MWSA Review

No Tougher Duty, No Greater Honor: A Memoir of a Mortuary Affairs Marine by GySgt L. Christian Bussler (Ret.) is a memoir covering the Marine Reservist author’s three deployments in Iraq. Each deployment is given separate billing, resulting in three parts to the book.

Part One details Bussler’s first deployment to Iraq in 2003 at the tip of the spear. It covers the time from notification that he is being activated to the time he returns home. Volunteering for a second deployment in 2004, Bussler returns to Iraq (Part Two), where he is subsequently wounded in action. Part Three details the third deployment for which Bussler volunteered in 2005. In this deployment, Bussler more fully explains the job of the Mortuary Affairs military specialty. His best writing can be seen in his relationship to the angels (deceased service members) he prepares for transit back home to the United States. This portion of the book is breathtakingly vulnerable and intensely emotional, displaying a deep thought process that was compelling and insightful.

The author is adept at setting the scene and describing events, so much so that sometimes the reader feels he is there in the blistering heat, amid the uncertainty, frustration, and grief. Included photos help to set the scene and convey the deep respect the author has for those who have died in combat. A final proofread would have caught many of the errors I noted in this otherwise stellar work. 

Review by Betsy Beard (July 2020)

 

Author's Synopsis

A truly unforgettable autobiographical account of war from a brand new perspective, one of a Marine Reservist assigned to recover fallen US service members off of the battlefields of Iraq and send them home with honor. This superbly written and gripping story begins a few months before the Iraq war in 2002 where Christian Bussler worked as an everyday postal letter carrier in Springfield, Ohio. With a single phone call, his life is thrust onto the world stage as an active participant on the frontlines of the war torn desert battlefields of Iraq. Christian’s descriptions of his experiences are so vividly yet tastefully written, the reader could easily visualize a despotic regime crumble before him, or accompany his foot patrol down the streets of terrorist held cities, feel the sweat run down your face as his team searches for the fallen on the streets of Ramadi, and feel the deep sorrow of his loss after he learns of the death of a friend. These are the true stories that are never spoken, written by a Marine who was there, to return the fallen home with honor. 

ISBN/ASIN: 9781546604938, 1546604936
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, Audiobook
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 514