title: Awakening of a Foot Soldier: A Journal of Liberation from the Suffering of War
author: John Healey
description: John M. Healey, though not yet settled, currently resides in New Mexico. He can be contacted through his web address at www.awakeningofafootsoldier.com.
zlib_text: **Purple Heart**
  
   **by Patricia McCormick**
  
  ![](Images/image00085.jpeg)
  
   _For Brandon_
  
   _In Memoriam:_
  
   _Army Sergeant Sherwood Baker_
  
   _Army Specialist Joshua Justice Henry_
  
   _Marine Lance Corporal Patrick B. Kenny_
  
   _Army First Lieutenant Neil Anthony Santoriello_
  
   _Marine Lance Corporal William Brett Wightman_
  
   **Contents**
  
   _Begin Reading_
  
   _Acknowledgments_
  
   _About the Author_
  
   _Credits_
  
   _Copyright_
  
   _About the Publisher_
  
   ****
  
  “CAN YOU FEEL THAT, PRIVATE?”
  
  Matt Duffy awoke to a tingling sensation in his foot. He lifted his head and
  took in the sight of a man in green scrubs standing at the end of his bed. The
  sensation in his foot, it seemed, had something to do with the man.
  
  Matt closed his eyes, let his head fall back on the pillow—and felt a terrible
  throbbing at the base of his skull.
  
  The tingling in his foot grew stronger, annoying, a series of pinpricks. Matt
  opened his eyes, looked past the man in scrubs, and saw that he was in a long,
  narrow room wit