Christopher Waters survived a childhood built on violence, fear, and emotional chaos. Long before Iraq, he had already learned how to live in survival mode.

In The Child I Took to War, Waters delivers a brutally honest memoir that exposes the devastating collision between childhood trauma and combat PTSD. From the trailer houses of Texas to the battlefields of Iraq, this unforgettable story follows a young man searching for purpose, brotherhood, and escape through military service; only to discover that some wars continue long after the firefight ends.

As a U.S. Army Chemical Reconnaissance soldier with the legendary 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Waters endured the realities of combat during the Iraq War while unknowingly carrying invisible wounds from a lifetime before the military ever handed him a rifle. Through addiction, divorce, emotional collapse, violence, and years of self-destruction, he fights the hardest battle of all: surviving himself.

Raw, emotional, and unfiltered, The Child I Took to War is more than a war memoir. It is a deeply human story about trauma, fatherhood, redemption, mental health, and the painful journey toward healing.

For veterans, survivors of abuse, first responders, and anyone battling invisible wounds, this book delivers a message too many people desperately need to hear:

You are not alone.

And you are not beyond saving.