Enough: The Untold Cost of War on America's Operators and Their Families

Combat rewires the brain. Both service members and families pay the price. And no one is warning them. For more than two decades, America's most elite warriors have carried the heaviest burden of the Global War on Terror. But behind the medals, the discipline, and the myth of invincibility lies a devastating truth: the greatest volume of casualties are often the ones who come home-and the families they come home to. In Enough, former Special Operations spouse Kate Ethridge breaks the silence surrounding the hidden war consuming America's most elite families. Drawing on her lived experience, her time working inside the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center & School, extensive research, official documents, and hundreds of hours of firsthand accounts from operators themselves, she exposes the deadly intersection of: Combat-related PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Substance Use Disorder (SUD). A combination she calls The Deadly Trifecta-a predictable neurological and psychological aftermath of war that the Department of Defense has failed to acknowledge, warn, or protect our operators and families from. Through raw storytelling, forensic accuracy, and spiritual insight, Ethridge takes readers inside the homes where the real battles unfold: the slow unraveling of good men, the impossible choices faced by their wives, and the children caught in the crossfire. She chronicles the systemic failures of military and civilian institutions, the policy-implemented culture of silence that keeps families trapped, and the unseen cost of service that continues long after the battlefield has gone quiet. This book is not an indictment of America's warriors - it is a defense of them. A warning. A call to action. And a lifeline for the families living this reality in silence. For the operator who feels alone. For the spouse who thinks she's losing her mind. For the children who never asked to carry this weight. For every family who has whispered, "Something is wrong," and been told to be quiet. This is the book that finally says: Enough.