Jack Estes

A Soldier's Son Jack Estes

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.