Long Walk Home: Paul Franklin's Journey from Afghanistan: A Soldier's Story.

Ian A. Andrews is a high-school social sciences teacher and editor of the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association’s Focus.

On January 15, 2006, Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry was killed when the military vehicle in which he was riding was destroyed by a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan. Three soldiers were seriously wounded, including the driver, Master Corporal Paul Franklin. Franklin had one leg blown off by the blast; the other leg required amputation. The Long Way Home is the story of the first year of Franklin’s recovery from this life-altering event.

Journalist Liane Faulder followed the struggles of Paul Franklin, his wife Audra and their six-year-old son Simon as they all tried to adjust to the “new normal” during recovery in an American military hospital in Germany, and rehabilitation at home in Edmonton. Emphasized is the tremendous physical exertion and mental determination required for Franklin, a double amputee above the knee, to learn to walk with the assistance of specially designed prostheses—a feat medical personnel thought was virtually impossible. The optimism of the victim, the dedication of his wife, and the support of the military community were all instrumental in Franklin’s attempt to overcome the many obstacles in his way.

This is not a story about people living happily ever after. Anxiety and stresses continue to exist as a wife tries to comfort military wives encountering similar circumstances, a husband embarks on a new career as an inspirational speaker, and a young son tries to cope with a father no longer able to do the many things both had enjoyed together.

Faulder does a masterful job of placing Franklin’s military career, including the soldier’s view of Canada’s role in Afghanistan, in perspective. The inclusion of the musings from a father’s in-theatre diary, written especially for his son, provides a personal insight on war rarely available to the general public. Throughout, this soldier remains supportive of Canada’s military presence in Afghanistan, explaining this objective to his son: “one day little Afghan girls w[ill] be allowed to go to school like Simon and his friends and little Afghan boys w[ill] be able to fly their kites.”