Thanks: Giving and Receiving Gratitude for America's Troops

This is a book about faith and moral issues facing American troops and veterans. As someone who spent four years wearing a U.S. army uniform, Edgar S. Welty has plenty of ""soldier stories."" But he does not start this book with those stories. Instead, Welty introduces his work with the telling of Simon's service when he carried the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He argues that ""service"" is the same as Jesus's call to ""go an 'extra' or 'second' mile."" Americans are called by Jesus to walk a ""second mile"" for American troops and veterans. This act of service is necessary because many troops are in trouble, as is demonstrated by suicide rates. Each section of this book focuses on a new issue surrounding troops and veterans. ""A thoughtful collection of stories and personal reflections on the moral complexities of being a soldier . . . written by a veteran to veterans!"" --Scott Sullender, Professor of Pastoral Counseling, San Francisco Theological Seminary Edgar S. Welty Jr. is a disabled veteran. He served in the U.S. army for four years, from April 20, 1976 to April 21, 1980. When he enlisted, he already had an AA (Arts and Letters, Grossmont Community College) and a BA (Russian Area Studies, San Diego State University). Because of his education, Edgar started as a Private First Class and was promoted automatically to Specialist Four. He was then posted to West Germany. Edgar also served as a minister of the Word and Sacrament in the United Church of Christ. After earning a Master of Divinity Degree at San Francisco Theological Seminary, he was called to serve a suburban church in upstate New York. He has acted as a Lutheran pastor in rural New York and Tiburon, California. Reverend Welty is also a Chaplain with the rank of Captain in the United States Volunteers/America and a member of the DAV, the Scottish-American Military Society, and Vets to Vets. He has two books forthcoming:God and America's Wars and a workbook titled Spiritual Insight Training for Veterans. He is also working on a DVD about Christian symbolism. Uwe Siemon-Netto, born 1936 in Leipzig, Germany, is the founder and director emeritus of the Center for Lutheran Theology and Public Life/League of Faithful Masks in Capistrano Beach, CA. Siemon-Netto has been an international journalist for fifty-eight years. He earned his PhD from Boston University and is the author of eight books, including The Fabricated Luther: Refuting Nazi Connections and Other Modern Myths (1993, 2007), The Acquittal of God: A Theology for Vietnam Veterans (1990), and Triumph of the Absurd: A Reporter's Love for the Abandoned People of Vietnam (2015).