Originally published at http://www.bestsellingreads.com

Over 453 soldiers were killed in the Afghan war between 2009 and 2015. Of those that survived, there were many soldiers wounded. For some, life with missing limbs was their new reality. Their war had not ended. Struggling with day to day life back on civilian streets and minus a limb or two proved the hardest challenge for many soldiers.

Soldiers returned home to face a new battle: PTSD. Many relationships buckled under the stress of this emotional battle. Losing a leg or an arm changed the soldier’s life. The army was all they knew. Many descended into an abyss of depression. The families back home trying their best to pick up the pieces were struggling, too.

During the Afghan war, I wrote a novel called Broken Wings. It is a military romance about a soldier who is deployed to Afghanistan. His armoured truck is blown up by an IED on route 601, the key access route that connects Lashkar in Helmand with the city of Kandahar to the east. Insurgents had planted IEDS in the ditches along the route.

Joshua, was in an armoured truck on route 601 scanning for IEDs and detonating the explosives to make the route safe. His team was ambushed by insurgents and Joshua’s truck was blown up. He lost a leg and was returned to a military hospital in the Midlands, in the U.K.

The weeks that followed were a struggle for Joshua. He refused to see his girlfriend, convinced she would be better off without him. He denied her visits to the hospital. However, Angelina was insistent and eventually snuck into the hospital and found her way to Joshua. Her love for him was strong and his missing leg did not change the way she felt about him. Angelina helped Joshua to face his reality and accept his fate.

Since writing this novel, I have heard of several stories like this since the war in Afghanistan ended and our troops have returned home. Individual stories of triumph over adversity. Lovers who would not be pushed away and standing by their men. One or two stories were similar to my fictional novel, Broken Wings.

Here is a sample.

Angelina wanted to hold Joshua, never let him go and keep him safe. She held him tight as if her own life depended on it. “I love you so much. Please come back to me,” she whispered, choking back her tears while pressing her head deeper into his chest.

He stepped back and lifted her chin up with his finger. He took off his ring that was passed down to him by his grandfather years before and slipped it on her finger. “I promise you that when I return, I will make you my wife.” Joshua kissed her gently on the lips. He hated leaving her and he knew this was as hard for her as it was for him.

“Joshua, when you’re gone, time stands still until you return. I can’t move forward or backwards. I can’t sleep because of worrying about you. There are so many soldiers returning home in boxes. Every time I turn on the TV, there is a news item about a young soldier not making it back alive and the families left behind tormented by their grief,” she paused and drew in a deep breath.

“Last week, there were two soldiers from the West Midlands who were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan headlining the news. What if that happens to you? I know the loss you suffered on your first tour of Afghanistan and that could so easily have been you. You are my reason for existing, so you better come back to me. Do you hear me?”

Joshua studied Angelina’s beautiful almond eyes. He wrapped his muscular arms around her tight. “I love you. I promise that I will return to you and then I will be back for good. I will not be extending. It’s only six months. It will fly by. I will write to you all the time.” Angelina could not stem the tears tumbling down her cheeks. She could hardly breathe from the fear that this could be the last time she ever saw him alive. Joshua’s finger trailed over the small scar etched into her right eyebrow. He held her face in the palms of his hands and kissed her while brushing the tears from her sodden cheeks. He felt her pain. He was feeling it too. No words could take their pain away — it was something they had to endure together until his return.

About D. G. Torrens:

is a mother/writer/blogger who has a dream to inspire as many people as possible through her story. To show those with little hope that dreams can come true.

A prolific writer, her works were recognized in 2013 by BBC Radio WM, where she has given several live interviews in the BBC studios in Birmingham, UK. Thereafter, D.G. became a regular Headline Reviewer for the radio show for the next 12 months.

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