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Nicholas Petrie. Putnam, $26.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-399-17456-8

More By and About This Author

This strong thriller from debut author Petrie begins on the mean streets of Milwaukee, Wis. Marine veteran Peter Ash spent eight years fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan; now he's a civilian suffering from PTSD. Ash's first order of business after mustering out of the service is to help Dinah, the widow of Jimmy Johnson, a Marine buddy who committed suicide after returning home. While rescuing a huge stray mutt living under Dinah's ramshackle porch, Ash discovers a hidden suitcase containing $400,000 and plastic explosives. Dinah pleads ignorance, but Ash becomes skeptical after an armed, scarred man accosts him at the house. It all seems to revolve around a mysterious man in a "black canvas chore coat," whose surreptitious goal is to secure several thousand pounds of ammonium nitrate, a potentially explosive substance. Petrie's expertly paced plot sets a colorful array of characters on a collision course. Readers will look forward to seeing more of the resourceful Ash. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Literary Agency. (Jan.)

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Fiction Book Review: The Drifter by Nicholas Petrie. Putnam, $26.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-399-17456-8

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Nicholas Petrie. Putnam, $26.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-399-17456-8 More By and About This Author This strong thriller from debut author Petrie begins on the mean streets of Milwaukee, Wis. Marine veteran Peter Ash spent eight years fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan; now he's a civilian suffering from PTSD.

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THE DRIFTER by Nicholas Petrie | Kirkus Reviews

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A debut thriller that raises questions about domestic terror and the way the American government treats its war veterans.

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Web Exclusive - January 12, 2016

Demons spur a veteran hero

BookPage review by G. Robert Frazier

Beneath the suspense-filled action of a homegrown terrorist plot, Nicholas Petrie's debut novel, The Drifter, follows the compelling story of one former Marine's struggle to reacclimate himself to civilian life while honoring his commitment to a fallen soldier. That alone is reason to keep reading, but Petrie amps up the stakes in surprising fashion, creating a story that is moving, thrilling and satisfying on every level.

Like Lee Child 's Jack Reacher, Peter Ash is a loner with an uncompromising sense of honor and duty. A soldier home after deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Ash is already battling personal demons in the form of a "white static" that constantly threatens his ability to function. The condition, a byproduct of post-traumatic stress, manifests itself whenever he enters confined spaces, forcing him to eschew the modern conveniences of hearth and home for uneasy nights spent under the stars or in his beat-up pickup truck where the wide windows ease his troubled soul.

Upon learning that one of the men he commanded overseas has committed suicide, a guilt-ridden Ash leaves the relative safety of his new lifestyle to aid the widow the man left behind. In the process of rebuilding the woman's porch, and his own life, Ash finds his former soldier's mangy dog standing guard over a suitcase filled with $400,000 in cash and four blocks of C4 explosives. Ash sets off on a trail of discovery, both internally as he learns to cope with his affliction and externally as he attempts to determine the origins of the money and the purpose for the explosives-all while trying to keep the widow and her children safe from the men who actually killed her husband.

Petrie's meticulous research into the effects of PTSD on the nation's returning veterans and the internal war many of them still fight as they try to resume their normal life brings an added dimension to his main character, but without being preachy. The result is an intimate story of personal discovery as well as an obsessive pageturner of a book.

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Nicholas Petrie - The Drifter - Book Review

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Beneath the suspense-filled action of a homegrown terrorist plot, Nicholas Petrie's debut novel, The Drifter, follows the compelling story of one former Marine's struggle to reacclimate himself to civilian life while honoring his commitment to a fallen soldier. That alone is reason to keep reading, but Petrie amps up the stakes in surprising fashion, creating a story that is moving,...

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An explosive thriller debut introducing Peter Ash, a veteran who finds that the demons of war aren't easily left behind ... Peter Ash ca...

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Nicholas Petrie (Author) Speaks on The Drifter

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Nicholas Petrie (Author) Speaks on The Drifter

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The Veterans Aid and Attendance (VA&A) Pension provides benefits to veterans and their spouses to help pay for costs of care - both in-home care and senior housing. At A Place for Mom we work with many families who are not aware of these benefits and who miss out on key financial support that can help pay for senior living and home care expenses.

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Every Fourth of July, Veteran's Day, and Memorial Day parade you will encounter many proud former military members wearing their uniforms. There are specific guidelines the U.S. military requires

Military Retiree and Veteran Differences

The rules state that retirees can wear their uniforms. To be a retired veteran, one must have served 20 years or more to get that title. However, there are medically retired service members who were injured in the line of duty who also rate the uniform as a retired military member once a civilian. ​

Veterans are members who served but did not accumulate 20 years of service, however, they may also wear the uniform but only in special, formal occasions.

Uniform Rules for Veterans and Retirees

The rules for wearing military uniforms as a retired military member or a discharged veteran are similar for all the services. There are certain rules for those seeking to wear the uniform for formal functions, national holidays, parades, military funerals and weddings and other military occasions. Only the Service Dress Uniform may be worn; no work, battle dress or PT uniforms are permitted to be worn by military retirees or veterans.

Prohibited Places and Events for Military Uniforms

Typical places and events where the uniform is prohibited to be worn by discharged and retired members of the military:

Anti-Government Events: At any meeting or demonstration which is anti-government in nature.

Political Events: During political activities, private employment or commercial interests, when an inference of official sponsorship for the activity could be drawn.

Special Permissions Only: Except when authorized by competent Service authority, a veteran or retired military member cannot wear the uniform when participating in activities such as public speeches, interviews, picket lines, marches, rallies, or any public demonstration (including those pertaining to civil rights), which may imply military sanction of the cause for which the demonstration or activity is conducted.

Civil/Criminal Court Appearances: You cannot wear the uniform as a veteran or retired member of a service branch when in court. Also, you cannot wear the uniform if in such situations that it would bring discredit upon the Armed Forces.

Uniform Rules for Each Branch of Service

Retired military members and honorably discharged veterans may wear the rank and insignia currently in use, or the rank and insignia in use at the time of their discharge/retirement, but cannot combine the two.

Medal of Honor Recipients

Medal of Honor recipients may wear their medal and/or the uniform on any occasion except the following:

Participating in public speeches, interviews, picket lines, marches or rallies, or in any public demonstration which may imply official military sanction

Furthering political activities, private employment, or commercial interests

Working in an off-duty civilian capacity

Participating in civilian court proceedings when the conviction would bring discredit

Any individual wearing a U.S. military uniform is expected to reflect the high personal appearance standards and esprit de corps that the uniform represents. To this end, particular attention will be paid not only to the correct and military wear of uniform components but also to the individual's personal and physical appearance. All personnel exercising the privilege of wearing a U.S. military service or dress uniform will comply fully with their service's grooming and weight control standards.

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Military Uniform Rules For Retirees And Veterans

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Every Fourth of July, Veteran's Day, and Memorial Day parade you will encounter many proud former military members wearing their uniforms. There are specific guidelines the U.S. military requires The rules state that retirees can wear their uniforms. To be a retired veteran, one must have served 20 years or more to get that title.

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Congressional researchers say that eliminating the ability of nearly 600,000 military veterans to collect retirement pay and disability compensation simultaneously could save billions and contribute to deficit reduction.

The Congressional Budget Office, a federal agency that provides lawmakers with budgetary and economic information, says doing so could save the government $139 billion between 2018 and 2026. The CBO's report was published online Dec. 8 as part of a series of options for reducing the federal deficit from 2017 and 2026.

The practice is called "concurrent receipt." By law, veterans are eligible to collect both sets of pay if they meet specific criteria.

Vets who sustained career-ending combat injuries are eligible for combat-related special compensation, while those veterans who received a disability rating of 50 percent or more after at least 20 years of service are eligible for what is termed concurrent retirement and disability pay.

Until 2003, disabled veterans had to select either their full retirement compensation from the Department of Defense or their disability benefit from Veterans Affairs with a reduced retirement annuity. This penalty became known as the "VA offset."

In its argument for eliminating concurrent receipt, the GAO states, "Disabled veterans would no longer be compensated twice for their service, reflecting the reasoning underlying the creation of the VA offset. However, military retirees who receive VA disability payments would still receive higher after-tax payments than would non-disabled retirees who have the same retirement annuity because VA disability benefits are not taxed."

But many veterans groups have long argued that the two payments should be completely uncoupled.

"For decades, [the Military Officers Association of America] has sought legislation providing full relief from the 19th-century law that required a dollar-for-dollar offset of military retired pay for VA disability compensation," wrote retired Air Force Col. Mike Hayden, then MOAA's director of government relations, in 2015.

"MOAA's position is that career service members earn their retired pay by service alone and those unfortunate enough to suffer a service-caused disability in the process should have any VA disability compensation from the VA added to, not subtracted from, their service-earned military retired pay."

Congress authorized some veterans to take both as military personnel began to sustain grievous wounds in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since then the number of veterans receiving both retirement pay and disability compensation has risen drastically - from 33 percent in 2005 to more than 50 percent in 2015. Last year, about 55 percent of the 2 million or so military retirees were subject to the VA offset penalty. Of those, about half - 575,000 retirees - took both payments totaling $10 billion, according to CBO estimates.

Not all military retirees who also earn VA disability compensation benefits, and thus have a VA offset, are eligible for concurrent receipt, the CBO explains.

Rising personnel costs continue to concern members of Congress and the Pentagon. In 2012, the last year CBO studied the expense, the Defense Department spent $150 billion on compensation, including $90 billion for food, housing and pay plus another $16 billion set aside for future retirement annuities.

The new CBO report cites a common argument suggesting the VA's retirement and disability system has a dual purpose, to reward those who spend their careers in uniform while recognizing the impact of military service on the human body.

It remains to be seen how the next Congress and the incoming administration will respond to CBO's recommendation. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to bring the U.S. debt to zero in eight years, although he also touts a massive - and potentially costly - military expansion.

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Ending 'concurrent receipt' of retirement and disability pays would save billions, federal agency says

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Congressional researchers say that eliminating the ability of nearly 600,000 military veterans to collect retirement pay and disability compensation simultaneously could save billions and contribute to deficit reduction. The Congressional Budget Office, a federal agency that provides lawmakers with budgetary and economic information, says doing so could save the government $139 billion between 2018 and 2026.