In Shared Courage, Michelle Keener gives her firsthand experience as a Marine wife during wartime: Her husband is a Marine officer with two tours in Iraq including time in Fallujah. From their meeting in the years before the events of 9/11 through his deployments into the Iraq war zone, Michelle brings readers into the homes of those left behind—those who also serve. From raising children to comforting other wives to keeping the bills paid back home, Michelle presents a heartfelt and moving account of the loneliness of wartime distance—and the constant fear that the next Marine to fall will be her own.

Michelle transforms the anonymity of those who fight war and support the warriors into personal stories of courage, confidence, and caring. From the false hopes for war’s end when Saddam’s statue was pulled down, to the surprise second deployment by way of Okinawa to fight a new and different war, to the appearance of her husband in a touching photo—shown worldwide—carrying an injured child, Michelle brings readers along on the emotional roller coaster of being in a military family.

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Michelle Keener and her husband Paul left many things unspoken in the days leading up to his deployment in Iraq. He had written his will and had given her power of attorney; the thought of him being killed was on both their minds the night before he left. Michelle watched him carry their daughter Emily to her bedroom, wondering if these were perhaps the last few moments with his daughter on earth. The saddest thought of all: would their daughter even remember him and how much he loved her?
 
Such scenes have been played out countless times in military families facing a spouse’s long deployment overseas. It is never easy, but knowing there are others out there who face the same hardships and sacrifice, knowing you are not alone, makes it easier to cope. The coming together as one community, sharing the struggles, the pride, the grief, and the joy is what Shared Courage is all about. 
What if he dies? What if he’s paralyzed? What if he comes home a changed man? Michelle Keener reveals how military spouses help each other cope through frustration, burnout, and exhaustion. She writes openly and honestly about struggling to stay connected during a spouse’s remote assignment or deployment, how when direct communication is all but impossible, care packages, photographs, children’s drawings, a sample of his favorite flavored coffee, and even his favorite kind of Pop Tart do more than provide material comfort, but immeasurably build a spouse’s morale by maintaining that special connection to home and family. 
With this poignant book, Michelle gives a voice to all military wives, those who receive little notice and no medals, and yet sacrifice in countless ways. 
  
In Shared Courage, Michelle Keener describes the trials and triumphs of being the wife of a Marine officer and keeping a military family together, from her wedding, to her husband’s assignment to 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines (the famous “McCoy’s Marines”), to the birth of their daughter in the base hospital. She brings to life the uncertainty she and other Marine wives experienced: 
Their fear in the face of media reports of the advance on Fallujah, one of the war’s most harrowing battles The gut-wrenching knock on the door, with a Marine in dress blues standing on the front step The coming together in shared grief over the loss of a friend’s husband The elation of having one’s own husband return home safely   
To paraphrase the words of poet John Milton, cited by the author in her introduction as an inspiration to other military wives: even as they stand and wait, they also serve.