Title: Playing Soldier
Author: F. Scott Service
Publisher: MindStir Media
ISBN: 978-1735818634
Pages: 448
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs / Iraq War History
Reviewed by: Tony Espinoza

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As time goes on and people move from the innocence of childhood into adulthood, one of the most important lessons a person can learn during this time is that of self-acceptance. Of learning who they are and coming to terms with that rather than trying to change for other people. As Jamie Lee Curtis once said, “I think happiness comes from self-acceptance. We all try different things, and we find some comfortable sense of who we are. We look at our parents and learn and grow and move on. We change.”

In author F. Scott Service’s Playing Soldier, the author takes readers on a personal journey through his life, from his early years as a child with his parents to his time in the Iraq War and beyond. The author showcases the unexpected paths people find themselves on in life and how one goes from living life for themselves to living life for others. From the years as a child spent with parents who weren’t close and finding his father’s Korean War Journal, to joining the military to help further his career only to find himself fighting the war on terrorism, to the powerful effect war has on soldiers physically and mentally and the struggles which stem from coming home from that war, this book explores it all.

This is an honest, powerful and expertly crafted read. The author perfectly captures the emotional, mental and physical toll war has on soldiers, and the painful part of coming home after enduring so much. The shifting tone between dark humor and haunting truth really pulls the reader into the author’s story, and the book’s lengthy read gives readers a chance to delve into a detail-driven look into the narrative overall that not all memoirs every fully accomplish.

Playing Soldier is the perfect read for those who enjoy memoirs, especially those which involve the life and events of soldiers, those interested in the history of the Iraq War, and the history of military life overall. As a history buff, it was interesting to get a first-hand perspective on the war itself and how it affected those who fought and survived it.

Memorable, truthful and lengthy yet easily engaging, author F. Scott Service’s Playing Soldier is a remarkable memoir that is not to be missed. The way the author showcases the influence that family and society has on us in our youth, from the author’s father and their desire to do great things to embody his family’s legacy of military service, to a simple desire to do good and build a life for himself and his wife, only for his service to become much more involved than he ever intended, and the collapse of his life only to build himself up again, gives readers the sense of a true journey of self-discovery, and eventually self-acceptance.