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Also by Frank Schaeffer:

Crazy for God, October 2008
Paperback
Baby Jack, September 2006
Hardcover
AWOL, May 2006
Hardcover
Faith of Our Sons, March 2005
Paperback
Keeping Faith, December 2003
Paperback (reprint)

Also by Kathy Roth-Douquet:

AWOL, May 2006
Hardcover

AWOL
By: Frank Schaeffer, Kathy Roth-Douquet

The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service -- and How It Hurts Our Country

Collins
May 2006
256 pages
ISBN: 0060888598
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Political | Non-Fiction

Military service was once taken for granted as a natural part of good citizenship, and Americans of all classes served during wartime.

Not anymore.

As Kathy Roth-Douquet and Frank Schaeffer assert in this groundbreaking work, there is a glaring disconnect between the "all volunteer military" and the rest of us. And as that gap between the cultural "elite" and military rank-and-file widens, our country faces a dangerous lack of understanding between those in power and those who defend our way of life.

In America, it is increasingly the case that the people who make, support, or protest military policy have no military experience. As a result, the privileged miss the benefits of military service -- leadership, experience helpful to their future roles in public life, and exposure to a broader cross section of citizens -- while the military feels under-supported and morally distanced from the rest of the country. And when only a handful of members of Congress have military experience or a personal link to someone in uniform, perhaps it becomes too easy (or too hard) to send the military into combat.

Based on research and including the voices of many young military members who understand firsthand the value of service, AWOL is also a very personal book. Frank Schaeffer, father of a former enlisted Marine, knows the anguish and pride that millions of American parents feel every day as their children are off fighting a war in a foreign land. Kathy Roth-Douquet, wife of a career officer, has experienced the struggle of trying to keep the family together with a husband at war as well as the often untold satisfaction of raising children in an ethic of service. To the authors and numerous other families who are intimately acquainted with the glory and the sacrifice of military service, America needs a wake-up call before it's too late.

Media Buzz

Diane Rehm Show - NPR - June 6, 2006
Today - May 29, 2006