While They're At War was a very good book for someone entering into a deployed lifestyle. It opened my eyes to alot of things I thought I knew about. It tells of three different families trials during their experience of their husbands entering the military and the stages they went through before, during, and after deployment. Very comforting!

As an Army wife at Fort Bragg going through my husband's first deployment, and a 15 month deployment at that, this was a wonderful and heartbreaking read. I have read many books on being an Army wife and guides to getting through a deployment but none compared to the insight found here. While the stories and commentaries brought tears to my eyes, it was comforting to know that I am not alone in my feelings, frustrations and fears. Ms. Henderson captures what so many people fail to grasp; that military spouses come from varying backgrounds, educational levels, religions and political beliefs but we all want the same thing - that our loved one is brought back to us safe and sound. I appreciate all of the men and women who told their stories in the book and may God bless you, your families and all those who are serving both in and out of uniform.

This book contains the true emotions and behind the scenes that the spouses go through. Everyone faces it differently but reading this book comfirmed that I am not alone in my feelings. I found strength and courage through the stories of my fellow wives. Being a military spouse gets very hard each day for me since my husband is deployed, but i love that man and i would never trade marrying someone else. ~Proud Army Wife

I laughed, I cried, and realized things I had not thought of. As with any REAL story it is great. I did not find it scattered. The story is told formatted in "days in the life" of several military spouses and the situations that they each face. Once you grasp who each character is, you won't be able to put it down. I didn't once think it was fake or written with fluff. I was so impressed with this book, I lent it to my friends.

A common comment these days amongst military families is "our country isn't at war...our military is...the country is at the mall." Although our country is still at war, the only ones truly sacrificing are the military and their families. (and for many those sacrfices will continue for a lifetime, no matter when this war ends.) I nodded and sobbed and laughed throughout this book. Kristin is an amazing writer and managed to do incredibly thorough research to follow these families through their experiences. A military spouse herself who has dealt with multiple deployments, she captures the challenges. We wish every person in Congress would study books like this so they have a full view of the impact of their decisions.
Kathie Hightower, coauthor of Help! I'm a Military Spouse...I Get a Life Too!

I haven't even received my copy yet, but I've already read this book several times (borrowed from a friend) and wanted a copy of my own. From the moment I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. This book takes you on an emotional rollercoaster that you'll appreciate whether you're a military spouse or not. I cried along with the women during their trying times and rejoiced with them at their husband's homecomings. The author captures the essence of the moments exactly. I would reccomend this book to anyone looking for a good read, just remember to bring the tissues!

This was a decent book for Military spouses and civilians alike. It explains the hardships that we endure, the pain of saying goodbye to our loved ones, and the stress of running a household alone. I learned a few things from this book even though I've been a Marine's wife for a few years now. The only thing that I didn't really like about this book was that it focused too solely on Army spouses. It confused me, being that the author's husband is a Navy Chaplain serving with the Marine Corps. She definitely should have included Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force spouses in this book. And the whole situation with the one wife conspiring to get her husband out of the Army and speaking at anti-war protests was unbelievable. It's one thing to not agree with a war, but it's another thing to protest what your husband does for a living. All in all, I give this book 3 stars- it's a bit confusing at times, since it jumps around a lot. But I recommend it for a spouse who is new to military life, especially an Army spouse.

**Until they all come home**

I bought this because I am a Marine wife and my husband is deployed to Iraq. At first the book was okay, but then it went downhill. This author needs to stick to her day job- and hopefully it's not writing! She jumps from here to there talking about different situations so it's really confusing, and her husband is attached to a Marine division, so why didn't she interview Marine wives? We have the hardest jobs- our husbands are the first to fight. We also have a lot fo pride, like our husbands, so we don't need to be on display and interviewed, but that's besides the point. I thought it was inappropraite of her to tell how wives didn't support the war, and I especially thought it was disrespectful that one wife even stooped so low as to visit the Quaker House and find out information on how to get her husband out of the Army. What a slap in the face- if I ever pulled that stunt on my husband, he would have whooped my a-s-s and I don't blame him.

But the worst part was how the author talked about infidelity and how it goes on in Iraq. That's not something you're supposed to say when we're at home worrying about if our husbands are still alive. We all know infidelity goes on, it's just not something we need to be REMINDED of when our husbands are at war.

I recommend saving your money and talking to a military wife who's been through deployments if you need help. SInce we don't have children, I could barely relate to the Army wives in the book anyways. Sorry I'm responsible and not 20 and have 2 kids already!

I was looking for information on deployment and got so much more from Kristin Henderson's book! Moving, emotional, real-life accounts that touch the heart and help us civilians better comprehend the challenges of wartime delpoyment. Kristin interviews a variety of spouses and 'significant others' recounting their respective experiences, all with very different perspectives.

It's definitely a book that you won't put down until the last chapter is read!

After reading so many wonderful reviews for this book, I felt that I needed to read it. My husband is currently deployed and I'm always looking for related books.

As I got further and further into the book I found I was increasingly disappointed. The book is very scattered - to the point of frequent confusion. While the stories of the women are very touching and easy to relate to, I found it difficult to keep all the the details for each story together because of the nature in which the book was written. Henderson does a good job of working through the policies of the Army, though again it was so scattered and frequently interjected in the middle of a story.

While the stories of the women are well told, I was disappointed that the aspect of being a wife with no children was practically ignored. Yes, one of the characters is childless, but Henderson didn't discuss that dynamic and that disappointed me. Not every military spouse has children, childless spouses face different (and hard) challenges because of that.

All in all it wasn't a bad book, but I wasn't as impressed with it as some of the other reviewers.

Henderson's book is a necessary read for both civilians and military personnel. As the wife of a Marine and as a student of international relations I have been consistently confused and sometime overwhelmed by so many different viewpoints concerning the military, the Iraq war, and International Politics. This book helped me come to grips a bit with that confusion and as a student I think it makes for excellent reading for citizens, to inform people on how their actions impact the 2.5 million military personnel serving 300 million people.

My fiance (37th Eng BN ft. Bragg) Bought me this book right before it deployed and i found it wonderful. It was both entertaining and full of useful information. I whole heartedly recommend it!!

This books gives a pretty accurate dipiction of military life during war time. Each of the stories shows a different way a spouse reacted during the deployment. The only problem I have with this book is that each story is so scattered throughout the book. I wished that each chapter would have focused on on one story for every chapter or two. This way is a little confusing as to where each person is. There are times the author even is switching between Vietnam War and Iraq War stories and it can be very confusing. Overall I felt like I wasn't alone in my feelings during the deployment. And learned a few more things. I really liked the section in the back of the book that listed where the author got a lot of her reference materials, so I can read them too.

So to the reader who states that it's our own fault if we don't search out the information - Sometimes we don't know where to go or who to contact to get that information. During my husbands deployment, if our Marine unit hadn't had mandatory family readiness meetings for everyone I would never had known what was going on. Thank god for the KVC because when I went to the mandatory Return and Reunion meeting for the entire unit - the Ombudsman had, had no idea there was any Navy attached to Weapons Co. She was so surprised to see us and here they were coming back in a few weeks after being gone for a year! Being in the Navy I got all my information thru the Marines and not all that applied to me in the NAVY. They'd tell me to contact the Navy for more information but couldn't tell me who to talk too. Where does that leave me? Hanging out there in the wind. I live in a civilian community and am the only one with a miltary deployed husband, I lost my job because of his deployment. This is a book that civilians should read to get a little better understanding of the military spouse situation. Because a being a military spouse is not at all like being a single parent!