COMING SOON...

Nearly 25 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in the wake of “America’s Longest War” in Afghanistan and nine years of combat operations in Iraq, the United States has produced several new generations of combat veterans, and countless lives that have been changed forever. Despite efforts by the U.S. government and the private healthcare sector, veteran suicide rates continue to hover around seventeen deaths a day. And in a post-9/11, post-pandemic world, rife with conflict and the ever-encroaching behemoth of technology threatening our connection to nature and each other, veterans are not the only ones suffering. 

Called to Serve is the professional memoir and adventure story of one woman and a group of veterans in Oregon who decided to take a leap of faith: choosing beauty over utility, community over managed care, and turning the aftermath of war and trauma into something transformative and life-giving. 

Starting her story with the seminal event of 9/11, Alison Perry Sower’s memoir follows a sequence of events both personal and professional. It describes a journey that will lead her through the institutional halls of the VA, the inner world of combat trauma, the inadequacies of a prevailing medical model, and to the redemptive vision she has when a young Iraq veteran loses control in a psychiatric ward:

“I wish we had a sheep ranch out east where veterans could work on the land, sleep under the stars, and be in a community of other vets.”

Called to Serve weaves together elements of Perry Sower’s journey with stories of the veterans she served and worked with. It describes the journey of how her vision came to life in a 19-acre working ranch in the heart of Central Oregon, and how that ranch became a sanctuary for veterans and an innovative model of healthcare that continues to gain national attention. 

The goal of this book is to inspire, enlighten, and educate; to contribute to national conversations about post-traumatic growth in veterans and trauma survivors, to encourage social entrepreneurs seeking to challenge prevailing paradigms, and to deliver a message about the possibilities of healing and growth in the aftermath of tragedy and trauma.