Main description:

"...thoughtful recollections, scary memories, articulate reflections, and the resolve of a man who has been there."--Publishers Weekly At age nineteen, Hugh Martin withdrew from college when his National Guard unit was activated for a deployment to Iraq. After training at Fort Bragg, Martin spent 2004 in Iraq as the driver of his platoon sergeant's Humvee. He participated in hundreds of missions including raids, conducting foot patrols, clearing routes for IEDs, disposing of unexploded ordnance, and searching thousands of Iraqi vehicles. These poems recount his time in basic training, his preparation for Iraq, his experience withdrawing from school, and ultimately, the final journey to Iraq and back home to Ohio. Hugh Martin holds an MFA from Arizona State University. He is a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.

Contents:

Table of Contents

M-16A2 Assault Rifle 5

I.
Spring in Jalula 7
The Stick Soldiers 9
The Global War on Terrorism 10
The Jalula Market 11
Responding to an Explosion in Qarah Tappah 13
First Engagement 14

II.
Nights in the Quadrilateral Pool of Sawdust and Sweat 17
The Summer of Crawling 19
The Range 20
Basic Training 21
Full Moon, M2 Machine Gun 22
Tomorrow, We Go Up North 23
Four-Letter Word 24

III.
Observation Post 29
Raid 31
Nocturne, Traffic Control Point 32
Friday Night, FOB Cobra 33
Pictures of the War 36
After Curfew 37
The Rocket 38
Causeway Overwatch 39
Desert Nocturne 40

IV.
The War Was Good, Thank You 42
Demobilization 44
Home From Iraq, Larry's Tavern 45
Barracks Dream 46
Firework Elegy 47
First Snow 48

V.
Doc's Kill 50
Ways of Looking at an IED 51
Green Dreams 53
Site 947: A Situation Report 54
The Burn Pit at FOB Cobra 55
This Morning, We Carry Body Bags 57
Nocturne with Sandstorm 58

VI.
Nostos: Quinn's Bar, Cleveland Heights 60