Prayer at Rumayla: A Novel of the Gulf War

by Charles Sheehan-Miles

Nineteen year-old Chet Brown arrived home from the Gulf War in the spring of 1991 and found that, for him, the war was only beginning. Betrayed by his friends and lover, ignored by his family, Brown... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0979411408
• ISBN13: 9780979411403
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Cincinnatus Press
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

After the War

I climbed into bed last night and started reading, intending only to read for a few minutes. Several hours later I finished "Prayer at Rumayla." Charles has captured the feel of what we combat vets know to be true. It was all there: Anger, rage, self-loathing, mental anguish. The list goes on. The next time I get asked "how did the war affect you?" I'll simply say: READ THIS BOOK. I saw so much of myself in Chet's character. Questioning how I could have done the things I did, why I'm doing the things I do now. Searching for answers to questions I can't even formulate. The in-garrison sections were so true, I'd swear he had a hidden camera at my outfit when we got back! The REMFs, the ones who didn't go--they could never understand what the war did to us. They saw it on the television; we saw it on the faces of our buddies and the people we fought. I still see those faces every night when I go to sleep. As for relationships with families, girlfriends, wives? Charles nailed that too. These were the silent casualties of war. Readers will see the effect that war has on those who stayed behind as they try to understand the soldier who left as one person but came back as another. Gulf War vet? Read this book and see yourself. Know a Gulf War vet? Read this book for insight into why he is the way he is. Want to know what it was like? Read this book and look at the unspoken side of war.

The story of a returning Gulf War veteran in the early 1990s

Prayer At Rumayla: A Novel Of The Gulf War is as timely as tomorrow's newspaper headlines. Written by Gulf War veteran and novelist Charles Sheehan-Miles, this is the story of a returning Gulf War veteran in the early 1990s who comes home to apathy, estrangement, and loss on behalf of his family, lover and friends. Brutally honest, direct, and meaningful, Prayer At Rumayla is a compelling novel of coming to terms not only with dangers and traumas of the battlefront, but with its aftermath upon the lives of the surviving combatants.

A must read

Being a fellow vet, I relived the experience through this book. A must read for any vet whom was there, and anyone who wants to know what it was "truly" like over there. CNN painted a pretty picture of this war, but through this book you will see it through the eyes of a soldier.

excellent story of post-war alienation

This book takes you where, unless you were in the Gulf War, you haven't been before. It also takes you into the mind of a young man who wonders why he was made into a killer (another place most of us have never been). Both trips are compelling.This book is hard to put down. Parts were reminiscent of "Bright Lights, Big City." The main difference being that the descent that "Rumalya's" Chet Brown goes through is understandable and not predominantly self-indulgent.The book makes you committed to the idea that soldiers and veterans need all the psychological help that the government can provide after a war to help them cope with was required of them.

Excellent & Accurate

Charles Sheehan-Miles, a Gulf War combat veteran decorated for valor, scores a direct hit with his first novel, "Prayer at Rumayla."His accurate, authentic, and unvarnished view of the shrieks, groans, horrors, and hell of combat between the U.S. and Iraq in 1991 provides a rare and illuminating glimpse into the heart of an M1A1 Abrams tank crewman.With his laser-guided view from behind a 120mm cannon and .50 machine gun, Charles keeps faith with Gulf War combat veterans by telling it like it was, not only as a master storyteller, but with a gut-level emotional portrayal worthy of comparison with Leon Uris' "Battle Cry.""Prayer at Rumayla" provides large caliber ammunition to the rarely heard voices of front-line Gulf War combat veterans searching for understanding in a clueless and insulated world, and the novel may provide an opportunity for some veterans to come to terms with living life after dispensing death.As Charles' friend for more than 9 years, I know that "Prayer at Rumayla" gives readers the first-hand details left out of other books about the Gulf War -- the book is a "one of a kind."As the U.S. prepares to send hundreds of thousands more young men and women into another war in Southwest Asia, his book is a must-read for potential recruits and government policymakers who never set foot on a modern day battlefield.- Paul SullivanCavalry Scout, 1st Armored DivisionGulf War Veteran