I don't know if it's a male thing, but I've always been interested in how people respond to the stresses and dangers of war, how they react under fire.
My father fought behind Japanese lines in the second world war and it traumatised him. Everybody who knew him from before said he was the life and soul of the party - fun to be with - but after the war he was different.
The World War I, I'm a child of World War I. And I really know about the children of war. Because both my parents were both badly damaged by the war. My father, physically, and both mentally and emotionally. So, I know exactly what it's like to be brought up in an atmosphere of a continual harping on the war.
I returned to Vietnam in '94, and even then, all those decades later, walking around that place, I remained afraid. And, in some ways, rightly so.
I don't think a lot of the news outlets examine the effect of war on a family.
My father was a Marine who fought in the Pacific in WW II. He was a very tough guy, but after the war, he lived his life in a quiet and reserved manner because he had nothing to prove. I know now that he internalized his war experience.
When I was in the war, I was lucky that I was in a plane and never saw the carnage close-up.
I understood that 'The Yellow Birds' would be a peculiar representation of the experience of being at war. I intended it to be so.
