The War You've Always Wanted by Mike McLaughlin
The War You’ve Always Wanted (Koehler Books) is a gripping, gritty Vietnam novel that is all about the reality of war — not the myth.
There are no John Wayne-like heroes in this book. Instead, we see an idealistic young man caught up in the closing months of the Vietnam War during the early ‘70s who is struggling to help the people there survive and at the same time get out alive himself too.
From the moment he set out to write this book, author Mike McLaughlin knew that he wanted to portray war as it was in truth. We got the chance to talk with him about what kind of research went into such an accurate portrayal of the Vietnam war, and what he hopes readers take away from this unveiling of the reality of war.
Q: What first inspired you to write The War You’ve Always Wanted?
A: My father and my uncle were Army correspondents, and I always wanted to write a story inspired by their work and experiences. I also wanted to write about an Irish-American father and son who love each other. In fiction the idea of such an intact family is rarely seen these days, especially in Boston-based stories. And a core theme is the inability of so many combat veterans to convey to their children what war is truly like. I experienced this as a boy when I wanted the World War II veterans in my family to tell me what their war had been like, and this is reflected in these two characters.
Q: Was there something about the topic that drew you to writing about the Vietnam War?
A: In my work, I always shine light in dark corners. While the overall history of the war is generally understood by the public, many accounts focus on the leaderships of the three nations involved. This is especially true for the early 1970’s when negotiations for peace were underway, and support in the U.S. for the war was a shadow of what it had been only a few years earlier. What tends to be discussed less often is “Vietnamization,” the strategy through which American combat troops would steadily leave the country and effectively hand the war over to the South Vietnamese, while supplying them with combat materiel and support from the air. I have always felt that this was understood only in abstract terms by the American people.
Q: Tell us about your research process for this book. How did you go about representing the real events within the novel?
A: I went online to search for Vietnam veterans who could help me with my research. I owe special thanks to LTC Jack Heslin, USA (Ret.) for creating a phenomenally detailed archive at thebattleofkontum.com. This battle was fought in the spring of 1972, during which the North Vietnamese Army nearly broke South Vietnam to pieces. Jack’s site illustrates the world through which my main character Sergeant Pat Dolan, an Army combat correspondent, travels. I also owe thanks to Marc Leepson at Vietnam Veterans of America’s literary magazine Books In Review II. Marc also served in Vietnam at the time. Together these men put me in contact with many more veterans who helped me greatly.
Q: How did your experience in writing short stories and historical features aid you in writing this book? Was there a part of the writing experience you found to be similar, and where did it vary?
A: When writing short stories, you need to quickly establish characters and what they want or need, where they want to be, and seek to get them there by the end. The reader needs to know not only who the characters are but also their world, specifically the time and place in which they live. Historical features as a rule need a time and place established first. I found that in approaching historical fiction, the protagonist’s world is a character, too, and not a static one. Like the main character, his world is a dynamic and ever-evolving place, which not only influences him, but is influenced by him.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from The War You’ve Always Wanted?
A: I hope that they come away with an appreciation for what Vietnamization meant to both the Vietnamese and the American peoples. Through his travels, Sergeant Dolan comes to see the vast range of impacts the strategy has on the people he meets and works with. For some, the plan seems reasonable enough, effective enough. But for others, it’s a death sentence. I also hope that they come to value the genuine effort made to sustain the Republic of Vietnam long after the American public regarded the war as over. I want the readers to understand that a steadily dwindling number of American personnel did their very best to help the South Vietnamese people sustain themselves.
Q: Is there anything you can tell us about whatever your next project is?
A: I’ve just finished Goodbye, Sergeant Dolan, a second novel which begins two weeks after The War You’ve Always Wanted ends. This next story follows Dolan as he travels into increasingly dangerous territory to locate a missing civilian journalist. The man disappears in the middle of the North Vietnamese Army’s spring 1972 offensive. Dolan takes ever greater risks to find the man, and finally lands in a besieged Green Beret camp deep in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. On learning that the journalist had never been there, he finds himself trapped, and then fights alongside the defenders as the North Vietnamese Army does everything it can to overrun the camp. The supreme irony of it all is that he hates the man because he never bought a drink for anybody — and now Dolan finds himself in the heaviest combat of his tour.
To read the full review of Mike McLaughlin’s novel The War You’ve Always Wanted, click here.
About Mike McLaughlin:
Mike McLaughlin writes fiction and nonfiction. His short stories have appeared in The Wrath-Bearing Tree, October Hill and The Metaworker. His historical features have run in American Veteran, WWII History and American Heritage. He is a graduate of Fairfield University with a degree in English writing. Mike lives in Boston, an excellent place for any writer to keep a low profile and get real work done.
