Review of "The ‘Nam: The Death of Joe Hallen, part one of five"

 Review of

The ‘Nam: The Death of Joe Hallen, part one of five

Five out of five stars

Problems of civilian life after serving in war

 Joe Hallen is a black man from Baltimore that served a tour of duty in Vietnam during the war. Discharged, he hops a flight back home and he travels in uniform. During the flight, the people on the airline make disparaging comments. Not because of the color of his skin, but the color of his clothing. To them, Vietnam veterans are all messed up.

 When he gets back home, he finds that he retains a bit of his military attitude and finds it difficult to relate to his surroundings, including his relationships with family members. The low point is when a child asks him if he killed any babies. He tries to find a job, but traces of anger and frustration with how he views his environment make that difficult. Finally, with few options, he ends up back in Vietnam as part of a combat strike team.

 While I am not a Vietnam veteran, I knew several that were and to a man they all talked about how they felt out of place when they came back. This is also consistent with what I have read in books written by veterans of all wars. They all felt out of place when they returned and reached the point where they believed that they had more in common with the men shooting at them than the people at home.

 This is a solid lead-in to the continuing story, the producers managed to create the complete context for a story that was biographical for too many men.