In an intensely personal account, Heard draws on his own experiences as a young conscript to look back at life before, during, and after the Vietnam War. The result is a sympathetic vision of a group of young men who were sent off to war completely unprepared for the impact it would have on them.
In particular, this is a vivid and honest portrayal of the author's post-war, slow-motion breakdown. It details the absurdity of military training and the horror of the war, but focuses on what happened to these men when they returned home to Australia, and their shared experiences of alienation, anxiety, depression and guilt. Heard's sensitive account of his long journey home from Vietnam is an inspiring story of a life reclaimed.
Told with gentle understatement, 'Well Done, Those Men' gives voice to a lost generation of Australian men.
