ALBUQUERQUE — The University of New Mexico Press announces the publication of Undesirable: The Vietnam War and a Father’s Battle for Justice by Laura Kalpakian, available in paperback and e-book on July 7.
Paula Becker, author of A House on Stilts: Mothering in the Age of Opioid Addiction, praised Undesirable as “a poignant examination of duty,” saying, “This book reminds a new generation that wars fought far away still exact bitter collateral damage from everyone they touch back home.”
In January 1969, angry after a fight with his father, 19-year-old Doug Johnson — in what will be a fateful choice — decides to enlist in the Army. Once in Vietnam as a point man, Doug becomes addicted to speed and heroin, goes AWOL multiple times, and is court-martialed and imprisoned. In order to avoid a second court martial, he agrees to accept an “undesirable” discharge that denies him veterans’ benefits and any recognition of his wartime service. In late August 1970, drugged, malnourished, and clutching the sandal of a dead Viet Cong, Doug staggers off a plane into the arms of his father…