Thank You For Being Expendable: And Other Experiences

Thank You For Being Expendable and Other Experiences is an anthology of stories from Iraq war veteran and critically acclaimed author of My War Killing Time In Iraq, Colby Buzzell. From curious observer, to disillusioned combat veteran, to hardened new journalist, Buzzell sheds light on the veteran's post-war journey back home. Thank You For Being Expendable, a decade worth of stories, thirty-six in all, show one man's ongoing quest for answers. Thank You For Being Expendable captures the author at various high and low points in his life: battling alcohol addiction and searching for sanity in a broken VA system, being labeled with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, traveling the country to understand the state of our Union, ordering countless tamales in Mississippi Delta, living in San Francisco's rock bottom Tenderloin District, witnessing Chinese capitalism at its best up close and personal, and experiencing the horror of the September 11th attacks from ground zero. Buzzell has told the stories many chose to ignore. His writing is honest, blunt, unfiltered and totally unromantic as he tells these stories through a lens of a veteran who's damned to see the world in which we live in a slightly different angle than most others. What does it mean to be expendable? "Buzzell is the rare nonfiction writer who seems equally at ease recounting stories about himself -- his war experience, his struggles with alcohol addiction and post-traumatic stress -- as he is writing about others... a gonzo journalist who makes an art of hanging out." --The San Francisco Chronicle "Thank You for Being Expendable," moves past the war to the struggles of a veteran trying to adjust to civilian life, struggles that are all too common among the troops he sees returning home." --The Military Times "A must-read for anyone interested in what the intersection between military life and counterculture looks like...Few writers capture rejection from society quite so succinctly. However the converse is also true, as Buzzell waves the flag of defiance proudly in the face of nearly every American civil institution... stitching together the rottenness of respectable America and the misery of underclass America, the uselessness of a war that didn't accomplish anything, and a personal experience of service and combat that beguiled him at first only to ruin him later... ." --The Strategy Bridge "Thank You for Being Expendable is an impacting collection of stories that document the author's transition from military to civilian life... Buzzell is blunt and spares no one-place, person or himself. He writes like he's talking to a friend, trusting readers with his hopes and struggles... Throughout the stories, he raises pertinent questions about the struggles veterans face... gripping." --San Francisco Book Review