The Good Soldiers By David Finkel: Summary

The Good Soldiers by David Finkel is a non-fiction account of the harsh realities of war. After reading this novel, it becomes clear that America as a country is truly blind to not only how difficult it is for soldiers at war to witness the moments in battle, but also the daily activities that maintain their ability to survive. Written with candor by the Washington Post journalist Finkel who spent 8 months with a group of Iraq war soldiers known as the 2-16, his honest and heartbreaking depiction of the trials and tribulations of war and the toll it took on these men both physically and mentally leaves readers heartbroken and emotionally scarred. In the novel, Finkel chooses not to write from the first person perspective even though he witnessed the events take place. Instead, he writes the novel from a third person …show more content…
Dedicating individual chapters to different men from the battalion, the section of the book I felt most relatable to the course material would be the story of what happened to Adam Schumann. According to Finkel (2009) Schumann did what very few soldiers could do; he asked for help and was sent back home after experiencing severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as recurring images of “a house that had just been obliterated by gunfire, …watching the vomiting soldier[s],…tasting Sgt. Emory’s blood” (p. 205). According to Meyers (2010), typical symptoms of PTSD include “recurring haunting memories and nightmares, numbed social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, and insomnia", many of which troubled Schumann as he couldn’t sleep due to the sights of violence and blood running through his mind (p. 4). While war is something heavily associated with PTSD diagnoses, it is not the only trauma that can cause these symptoms to occur, and a popular issue that Meyers (2010) addressed was that roughly 8.5%