Synopses & Reviews
YOCHI DREAZEN, the managing editor of Foreign Policy, is one of the most respected military journalists in the country. He covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for The Wall Street Journal and has reported from more than 30 countries. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and other publications. The Invisible Front is his first book and was a finalist for the 2014 J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award. He lives in Washington, DC.
Synopsis
YOCHI DREAZEN is one of the most respected military journalists in the country, with credentials that include The Wall Street Journal's youngest-ever bureau chief and senior national security correspondent at the National Journal. He is currently the deputy editor for news at Foreign Policy.
About the Author
An involving, ultimately inspiring story of a military family that lost two sons—one to suicide and one in combat—and devoted their lives to fighting the military’s suicide epidemic.
Major General Mark Graham is a decorated two-star officer whose integrity and patriotism inspired his sons, Jeff and Kevin, to pursue military careers of their own. When Kevin and Jeff die within nine months of one another—Kevin, a student enrolled in the University of Kentucky’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program, commits suicide and Jeff, who served in the Army as a second lieutenant, dies as a result of an IED attack in Iraq—Mark and his wife Carol find themselves reeling after the loss of two of their three children. As they begin to gather their bearings and contemplate a life without their sons, they must also come to terms with the terrible stigma that surrounds suicide in the military. This stigma is brought into high relief through the Grahams’ own experience of how their tight-knit military community marked their sons’ very different deaths.
The Grahams commit themselves to fighting the military’s suicide epidemic and making sure that the families of troops who take their own lives receive the dignity and compassion that were the hallmarks of both of their sons’ lives. The Invisible Front is the story of their quest to do so. As Mark ascends the military hierarchy and eventually takes command of Fort Carson, Colorado—a sprawling base with one of the highest suicide rates in the armed forces—the Grahams assume a larger platform from which to work to reduce the stigma that surrounds mental health in the military and to develop new ways of keeping troubled troops from killing themselves. Their efforts put them in direct conflict with an entrenched military bureaucracy that considered mental health problems to be a display of weakness and that refused to acknowledge, until far too late, the severity of its suicide problem. The Grahams refuse to back down, using the pain and anger that their sons’ deaths inspired to fight to change the institution that is the cornerstone of their lives.
Yochi Dreazen, an award-winning journalist who has covered the military since 1999, has been granted remarkable access to the Graham family and, as a result, is able to tell the story of Kevin and Jeff’s legacy in the full context of America’s two long wars. The Invisible Front places the Graham family’s story against the backdrop of the military’s suicide spike, caused in part by the military’s own institutional shortcomings and its resistance to change. With great sympathy and deep understanding, The Invisible Front examines America's problematic treatment of its soldiers and offers the Graham family’s work as a new way of understanding how to minimize the risk of suicide, substance abuse and PTSD in the military.
Reading Group Guide
The unforgettable story of a military family that lost two sons—one to suicide and one in combat—and channeled their grief into fighting the armed forces’ suicide epidemic.Major General Mark Graham was a decorated two-star officer whose integrity and patriotism inspired his sons, Jeff and Kevin, to pursue military careers of their own. His wife Carol was a teacher who held the family together while Mark's career took them to bases around the world. When Kevin and Jeff die within nine months of each other—Kevin commits suicide and Jeff is killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq—Mark and Carol are astonished by the drastically different responses their sons’ deaths receive from the Army. While Jeff is lauded as a hero, Kevin’s death is met with silence, evidence of the terrible stigma that surrounds suicide and mental illness in the military. Convinced that their sons died fighting different battles, Mark and Carol commit themselves to transforming the institution that is the cornerstone of their lives.
The Invisible Front is the story of how one family tries to set aside their grief and find purpose in almost unimaginable loss. The Grahams work to change how the Army treats those with PTSD and to erase the stigma that prevents suicidal troops from getting the help they need before making the darkest of choices. Their fight offers a window into the military’s institutional shortcomings and its resistance to change – failures that have allowed more than 2,000 troops to take their own lives since 2001. Yochi Dreazen, an award-winning journalist who has covered the military since 2003, has been granted remarkable access to the Graham family and tells their story in the full context of two of America’s longest wars. Dreazen places Mark and Carol’s personal journey, which begins when they fall in love in college and continues through the end of Mark's thirty-four year career in the Army, against the backdrop of the military’s ongoing suicide spike, which shows no signs of slowing. With great sympathy and profound insight, The Invisible Front details America's problematic treatment of the troops who return from war far different than when they'd left and uses the Graham family’s work as a new way of understanding the human cost of war and its lingering effects off the battlefield.
Book club discussion guide for THE INVISIBLE FRONT by Yochi Dreazen.
1. Yochi illustrates the military’s stigmatized treatment of mental health problems in part by citing the roadblocks the Grahams encountered when they tried to address those issues head-on. Were you surprised to learn that there is such an entrenched attitude of denial and shame regarding mental illness in military culture? Why or why not?
2. A troubled soldier seeking help risks losing the respect of their colleagues, missing out on promotions, or potentially ruining their career altogether. Why do you think this stigma exists? Do you think it’s possible to ever fully eradicate it?
3. In 2012, more soldiers killed themselves than died in combat and that number only rose in 2013 and then again in 2014. What do you think are the most important first steps in changing this disturbing trend?
4. Do you think that people who have a previous record of mental illness of any variety—including depression—should be discouraged from military service? Why or why not?
5. Do you have any friends or family in the military? If so, did that affect your response this book? Did you recognize anyone you know in the characters? How did your reading experience affect how you think about what we ask of our men and women in uniform?
6. Although in the past it has gone by different names (“shell shock” and “combat fatigue,” for example), PTSD is one of the signature wounds of war and currently affects hundreds of thousands of active-duty personnel. Did you know how pervasive the problem was before reading this book?
7. Depression and anxiety don’t just affect soldiers stationed in combat zones. Have you or anyone you know ever experienced depression or anxiety? What sort of support was most meaningful to that person?
8. Suicide is a national problem, not just a military one. More people kill themselves today than die in car crashes, and the rate continues to skyrocket. Do you think enough is being done to combat this and provide resources for people who are struggling? What do you think is the most important thing we can do to reduce the number of suicides?
9. Kevin Graham never saw active duty, but he came from a military family and was an ROTC officer at the University of Kentucky. Do you think that the military culture’s emphasis on stoicism and suffering in silence contributed to his reluctance to seek help?
10. After their two sons died, Mark and Carol Graham channeled their grief into fighting suicide in the military and eradicating the stigma surrounding mental illness. Which of their choices or actions inspired you the most? Do you think you might have done the same in their place?
11. Author Yochi Dreazen—who has firsthand experience with PTSD, after spending almost four years embedded in Iraq and Afghanistan—says, “It took me a long time to even accept that I needed help, let alone to actually reach out for it.” Do you think it’s common for people to have difficulty seeking help for a problem like PTSD? What kind of changes in our mental healthcare system, military, or culture at large might make it easier for people to reach out? What can you personally do to address this in your own community?
12. The military has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to hire mental health professionals and yet there is still a system-wide shortage that forces many soldiers and veterans to wait months for an appointment. Do you think the military should allocate more resources to this problem? Or do you think that there are others who should help bear that responsibility?
13. Despite the danger to their careers, military officials at high levels like Mark Graham and Major General David Blackledge have spoken out about mental illness and PTSD. What do you think of their decisions to risk their careers to join the fight? Do you consider them heroes?
14. The book begins with a quote from Archibald MacLeish: “They say, Our deaths are not ours; they are yours; they will mean what you make them.” After reading The Invisible Front, what does this quote mean to you? Why do you think the author chose to include it?
15. Did you know there are “warning signs” that may indicate someone is considering suicide? Can you name any of those signals? Do you think more should be done to spread awareness, such as having these signs taught in schools or publicized using public service announcements?