Friday, October 4, 2024
What's Readable

ALL SECURE is not your typical soldier’s memoir

–by Michael Pierce

ALL SECURE by Tom Satterly CSM (ret) with Steve Jackson. Published November 5, 2019 by Center Street. Cover photo courtesy of the publisher.

America sends its young men, and also now its young women, off to fight our country’s wars. They go voluntarily. They go as a result of being drafted.

They keep our country, and many other places in the world, safe.

And then they come home, and too many Americans ignore them.

They sacrifice the prime of their lives for our safety and security. That’s what we like to think.

When they’re on the battlefield their concern is each other. Their battle buddies. Brothers and sisters in arms. No man or woman left behind. They come home, and they’re left behind by the very government they fought for.

Tom Satterly spent 25 years in the Army, most of it as a member of the elite Delta Force (the Unit). He saw it all. Mogadishu. Iraq. He saw it all as an operative with large teams of men and small teams. He saw his friends die. He killed people.

The nightmares began shortly after Mogadishu. Then came the drinking. The pills. Three ruined marriages. His own near death at his own hand.

He met Jen and his world changed.

ALL SECURE is unlike most soldier memoirs. There’s no ‘rah-rah’ glorification of war. There’s no coming home to your spouse, having a couple of kids, living large, and bragging to anyone who will listen about your glorious exploits during ‘the war.’

ALL SECURE is the life laid bare story of a man who always wanted to be the best at the job he chose, and how that nearly led to his own ultimate downfall. Tom Satterly gives readers a gritty, unglamorous window into what it’s like to be an elite soldier both in and out of the Army. He throws it all right in your face, and it will cause you to reconsider your viewpoint if you think that war is one big, glorious game.

Tom also gives us a very critical (and rightly so) look into how America treats its veterans. Here’s a hint – Motrin and Prozac can’t solve everything.

I spent the final 16 years of my working career working for a federal agency to serve our veterans. I’m also a historian, and I will tell you, without reservation, that America has a long and glorious history of screwing over its veterans. And that needs to stop. Whether you’re a veteran, a history buff, or a person who might wonder what can you do to help our veterans, ALL SECURE is a book you need to read. It will give you a greater appreciation of our troops and our veterans.

Tom and Jen are the founders of the All Secure Foundation, an organization dedicated to assisting veterans who struggle with the various manifestations of Post-Traumatic Stress. If you’re one of those veterans, or a family member, or if you’d like to learn how you can help, you can find out more at www.allsecurefoundation.org or go to Facebook @AllSecureFoundation.

Do something. As Tom says: “The greatest failure is the failure to try.”

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