Home Fires Burning really does look at military family life for better or for worse.Ms. Houppert does not sugarcoat the life of the military spouse like so many other books do, nor does she claim that military wives have made their own bed by choosing to marry someone in the military and therefore deserve to be unhappy.Given that such a small proportion of the population is being asked to carry the entire burden of the current conflicts-a book like this is important for civilians (particularly civilian defense leadership) to read so that they might understand the impact of the demands that conflict has on the society and way of life they claim to be protecting.I'm glad to see that Ms. Houppert is mature enough to say critical things about the military in a way that does not demean or patronize servicemembers or their families.We need more than parades, yellow ribbon magnets, and other trite penitance dished out by a complacent and disinterested civilian public.Military families need decent housing, good schools, and most importantly, the safe and speedy return of their loved ones.On a personal level, this is the first book I've found that acknowledges the emotions and trials of women undergoing the strains of deployment.Other books, such as the oft-reccomended "Surviving Deployment" prattle on for paragraphs about keeping a log of your daily activities (as if any woman with a husband out of the country has the time) but offer only a parched sentance that vaguely addresses the nagging fear, lonliness, and frustration- feelings which the Army culture teaches us to keep to ourselves at great cost to our marriage and our own sanity.This book was a great catharsis.
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