The Soldier

_The Soldier_ is a tender and warm story of a young man, some would say a mere kid, who was sent into the service and then to an unpopular war that was half a world away. He was sent from a close and happy family in an ideal climate to a swamp that was infested with snakes, leeches and bugs of all kinds. That soldier is Vincent Dennis Polisano, who was nicknamed 'Polly' by an army sergeant at his first roll call. The story spans this soldier's life from his beginning to now. It gives us all food for thought as to how the traumatic experiences as a soldier can influence a person's life. It shows how the service took a young teenager with sparkling eyes of hope and two years later gave us back a young man whose eyes had dulled from the horrors he had seen. Even though this story features Dennis, the soldier could be any man or woman who has been in the service. Basic training alone is more than most of us could endure. The beautiful part of the story is the strength that these heroes demonstrated during and after their time as a soldier. They came away from the experience with maturity and tolerance that was way beyond their years. We write this book with the hope of informing other soldiers that there is help and support available. We also hope that it will show that all of us as humans must find an alternate to constant war.