The truth is not black and white. It is camouflage.
More than a memoir, Shitbag Soldier is a nonfiction novel, the real-life journey of Burton, a teenage girl raised in Appalachian Kentucky on patriotic stories of the military. Hoping to create her own modern-day fairy tale, she leaves home to join the U.S. Army, where she is stationed in Bavaria. But waiting for her in Germany is a land of castles, cobblestone, and camouflaged nightmares. Assigned to Sergeant Bluff's platoon, Burton is forced to trade the tales from her childhood for a more grown-up version of reality. Trapped in her platoon sergeant’s maze of power, abuse, and control, she must survive by writing her own narrative instead of letting someone else define her truth.