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Published by UNM Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
The powerful true story of a parent’s unflagging battle on behalf of a beloved son struggling with PTSD, mental illness, and addiction and a family who bore the burdens of war for decades.
In January 1969, angry after a fight with his father, nineteen-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.
But Doug’s return home is only the beginning of this story. The core of Undesirable recounts another war: Doug’s father against the US Army. For three years, he fights to have his son’s “undesirable” discharge changed to “honorable.” Half a century later Laura Kalpakian—devoted daughter and sister—exhumes the evidence her father collected. From this trove of documents she assembles a heartbreaking story of a father’s love for his son and a son’s experience at war. Undesirable: The Vietnam War and a Father’s Battle for Justice demands that we ask what we—and our government—owe to our veterans for the physical, psychological, and emotional sacrifices they and their families make.
In January 1969, angry after a fight with his father, nineteen-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.
But Doug’s return home is only the beginning of this story. The core of Undesirable recounts another war: Doug’s father against the US Army. For three years, he fights to have his son’s “undesirable” discharge changed to “honorable.” Half a century later Laura Kalpakian—devoted daughter and sister—exhumes the evidence her father collected. From this trove of documents she assembles a heartbreaking story of a father’s love for his son and a son’s experience at war. Undesirable: The Vietnam War and a Father’s Battle for Justice demands that we ask what we—and our government—owe to our veterans for the physical, psychological, and emotional sacrifices they and their families make.
Product Details
- Publisher: UNM Press (July 7, 2026)
- Length: 264 pages
- ISBN13: 9780826369796
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Raves and Reviews
“Beneath the gripping narrative of a single man battling the opaque impenetrable military bureaucracy during wartime is testimony of a father’s pure devotion and unrelenting love for his child.”
– Maureen Stanton, author of The Murmur of Everything Moving: A Memoir
“Undesirable is a poignant examination of duty: the author’s father’s to his son, her brother’s to his country, society’s to those who serve, and her own obligation to her father’s memory. This book reminds a new generation that wars fought far away still exact bitter collateral damage from everyone they touch back home.”
– Paula Becker, author of A House on Stilts: Mothering in the Age of Opioid Addiction
“A moving tale of a father’s love, the haze of war, and the grip of addiction. Kalpakian has written a testament to her family's determination and a searing condemnation of the system that fails our veterans again and again. Her discovered cache of documents is a treasure map to a lost period in her family’s—and America’s—history. You won’t be able to look away.”
– Jessica Pearce Rotondi, author of What We Inherit: A Secret War and a Family’s Search for Answers
“As heartbreaking as it is infuriating, Undesirable is further proof that for some soldiers—and those soldiers’ families—the war is never over.”
– Stewart O’Nan, author of The Names of the Dead and The Vietnam Reader
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Book Cover Image (jpg): Undesirable
Trade Paperback 9780826369796
Published by UNM Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
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