The Honor Was Mine
By Author Elizabeth Heaney, MA, LPC
After nearly 30 years of working as a counselor, Elizabeth Heaney decided to leave her job in Tucson, AZ, and become a civilian counselor, traveling between military bases across the country. She became part of the first program offering anonymous professional services to soldiers just returning home or getting ready to deploy.
Embarking on this path with no prior experience in the military world, Heaney realized very quickly that there was an enormous learning curve. Her book The Honor Was Mine follows her journey, incorporating contextual essays on the military, soldiers’ stories and her own experiences. It begins with her neophyte’s perspective of a military culture. “The book relates the ways I stumbled early on: calling someone the wrong rank, misunderstanding their acronym-filled language, deferring to the wrong officer,” she says. “Without making a dedicated effort to understand the world they lived in, I wasn’t going to be able to help them.”
Heaney built a rapport with the soldiers by talking with them in familiar settings, such as a training area or dining facility. “I’m relieved to say veteran clients (now) often tell me they would never see a counselor who hadn’t been on bases,” she tells The Laurel. “They feel a sense of trust because I was immersed in that world.” Heaney lives in Asheville where she’s in the process of writing a novel.
The Honor Was Mine, non-fiction, 2016, softcover, $14.95, by Elizabeth Heaney, and published by Grand Harbor Press, Grand Haven, Michigan.
