Author's Life
Ryan Smithson wrote the book for multiple reasons. One reason why was as a way to handle the post traumatic stress disorder (ptsd), that he received from the war in Iraq. The way the he figured out that writing about what he went through helped handle PTSD is because of a report that he had to write in college about a time that he saw something get destroyed. When he heard the phrase "something get destroyed", he instantly thought of his tour in Iraq and ended up writing a eight page paper about one time that he saw something get destroyed. Another reason why he wrote this book is because he wanted the world to get the real picture of what happened in the war, not what the government wanted the world to know about the war. He wanted to get his story out there of his own experience, so we could know what really happened. So, the true purpose of this book was to solve the problems that he has had within his life throughout the war and his PTSD. It was the solution, his medicine to his problems because when he wrote about what he went through, he felt relieved and that made him happier than before.
Author's Connection
The character within this book that Ryan Smithson would connect most with would be himself. The reason that he would connect with himself the most is because he knew how he was thinking throughout the entire book. He knew how the events laid out long before anyone else did. Now, someone other than himself that is in the book would probably be his platoon members. The reason that he connects with them a great amount is because they went through the same war as he did, the same battle, and most likely went through the same events that they went after the war.