Touching the Dragon: And Other Techniques for Surviving Life’s Wars

This book is a candid account of war and its aftermath by a wounded warrior. The author is a retired member of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group. While active, he and his unit were deployed to take out threats from terrorists in Afghanistan. Despite the severe wounds he suffered, his rehabilitation, and the mental horrors he suffered, the most moving accounts in this book are about the K9 warriors and Hatch’s special friend, the most heroic Gabby Giffords. Her honor, courage, and resilience are clearly admired by him and his tributes to her are most affecting.

This reader was raised by a military father who would never speak of his experiences in wars. That used to be the code of the military, and it is one of the chief obstacles to reentry into civilian life. This book does much to explain why we can never truly comprehend the horrors of war. James Hatch is heroic for attempting to bridge that wide divide and bring some understanding to us. A very brave book.