Adjustment Disorder: A Collection of Maladjusted Essays

by Patrick Mondaca

Overview

In this memoir, written within a collection of essays, Patrick Mondaca deftly threads together stories of his wartime service in Iraq, his pre-war experience, and his postwar efforts to readjust to civilian life. From small-town Connecticut to Baghdad, to Darfur and New York City, Mondaca considers the effects of war on the soldier—what it does to one’s psyche, identity, and morality. While he is just one of millions who have returned from this country’s ongoing armed conflicts, his moving essays offer a glimpse into the experience of veterans struggling to find their way back to their prior lives and the loved ones trying to understand them. The collection speaks deeply and thoughtfully to many issues of our times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780872333277
Publisher:	Bauhan Publishing
Publication date:	05/19/2021
Pages:	180
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Patrick Mondaca served in Baghdad, Iraq, as a sergeant with the Connecticut Army National Guard’s 143rd Military Police Company in 2003. After being discharged, he returned to civilian policing until leaving to work as a field safety and security officer for a humanitarian organization in South Darfur, Sudan, from September 2007 to September 2008. A graduate of Central Connecticut State University, he holds a MS in Global Affairs from New York University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He won the Waterston Desert Writing Prize in 2018 and his writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Litro, and Shooter Literary Magazine, and others. He lives in Clinton, Connecticut.

Table of Contents

Preface 9

Wrath

We Who Walk Among You 16

The Desert 27

Allawi 33

Bluebeard Of Baghdad 38

Medivac 42

The Fat Sergeant Major 49

Lust

Before 54

Preacher Man 61

La Fata Morgana 65

Bedroom Eyes 70

A 9/11 Story 78

Gluttony

With Our Own Feathers 86

Fumes Of Petrol 90

The Not So Thin Blue Line 94

Hubris (Pride)

In Defiance Of The Gods 102

This Cruel Land 107

Praying 118

We Are The Hollow Men 122

Avarice (Greed)

Shiny Things 130

Calypso 135

The Wine-Dark Sea 139

Envy

Among The Rich Civilians 144

What Is It About Us Men 148

The Suitors 152

Sloth

Boanerges 158

The White Light 161

A Special Form Of Incoherence 167

The Long March 173

Epistle For A Commander 181

Afterword 185