Thank You For Your Service

Chapter 15 begins back in Washington DC, where General Chiarelli is planning another event with senators and other important figures in order to try to raise the profile of the issue of preventing veteran suicides. 

There is much fuss over minutiae—menus and guest lists. One senator backs out due to scheduling conflicts, then another, and the event quickly unravels and is postponed. General Chiarelli retires a few months later.  

Around this same time, Saskia is in California, watching her husband and several other wounded veterans graduate from the program. She is moved to tears many times. Schumann speaks at the ceremony. He has lived up to his promise when he had turned back to the center to complete Trauma Group. He says: “It feels like in the last couple of weeks, a million pounds have been lifted off my back. I can breathe again. I can wake up in the morning and smile. For the first time, I’m not thinking  about killing myself every day” (246).

Schumann and Saskia begin their drive back home. Both are quiet. Schumann keeps asking if she’s nervous, and they are more considerate of one another than they have been in a long time. As they make their way home, they stop at Schumann’s grandmother’s house and see relatives.