'The Warrior's Silence' Gives Voice to America's Heroes

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Nov 8, 2012) - In his new book, "The Warrior's Silence," (http://ordelliott.com), Vietnam veteran Ord Elliott, a former platoon commander with the Marines, recounts the transformative experience of combat and how it informed his emerging understanding of war as a young man.

"As many combat veterans will tell you, it's usually easier simply not to talk about your experiences. They're tied up with emotional wounds that never seem to fully heal," says Elliott, who emerged from the war having lost close friends -- and so much more.

"War just took away your heart and mind and drained out whatever your soul was," he writes. "It was like being some sort of abandoned ship."

His story is one of ambushes and battles, fear and numbness, and the fellow soldiers who bolstered one another through it all.

"When I came back to the states, I filed all that pain away as 'personal'; I had other goals that I wanted to pursue," says Elliott, who put his Princeton education to good use after the war as an entrepreneur. But while he intended to complete writing projects for work, he found himself compelled to write about his reflections on combat and war.

"My platoon fought side by side with Ord's," writes Tom Givvin, a Marine rifle platoon commander in Vietnam. "Any war is a life-altering experience, not fully understood by those who have not been in combat. Ord has found the words to convey the feelings and thoughts that echo my own but have been difficult for me to express for many decades. Veterans of any war can find their voice in 'The Warrior's Silence.' "

Catherine Webber, an Oregon senator and CEO of The Institute for Modern Government, says she finally understands why her father, who fought in World War II, killed himself two years later.

"I have now finally found some closure and peace," she says.

About Ord Elliott

As a Princeton graduate; a Marine Rifle Platoon commander in Vietnam; and Purdue Ph.D. in Management, Ord Elliott writes from an unusual perspective. He has four decades of experience as an internal and external management consultant, specializing in change management, strategy implementation and executive coaching. He has advised companies such as Procter and Gamble, General Electric, Shell Oil, Pacific Gas and Electric, Intel, Philips and Cisco Systems. Elliott is also the author of several books.