In Redeployment  Phil Klay explores various issues relating to issues experienced by armed forces members relating to trauma. Focusing specifically on Sgt Price who has just returned home from Serving in Iraq. The first thing that I noticed in this section of the book was the general overtone of nostalgia that appears to be ever present from as soon as he has spotted his wife at the airport, from the tongue in cheek humour on his wife’s sign to the reflection on the appearances of both his wife and his dog, Vicar who appears to be in frail health. This general pattern continues while Sgt Price interjects his thoughts in a reflective manner. Through this passage it becomes apparent that Sgt Price is caught up in all of the traumatic things he saw in Iraq, causing him to be hesitant around his wife, which is highlighted when his wife asks him if it’s good to be home.

Interestingly enough, in recent years the subject of war trauma, or more specifically Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has been featured much more prominently in the mainstream media with several documentaries and films demonstrating how difficult it can be for veterans to reacclimatize when returning to their home countries. However, one film in particular was hailed as bringing this issue to the foreground for the general public. Kathryn Bigelow’s 2008 acclaimed work The Hurt Locker. In particular, there is one sequence in the film in which Jeremy Renner’s character has just returned to civilian life and is shopping in a grocery store when he essentially has a panic attack. What interests me here is the contrast between Klay’s much more subtle representation of the difficulties of re-adjusting to civilian life to the much more visceral and dramatic version presented by Bigelow. Personally, I think it simply serves to show the wide range of ways that trauma effects soldiers.