Wounded Warriors

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Wounded Warriors

A Soldier's Story of Healing through Birds

Robert C. Vallieres with Jacquelyn M. Howard
Foreword by Cynthia Parsons

232 pages

Hardcover

February 2014

978-1-61234-582-6

$24.95 Add to Cart
eBook (PDF)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

February 2014

978-1-61234-583-3

$24.95 Add to Cart

About the Book

 
Robert C. Vallieres struggled to find his “new normal” when he returned home after serving in the military. An accident in Kuwait left him suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI) and internal injuries, leaving him in constant pain. 

After clinics, bottles of painkillers, and behavior modification pills, hope seemed to vanish. Then a local weekly newspaper ad caught his eye: a bird-watching trip to see raptors in the mountains of New Hampshire. An Emily Dickinson poem that states, “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tune—without the words, and never stops at all,” sprang to his mind.

Wounded Warriors is Vallieres’s story of self-healing from crippling “invisible” wounds through the help of birds. The problems of TBI and post-traumatic stress disorder do not have definitive solutions. His story of recovery offers a winged hope to thousands of military personnel who suffer these physical and mental battles.
 

Author Bio

ROBERT C. VALLIERES is a Persian Gulf War veteran. He lives with his wife and son in Concord, New Hampshire, and volunteers for the New Hampshire Audubon Society. Vallieres received a BA in Fine Arts from Notre Dame College in Manchester, New Hampshire, and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Spirit of New Hampshire Volunteer of the Year award in 2009.

JACQUELYN M. HOWARD is an environmental management specialist, naturalist, avian field biologist, and writer.

CINDY PARSONS is a spokesperson for Warriors Speak, a division of the Wounded Warriors Project, and a full-time caregiver for her son, Sergeant Shane Parsons, a double amputee with a traumatic brain injury.

Praise

“I salute Mr. Vallieres for what he has done for our military community by coming forth and sharing his incredible story of self-healing through birds.”—SFC Frances Hinton, U.S. Army MEDCOM Southern Regional Medical Command and ARNG Medical Readiness Representative

 


“Birds are some of the most charismatic of nature’s creatures. They inspire and delight us with their colors and their grace. . . . Wounded Warriors reveals just how effective birding can be in uplifting and healing the spirit after physical and emotional trauma.”—George R. Angehr, curator of exhibits at the Panama Museum of Biodiversity and author of The Birds of Panama: A Field Guide

 


“While filming with Mr. Vallieres for the New Hampshire Public Television documentary Journey of the Broad-Winged Hawk, I felt a sincere sense of peace that birds brought to him and a belief that other wounded veterans could begin healing simply by observing the beauty of birds that live among them.”—Phil Vaughn, producer, New Hampshire Public Television


Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Inglorious Injury
2. Invisible Wounds
3. Bands
4. The Soft Part Dies
5. Carrying Guilt
6. Peregrines, Pigeons, Power Towers, and Providence
7. Nightjars: Nighthawks by Any Other Name
8. Eagles at the Brewery
9. Home Station and Back Again
10. Aftermath
11. Like Snow in Summer
12. Holy Thursday up on the Crag
13. Newfound Pair
14. Scuds and a Paper Death
15. Ode to My Son, 28 August 2007
16. Ode to My Son, 3 October 2007
17. Ode to My Son, Reflections
18. The Call of God
19. Eagles on the Island
20. They Steal My Blood and Sanity Sometimes
21. Three-Quarters of the Way up Eaglet Spire
22. Backside Slide
23. Square Ledge
24. Vagueness
25. Red-Tails, Peregrines, and the Church
26. A Journey of My Own
27. Self-Authentication
28. Northern Flicker on Father’s Day
29. Nevermore
30. War and Effects
31. Little Round Top
32. Dacron
33. One Cup of Tea
34. Cages
35. Wings Shift, Revealing Creation
36. Merrill Park
37. Larry Pelland’s Story about Me
38. Writing This Book
39. Recap

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