This is the story of a father's love for his son and the impact war has on a family. In 1968 Mike Kelly's chopper is shot down, at night over the jungles of Vietnam. The crew is dead. Most of his team is dead and the enemy is approaching. Now it is 2004 and Mike lives in a big house on the lake with his wife Claire, his college aged daughter Madie and his son Mick, a senior in high school. Mike is a successful author and writes for the local newspaper. But not all is well in the Kelly family. Mike is still haunted by Vietnam and trying to hide his pain. The Iraq war has begun and this triggers his PTSD symptoms. He has nightmares and intrusive thoughts of his chopper going down. And can see dead Marines hanging in the trees. Clair is threatening to leave unless he seeks counseling at the Veterans Medical Center and gets back on medication. Madie is jealous of her brother and thinks her dad doesn't love her anymore and Mick is tired of his dad controlling his life, making him get up at dawn, to take extra baseball practice and pushing him to play college baseball. Mike and Clair's world implodes. Mick defies his dad and after he and his best friend Griff graduate, they join the Marines and are sent to Iraq. Clair blames Mike for not being able to stop Mick from going and Mike's bout with PTSD is exploding. Dead Marines seem alive. He loves his son and travels to Iraq as an embedded reporter, in a desperate attempt to save him. Finally, Mike and Mick are on a chopper at night and are shot down, over the desert, during a sand storm . Mick is in control, and the enemy is near.
About the Author: Jack Estes served in Vietnam in 1968/69 during the bloodiest time of the war. He received critical acclaim for his first book, the Vietnam memoir," A Field of Innocence". Tim O'Brien, author of "The Things They Carried" said, "With it's raw realism and heartbreaking honesty...One of the finest Vietnam memoirs." Karl Marlantes, author of the New York Times best selling, Vietnam novel, Matterhorn, said this about Jack Estes' new novel, "A Soldier's Son." "All veterans and their loved ones should read this story of a father's love, loss, and personal courage, both at home and at war." Over the years Mr. Estes has also published articles and essays in Newsweek, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, The Oregonian and Wall Street Journal, on Memorial Day, 2016. Mr. Estes and his wife Colleen O'Callaghan are the founders of Fallen Warriors Foundation and have traveled to Vietnam on missions of mercy, delivering medical goods, books and toys to the village he once lived in. Jack also took a group of disabled Vietnam veterans back to Vietnam to their original point of pain for healing and he took doctors and nurses, on another occasion to work with the poorest of the poor. Fallen Warriors has held meditation retreats for almost 20 years, for veterans and their loved ones. They have held events at high schools and colleges and community gatherings. The work of Jack and Colleen is to honor the memories of American soldiers and help heal the pain of war.