The subtitle of Matthew Green’s absorbing study of post-traumatic stress disorder is “The Untold Story of Surviving Peace”. It’s a testament to Green’s even-handedness that his unsentimental but horribly affecting tales of soldiers’ lives destroyed by their experiences in combat never descends into war-is-hell cliches. In fact, most of his subjects loved their time in the army, and their engagements are described in prose thrilling enough for a bestselling novel. Yet it’s the depths of what awaits them afterwards that concerns Green, and mixing journalistic rigour with historical investigation, he goes in search of a solution for PTSD.
There can be no quick fixes for dealing with the damaged people he encounters, but Green examines sources of therapy and cutting-edge psychological treatment with compassion and nuance. Nonetheless, the feeling lingers that, for our armed forces, neither the physical nor mental battles they face show any sign of ceasing.
