Jack Estes

Searching for Gurney Jack Estes

SEARCHING FOR GURNEY explores the damaged lives of three U. S. Marines and one North Vietnamese soldier in the late 1960s and '70s. Each character's story begins at a different place-JT, home and struggling with flashbacks; Coop, on leave and getting drunk at his grandfather's funeral; Hawkeye, at the moment a judge gives him the choice of jail or boot camp; and Vuong, leaving his small village to join the NVA with patriotic fervor. Sent home after a horrific ambush, the Marines face new battles with PTSD and a hostile American public that treats them as criminals. Nightmares, anger, and substance abuse destroy family relationships and, ultimately, one character's life. For all of them, making sense of life after war requires the utmost courage.