Klay, Paul. Redeployment. New York: The Penguin Press, 2014.

Paul Klay’s Redeployment is an anthology that deals with the impact of the Iraqi War on the lives of individual men (mostly Marines) who were caught up in that conflict in one way or another. Though fictional, the stories clearly have a foundation in actual events. There is not too much blood-and-guts fighting, but most of the stories are grim anyway. If there is a common theme tying them together, it’s the emotional and psychological damage war inflicts on soldiers and Marines, damage that lasts long after they’ve returned from their deployment. A second theme might be that war creates a bond among warriors (both male and female) that is hard for non-warriors to understand.

Most of the stories held my interest, although the ones that dealt with men trying to relieve their sexual tension were pretty gross at times. The two I enjoyed the most were “Prayer in the Furnace” and “Money as a Weapons System.” The former centers on a Marine chaplain trying to help his men understand and deal with the terrible suffering surrounding them. The latter features a civilian foreign service officer who faces myriad obstacles in his effort to start up a defunct water treatment plant. A touch of humor is added by an American businessman who wants the officer to introduce baseball to Iraqi boys. Most of Klay’s stories do not have what could be called “happy endings,” but some characters find a level of peace with their war experiences. Others do not.

Two problems with Klay as a writer should be noted. First, he uses military jargon and acronyms freely throughout his stories. Unless a reader has a military background, these terms are likely to cause uncertainty or confusion. If Klay releases a second edition of this book, I hope he includes a glossary that defines the meaning of DFAC, MRAP, PSP, and other such terms. Second, Klay sometimes tags his characters’ dialogue unnecessarily. He lays out a string of “he said,” “I said,” “he said,” “I said,” even when it is clear who the two speakers are. This makes some stories longer than they need to be. Despite these problems, the reader quickly realizes Klay’s stories have credibility. They come from a man who has been to Iraq and speaks from his own experience.