Born From War: A Soldier’s Quest to Understand Vietnam, Iraq, and the Generational Impact of Conflict

2025 Nonfiction Book Awards, Gold Winner “As a father and a multi-tour Vietnam veteran, I struggled to explain my war and my voluntary service in it to my children. Reading about author Patrick Naughton’s similar experiences in his family helped me understand that broad generational gap that confounded so many of us between our war and what was faced by younger veterans of America’s global war on terror. What we had between seminal events was more than a simple failure to communicate. The insights provided by Naughton’s Born from War are enlightening and invaluable.” — Capt. Dale Dye, USMC (Ret.), author, actor and filmmakerPatrick Naughton’s father barely spoke of his time in Vietnam to his family, yet his service was the sole reason Patrick joined the U.S. Army as a teenager. Patrick Naughton Sr served in Vietnam with the 82nd Airborne and advising the South Vietnamese Army, while Patrick himself would serve in Iraq. Three decades of history and politics divided their service yet the similarities between their experiences are undeniably striking. Patrick’s attempts to understand his father led to a search for those who served with him in Vietnam, an examination of the personal relationship of a father and son whose few connections have been war, and a quest to understand war and its undeniable generational influence. The result is an engaging and eye-opening weaving together of the combat experiences of two generations of a military family.From the failure of grand stratagem, through personal combat stories, and the memories of those lost—America’s wars against communism and terror are laid raw through the experiences of one family. Read more