Dougie's War by Rodge Glass


Dougie Campbell has just returned from the war in Afghanistan. At first he does everything he has dreamed of, climbs a munro, goes to see Scotland play football at Hampden Park, and gets bought rounds and rounds of drinks by strangers and friends all of whom hail him as a hero. But as he is forgotten by the people around him and moves into a flat and life of his own the trauma he suffered as the sole survivor of an explosion that tore apart his jeep and the bodies of his friends emerges and takes over. A really good primer on the true cost of modern soldiering, on PTSD and the lack of support for returning soldiers, and with an in depth section on PTSD, the war in Afghanistan, the World War I comic strip Charley's War that first spoke about the reality of life for soldiers on the western front. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is that I feel it lack the subtlety and quality of drawing of Charley's War, but it is much shorter.