Secrets Brought Home

Secrets Brought Home by James Milton Smith is a vivid story about a young man who discovers what really happens behind the scenes when he is thrust into a Secret War in Laos by a government he so trusted. Owen O’Brien is a newly minted 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corps. He is involved in an unfortunate incident that leads him into service with the CIA as a paramilitary Case Officer during the years leading up to the Vietnam War. Owen is sent by the powers that be to British Jungle Warfare School, and from there into Thailand and Laos. Owen is sworn to secrecy with the CIA, and he carries that order into his life. Owen’s recon missions and firefights are gut-wrenching. The experiences and horror of war mold Owen into a salty and seasoned combat Marine. Critically wounded during one of his missions, Owen is medevaced out. Upon his return home to the states, Owen seemingly has it together, but there are dark side hauntings embedded in his psyche. His dilemma is he cannot ask for forgiveness from those he has killed and wounded in combat. Owen meets a psychologist he can trust, and dialogues between Owen and his psychologist reveal a story of deep introspection and an understanding into the resultant erratic behavior from a life held hidden. The story will shock the reader, and will simultaneously evoke an empathy we rarely allow ourselves in a stiff-upper-lip society. The descriptions of Owen’s life and the dialogues during the counseling sessions are humorous, heartbreaking and painful. And then, a surrealistic and seemingly predestined event occurs on a street in San Francisco. It leaves the onlookers stunned. Something incredible happens.