With Thanksgiving approaching, many of us are reflecting 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 a step further by attempting to understand the veteran experience.

No two veterans will have the exact 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 just 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.

The Center for Brain Health’s mission is to aid in the healing, recovering and preventive treatment of veterans by addressing mild to moderate Traumatic Brain Injury, post-traumatic stress and other physical and psychological health concern. The Center for Brain Health is part of the Tulane University Center for Sport’s Clinical Services operation.