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Twenty-Percent Soldiers: Our Secret Life in the National Guard
". . . a poignant reminder that our freedom still depends on 'twenty-percent soldiers' who volunteer to protect and defend our nation when duty calls."
-Tom Ridge, 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania, First US Secretary of Homeland Security
The National Guard and Reserves is comprised of remarkable men and women who work behind the scenes as our nation's supplemental fighting force. It's a part-time job with a full-time commitment that involves the entire family. They wear the same uniforms and train to the same standards as America's full-time military. And when called to service, they fight right alongside the active duty. Nobody knows the difference. Yet they are very different. Twenty-Percent Soldiers is the true account of one couple's life in the National Guard through eighteen years of part-time warfare. With humor and humility, Kevin and Susan Dellicker portray what it's like to jump back and forth between having a "normal" civilian life in small-town Pennsylvania and conducting special operations missions in Southwest Asia. A tribute to all the part-time soldiers and their families who have been fighting the Global War on Terrorism since 9/11, this story is also a call-to-action for politicians and military leaders to fix a broken family support system that is failing the part-time force. Twenty-Percent Soldiers reinforces a truth that all Americans can With perseverance, love and faith, ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things.
-Tom Ridge, 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania, First US Secretary of Homeland Security
The National Guard and Reserves is comprised of remarkable men and women who work behind the scenes as our nation's supplemental fighting force. It's a part-time job with a full-time commitment that involves the entire family. They wear the same uniforms and train to the same standards as America's full-time military. And when called to service, they fight right alongside the active duty. Nobody knows the difference. Yet they are very different. Twenty-Percent Soldiers is the true account of one couple's life in the National Guard through eighteen years of part-time warfare. With humor and humility, Kevin and Susan Dellicker portray what it's like to jump back and forth between having a "normal" civilian life in small-town Pennsylvania and conducting special operations missions in Southwest Asia. A tribute to all the part-time soldiers and their families who have been fighting the Global War on Terrorism since 9/11, this story is also a call-to-action for politicians and military leaders to fix a broken family support system that is failing the part-time force. Twenty-Percent Soldiers reinforces a truth that all Americans can With perseverance, love and faith, ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things.
276 pages, Hardcover
Published June 8, 2020
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April 8, 2021
Essential reading to understand post 9/11 Guard service, which is why I gave four stars. Would have given five, but I picked up this book to better understand Guard/Reserve service impact on partners and families. The bulk of the narrative was from LTC Dellicker's perspective, not Mrs. Dellicker's. Her sections seemed truncated, and I felt that things that were her story were co-opted and told in his portion of the narrative. I came away from the book with a great understanding of what his military career was like for him, but only a very limited understanding of what it was like for her and the kids. The family serves, too.
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