzgerald brings up the big question of war; "When a soldier's life is taken, who immediately thinks of the widow, widower or orphans created? It doesn't matter what side a soldier fights for, the results are the same. People rarely think about those who are left behind or about any impending consequences resulting from a person's death; soldier or otherwise." Fitzgerald proves this when she mentioned within the story that people in hometown would fight to buy the Local Times newspaper whenever it contained headlines of celebrities cheating, divorcing or dying. How true is this? Consider the fact that on February 12, 2012, celebrity singer Whitney Houston died from a drug overdose. The headlines on U.S. newspapers reflecting this had record sales. These young men listed, Corporal Kevin J. Reinhard, age 25, Lance Corporal William D. "Billy" Spencer, age 20, Corporal Jon-Luke Bateman, age 22, Lance Corporal Scott D. Harper 21, Corporal Joseph J. Reinhard, age 25 , Lance Corporal Eric J. Orlowski, age 26. Lance Corporal Joshua M. Davis, age 19, and finally Corporal Michael J. Dutcher, age 22 also died that same day, unmentioned or as a small byline in every nationwide newspaper. They died not in a luxury hotel room nursing a drug or alcohol addiction. They died bravely in "the big sandbox" in a harsh country half a world away. They lost their lives as members of the United States Marine Corps, and may God Bless them and their families.
How does Marie Fitzgerald account for this? She correctly points out how history is never learned, thus the mistakes of the past continue to be repeated; "The names of W.W. I and II Veterans that once graced those pages had already become forgotten. There weren't many old boys left who'd fought against the Germans or the Japanese. We fought a war against Germany? When'd we do that? Where is Normandy anyway? Allied Forces? What's the deal about December 7nth, 1941? Pearl Harbor?" Also addressed are the mistakes made in Viet Nam and present, including why selective media is streamlined via satellite back to the U.S. in a favorable manner. Commenting on the error made in showing the public too much in America's first "television war," our leaders today are careful in what they allow us to know and show. The year 1968 taught us a lot; the press's interpretation of the Tet Offensive, President Johnson's decision not to run for reelection galvanizing public antiwar support, both Robert Kennedy's and Martin Luther King's assassinations as well as the riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. Fitzgerald explains this phenomenon as follows; "Ho Chi Minh? Cambodia? What was the significance of that wall of names in Washington? And what about Bosnia and Somolia? Where are those countries anyway? Why are we fighting over there in the first place?" The ignorance of America can be mind boggling!
For Fitzgerald, she correctly points out that political rhetoric like the "Domino Theory" and "Weapons of Mass Destruction" have lost their potency for motivating Americans to fight for our way of life and freedom. Elucidating, Fitzgerald points out; "War had become a comfortably foreign concept, if not an entirely forgotten one to the Generation X'ers, the so-called "entitled" generation of America. For the most part, the idea of war where people get killed, where somebody isn't coming home was forgotten, except by those who had fought in or lost somebody to one. And then, of the soldiers who had gone to fight and were fortunate to make it back, some of them continued to fight personal battles long after their particular war ended." There were 2,700,000 "in country" Viet Nam Vets from 1965 to 1972, In 2012, less than 500,000 are alive. Fighting consequences brought on by "Agent Orange" and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Fitzgerald laments; "The war has never ended for some." And of our troops still in Afghanistan today? Fitzgerald wrote; "The longer we're here, the more I find myself wondering and questioning at least to myself what exactly we have or were supposed to accomplish. We were supposedly coming to fight a war on terrorism, then we were here to help these people and we've only made more of a mess out of things. This country is in worse shape than it was before we got here."
Fitzgerald frighteningly continues; "Snipers think of ways to peck off troops before breakfast every morning like we wonder when this is all going to be over every night. Their days start with waking up thinking how many people they'll get to shoot like we wake up wondering what's for chow. That's their job. And don't forget the rebels who know daily schedules who might let a convoy pass today, then maybe tomorrow kill one or two of us just because they can? Roadside bombs go off with such a rate that the noise isn't such a big deal anymore, it's a given." Regardless, Fitzgerald ends this amazing book by reminding us that despite the casualties in all our wars, the following truism exists; "Do you know your purpose today? Or is it just another day? Are you going through the motions of the same routine? If you're a child of God, know that he has assigned a purpose for you today. Fulfilling your purpose does not mean everything will be completed as planned. Why? Interruptions. In his heart, a man plans his cause but the Lord determines his steps. Our tragedies are God's tools. What we do with them is determined by circumstance. It is the gifts given by God that help us in any situation. The gift of life is the most sacred of all." This is sage advice given by an author who intuitively knows exactly how to put things into perspective. "Emily's Robert E." is a book that simply cannot be put down, not to mention one that will compel the reader to perpetually carry its message! "Semper Fi" T.M. Fitzgerald!
- ISBN10 1462608833
- ISBN13 9781462608836
- Publish Date 31 May 2011
- Publish Status Unknown
- Publish Country US
- Imprint America Star Books
- Format Hardcover
- Language English