Front Toward Enemy:

War, Veterans, and the Homefront

Rowman & Littlefield, December 6, 2021

A unique and much-needed perspective on the transitions veterans go through after returning home from war service.

It is a difficult time to be a veteran of a small war in the United States. After twenty years of combat and counter-insurgency, a generation of Afghan, Iraq, and Global War on Terror veterans struggle to integrate back into civilian society and lead productive lives. As the wars these men and women have participated in continue—while they simultaneously recede to the past—many feel a sense of estrangement from their country, friends, and prior lives. They often long to return to war but hope to never go again and are stuck in a nether world of war without end and peace that does not exist.

In Front toward Enemy: War, Veterans, and the (Home)front, Daniel R. Green uses his own experiences with war from having served five military and civilian tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and provides a different perspective on the transition home. Using sociological, philosophical, literary, cultural, historical, and political perspectives he provides a venue for the countless conversations he has had with his fellow veterans about their own experiences as a way to assist others with their transition from war and the military to peace and civilian life. Green provides not just a war veteran’s views but the amplifying perspective of a political scientist—as well as a reserve officer—in order to rescue the issue of the “returning veteran” from the field of psychology and to broaden the understanding of the experience of war for veterans. This book bridges the gap between war veterans and their fellow citizens, sheds light on the quiet conversations that take place among veterans about their experiences, and enriches the collective understanding of how wars affect people.

Reviews & Endorsements

An insightful and moving analysis that re-imagines the narrative of the returning war veteran. Written by a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Front Toward Enemy pulls the curtain back on the quiet conversations combat veterans have about their experiences and why the transition home can be so challenging. A unique and vital contribution that tells us as much about combat veterans as it does about the societies they fight to protect.
— Elliot Ackerman, Marine Infantry Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran, Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart recipient, finalist for the National Book Award, and New York Times bestselling author of 2034: A Novel of the Next World War

A thoughtful, kaleidoscopic portrayal of the trends and movements that puzzle, inform, amuse or infuriate every combat veteran. Written in a lively, insightful fashion by a veteran who fought in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
— Bing West, Marine Vietnam Veteran and bestselling military historian 

Dan Green’s book Front Toward Enemy is a thoughtful, compassionate, and original look at the challenges returning war veterans face after twenty years of combat and counterinsurgency. Moving beyond traditional veteran archetypes he explores how popular culture, literature, history, and politics among other factors shape how war veterans process their journeys home. A singular work that greatly informs the impact of war on Americans it also reveals how society could do better when they return.
— Peter Bergen, journalist and author of The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden

The field of psychology has done much to help war veterans return home but often misses vital cultural and historical contexts within which they serve which also impact how veterans adjust to civilian life. Dan Green’s book Front Toward Enemy is a unique and invaluable contribution that tells the rest of the story. He explores the impact on veterans of deep exposure to radically different cultures in wars of counterinsurgency, the rise of the all-volunteer military and the decoupling of civilian responsibility to fight, and the repercussions of the development of post-industrial society on changing definitions of masculinity among many other vital subjects. Dan’s work will help veterans and those they fought for understand what people who are touched by war face when they return.
— Karl Marlantes, Marine Infantry Vietnam Veteran, Navy Cross, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart recipient, and author of What It Is Like To Go To War and Matterhorn

Front Toward Enemy: War, Veterans, and the Homefront by Dr. Daniel Green, also a veteran, offers a thoughtful and historical look at veteran reintegration into civilian society from wars past and present, examining military to civilian transition through multiple societal lenses and pulling from his own familiar experiences as well.
— Janet Farley, EdM, author of Mission Transition: Managing Your Career and Your Retirement