Fives and Twenty-Fives

This powerful novel examines the lives of the members of a U.S. Marine unit both during and after their service in Iraq, focusing on three members of the command team. Lieutenant Donovan, the nominal commander, is trying to build a career in business school. Doc, the medical officer, carries a homemade med bag as a security blanket as he drifts through life. Dodge was their local interpreter but has fled to Tunisia just in time to be caught up in events of the Arab Spring. Listeners follow these characters back into their wartime experiences and forward to see the lives those experiences shaped. Pitre brings his personal history as a marine in Iraq to the work. His marines suffer from the same problems that have come to light in returning vets and interpreters, such as traumatic brain injury and getting lost in military bureaucracy. The all the characters speak as distinct individuals thanks to Pitre's quality writing and voice work by Kevin T. Collins, Nick Sullivan, Jay Snyder, and Fajer Al-Kaisi. Pitre walks a fine line by remaining apolitical and giving his characters free reign to detail their experiences. The violence is handled with a reticence that makes it far more impactful than if it were described in grisly detail.