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From Baghdad to America: Life Lessons from a Dog Named Lava | 
 enlarge | Author: Jay Kopelman
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $12.72
You Save: $11.23 (47%)
New (38) Used (11) Collectible (1) from $8.50
Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 8308
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.2 x 1
ISBN: 1602392641
Dewey Decimal Number: 956.70443092
EAN: 9781602392649
ASIN: 1602392641
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
An inspired, timely follow-up to the New York Times bestseller From Baghdad, With Love.
Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman won the hearts of readers with his moving story of adopting an abandoned puppy named Lava in a hellish corner of Iraq. For this Marine and his comrades, the puppy served as an important emotional touchstone in a grim and seemingly endless war.
Kopelman now writes about what it's like to be home. He credits his canine best friend with finding his wife—in the park, Lava began playing with her dog and the two owners met—and for keeping him sane as he readjusted. With the same intelligence and insight he showed in From Baghdad, With Love, Kopelman sets forth more than a dozen lessons, including: Life can change in an instant, but you'll be able to handle it; passion for something can help you tap into your most powerful reserve of energy; have a standard operating procedure for everything; never forget who you are or how you got here. Active and retired troops, soldiers' friends and families, and everyone who has ever loved a dog will embrace this book. 10 b/w photographs.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 Disappointing sequel July 2, 2008
keneumey (Bellingham, WA)
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
Unlike most of the reviewers, I was really disappointed that From Baghdad to America wasn't more of a linear narrative, like the first book.
I thought it was really disjointed. What I liked best were the anecdotes here and there about Lava and Jay after their return. I enjoyed reading about his relationship with his wife and stepson. True, the book does offer a lot of insight into PTSD -- for example, what would make a man lash out at his stepson, and what goes through his mind after he does.
But those scenes didn't seem to be in any particular order, and they were interspersed with a lot of rambling about "over there" versus "over here" and laundry lists of terrible things that soldiers have seen and experienced. I think it would be a more moving story without the sweeping generalizations. More specifics, like the soldier with a serious leg injury who inspired Kopelman with his enthusiasm about getting his prosthesis. I was the most touched by a letter from another soldier who befriended a dog and found out later the pup had been executed.
I find it ridiculous that he spends the whole book talking about how he doesn't have PTSD. Not that he didn't think he did, but now realizes he does...but that he doesn't have it, and his visits to therapists are purely for research. Even after all the introspection, his final analysis is that he'll give therapy a try and maybe just possibly, could even benefit from it.
 If you love a combat vet, read this book June 21, 2008
M. Russell (San Diego CA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is for anyone who has had a loved one go off to war and wants some insight into what is going on in their loved one's head when they have returned and are struggling to adjust back to what most think is a "normal" life. The author had a constant companion (Lava the dog) who was with him in Iraq and had his own adjustments to make to get a normal life and the author used Lava as a mirror into his own Post Traumatic Stress. This book is definitely on my recommend list.
 Excellent read for anyone who knows a combat vet June 9, 2008
N. Hawks (San Diego, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a vivid, harsh, and no-holds-barred account of what it means to openly seek catharsis after seeing through a heavy veil of war.
I expected this to pick up on Lava's journey where From Baghdad, With Love: A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava left off, so I was right, and wrong. This book isn't an extension of Lava's journey from Iraq, but rather the map of a journey undertaken by many yet recorded by few.
Every returning combat vet from Iraq should be presented with the information in this book, whether they see it in the story of a dog, a man, or themselves. This goes beyond a step-by-step lesson program and into the heart and mind of one good man. Through his example you will see how terrifying, difficult, and important it is to come back from a war and go on with life.
If you're looking for a book that explains in detail and at large what a returning vet has seen, feels, and goes through as they re-join the productive ranks of civilian society, I highly recommend picking up a copy of From Baghdad to America.
Love and War June 24, 2008
HKC (Charlottesville, VA USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
From Baghdad to America was an excellent read and a wonderful follow-on to From Baghdad With Love. Despite its sometimes somber messages, this newest offering from Jay Kopelman is much more hopeful perspective on the war, on America and about trying to live our lives in these troubling times in a way that is good and decent and meaningful. Kopelman has done a remarkable job in his new book of weaving together stories about the terrible nature of war, about the comfort and wonder of canine companionship, about the clash of cultures in America between the few who have served in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere and the overwhelming majority of those who have no idea what that means, about the journey of self-discovery, about the redemptive power of love, and about the triumph of courage and hope over anger and despair. While doing all that, he provided important and (mostly) non-hyperbolic information on the challenges of our men and women in uniform who must adjust to life "over here" after being "over there." I hope Jay Kopelman will continue to keep us informed in his humorous, warm, self-deprecating - and, above all, authentic - voice about the war, about its effects at home and about a good man's struggle to make sense of it all.
An insightful read from a combat survivor... July 1, 2008
Michael Ash (San Diego, CA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
"From Baghdad to America" is an intense view of life from a man who's lived many; blending conflict with hope, and the realization in the blink of an eye that everything can change. The book is an incredibly heartwarming story of the importance of family, friends, and an amazing dog named Lava. Jay blends with both humor and sadness the painful tragedy of war through his recovery thanks to an unlikely canine friend. Not having either Jay's experience or a dog, I was amazed at the powerful role an animal plays in recovery. For me it was realizing that 'Help' is not a four-letter word. Jay is able to explore the complexity of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) through his relationship Lava. I spent 10 years active duty in the Air Force and could feel Jay's experiences unfolding and understood the pride and depth military services delivers. This was a view of the real world... not a sound bit from CNN
The book goes well beyond the sequel to "From Baghdad, With Love" giving the reader insights into the unseen emotional trauma of war. This is a real wakeup call to the self absorbed state most of us live. Jay shows you the world though eyes that have `been there' how people forget to look outside themselves to realize giving is where you really receive the greatest joy. An incredibly touching view the bond between a man and his dog with experience most will never know from a half a world away. "...live your life with all the gusto and pleasure of a dog!"
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