March 2003

The United States of America, joined by the United Kingdom and other coalition countries invade Iraq. The Iraqi forces were quickly overwhelmed. Later that year, Saddam Hussein, its totalitarian leader, is captured. This leads the country into sectarian violence.

This, however, is not about the story of Iraq.

In 2005, Navy reservist, Sergeant Beal was called to active duty. What first started as a daily novelty email from his life in Iraq soon became a real-life glimpse of the emotional and physical strain our service members deal with every day. This is his memoir.

I invite you to take your time (as you would with any great book) and read through his collection of messages. Quickly you will fall in love with his beautiful, intelligent and witty writing. Before you know it, you will be riding along in the rollercoaster that was his life in Iraq.

I hope you love it this memoir as much as those of us who received his daily email did. Enjoy!