All Comments on 'Rehabilitation'

What are friends for!

Your writing hits home to those who have seen the results of war up close. Ignore the Haters about your writing.

While not everything or everyone falls a part when you come back from combat, some can't get over it. Some can. Only together can someone reach beyond the injuries and mental trauma to become a functioning human being again. Combat brings you closer than the outside world ever knows.

Thanks for writing the story It was an interesting perspective.

I'm a former Marine who was stationed at Camp Hansen, Okinawa circa 2006, and I felt compelled to write this review after reading the story and seeing the negative feedback. Initially I was planning on writing a long screed with things like "soldiers are not Marines and Marines are not soldiers" and "the personal attacks on the author are juvenile, hurtful, and unhelpful", but instead I think I'll just talk about why I, as someone who actually WAS in the military, like this story so much.

Quick Disclaimer: These are my personal opinions based on my experience. Ask 50 Marines about this topic and you'll get 50 different opinions. I'm not trying to encourage you to talk to 50 Marines, but... ya know what? Please, talk to 50 Marines and see what they have to say about this. It's good for them, it's good for me, and it's good for you.

People often don't realize I was in the military, much less the Marines, and when I tell them, the mood usually shifts. People typically don't seem to know how to react or what to say, and if they say anything at all, it's usually "thank you for your service" or "I had a cousin who served". While I appreciate the attempt to make me feel important and/or comfortable, most of the time I'm just resentful, because the conversation just ends without any further attempt to get to know me as a person. No questions, no curiosity, no "tell me what that was like" - just "thank you for your service".

I think "thank you for your service" and "support the troops" can sometimes be intended as placeholders for "don't worry, I've got your back" or "I support YOU", but from my perspective, it comes off as "I already know all I need to know about you, as you can tell by the code phrase I just used". The problem is that people DON'T know me or most of my fellow Marines, and by brushing us off with a phrase intended to make the civilian look good, they will never know me or anyone else who served. At least, not really.

The military is not some special place where THE FEW AND THE PROUD have all gathered to fight honorably for freedom with a flag draped across their shoulders. It's a place where mostly 18-22 year old kids, the majority of which are trying to escape poverty, have their brains rewired so that when some stranger approaches you who doesn't respond to your commands, you can blow their brains out as a reaction and not as a conscious thought. It's a place where you'll find your friend frozen to death in a fighting hole during training because he was ordered to stay there in freezing rain and he was told not to question orders. It's a place where someone wound up after being given the choice between prison or the military, and they picked the option that allows you to keep smoking meth as long as you're not too open about it. It's a place where an annoying, unpopular kid cries in your arms at the mess hall because he's off to Afghanistan and the members of his platoon have told him they're going to kill him when they get there, and then that kid doesn't come back. It's a place where a foolish boy who's up to his neck in debt decides he can try to get a leg up by joining the Marines, but instead assigns himself a new debt - one that involves lifelong back problems, PTSD, a completely new undesirable personality, and two suicide attempts.

That last one is me.

The reason I mention all of this is because this story is perhaps one of the most accurate and humanizing descriptions of my experience in the Marines and our interactions with each other that I've read in any fiction, despite the fact that this is fantasy, and it bothers me that people might think the author hates soldiers [sic]. I in fact feel quite the opposite. The author captures all of the feelings and fears that I personally faced during my time - loneliness, love, desperation, brotherhood, depression, friendship, masking grim reality with humor, feeling ignored, jealousy, acceptance, and yes, horniness.

I read this story and knew immediately there would be people who hated it, or would think it was somehow disrespectful. In fact, I have friends that I served with that I KNOW would hate this. But that's the beauty of it, to me. We are uncomfortable when we are removed from what we know and what we think we know, and I think a lot of people THINK they know Marines, soldiers, sailors, etc. If you read this story and you're uncomfortable, good. I made it out relatively unscathed, but others aren't so lucky. I know people who can't have sex anymore. I've seen people I know get melted to ash. I've had aquaintances who came back from Iraq without genitals - they don't mention that at the recruiting office. So yeah, be uncomfortable with this story. You should be. At least I know that there's someone out there who knows I'm more than a National Anthem at an NFL game, or a set piece for the current President, or some abstract idea of honor, courage, and commitment.

I read this story and immediately loved it because I saw myself in it. I saw my friends in it. I saw human beings in it. And I'm still a human being.

Siobhan_True - I give this story 5 stars because the subject matter is accurate, the writing is expressive, the plot development intrigued me, and most importantly, it was hot as fuck.

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Kudos to the few Vets whose reactions are realistic and different to those who didn't go. Vets are no different with regard to their human relations and feelings plus they generally have extra issues to manage. A large part of the civilian population do partake of 'extra curricular' activities and who commanded that service personnel were to be above some of the base - and possibly most pleasurable human activities? We are human too and are entitled to enjoy - and improvise, as required - as in this story. There can be bonds forged in combat that would enable such relationships as told here. The story as told is incredibly human and could be supported by the experiences of several of my own comrades in arms. The feelings, issues and legacies doesn't change with the conflict as I can attest after so many years watching fellow Vietnam vets endure the aftermath(s) and their own unique responses to same. 5 stars!

3 stories in, with this pen name, and you really still cant get beyond letting your mental illness ruin anything you try and pass off as a story.

You're horrid, this was horrid, open that closet door, find the cock you seem to need and become the happy gay male you're meant to be.

This is the most bizarre comment section I have seen on the website. There is some crazy shit on this website and the things you men are getting mad at is the fact that a marine was cuckloded?????? If you thought this was awful do not proceed any further on this site you might die. This was honestly one of the cuter stories on this site.

An implant fixes Brandon's problem...the fictional "Brandon", not the other "Brandon" (nothing can fix him.).

To the dumbfuck who said Marines don’t share. This Marine and probably 50 percent of those I have ever met definitely shared their wives/girlfriends. So stop acting like you know shit.

@mattenw - your ignorant ranting aside; you claim to know “a thousand different ways you can fully satisfy your partner without intercourse.”? I call bullshit on that. I bet you couldn’t name half that many. Hell, I seriously doubt you could name even ten ways. You sir, make yourself out to be a complete fool day and day out around here.

Yeah - I agree with Anonymous former Marine.

Story, hot AF.

Subject matter - on point.

5 stars.

Retired Army - so, not a Marine, but a soldier - and, yes, there is a huge difference.

WHAT A BUNCH OF ASSHOLES! I'VE READ A LOT OF STORIES HERE AND THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST! THIS IS THE 1ST TIME I FELT LOVE AND AN ABSOLUTELY THOUGHTFUL DECISION.

Very nice. Ignore those who like to see people suffer instead of love.

Author tries to write a cute, noble sharing story, and instead writes a cheap ir cuckold story where Pvt Jamal gets the white whore.

This story is so human and hot at the same time. Was not in the military but I understand Brandon's passion for his wife.