Do we really need another Vietnam Vet working out his personal demons on the air?

Sure! It’s great to see ourselves through others experiences. It’s great to be enlightened by a survivor of a horrific tragedy whose had made a contribution to their own lives and others and find out how they did it.

Too bad this isn’t that kind of story.

This is a torturously boring piece and adds nothing to the thesis that war is hell and we should be scared of the personal and societal aftermath.

This piece bills itself about music and the healing power it can have. Yet, it’s a full 11 minutes before this guy even talks about his music and only in the last and closing moments does he tell us how he feels about music.

What we do get is an embarrassing musical track that sounds like a thirteen year-old’s diary—“I got up. I ate eggs. My friend took my place in line. He died. I didn’t. I went home.” It’s a pretty standard story. Horrific yes, but we’ve heard this many, many times before. There just isn’t anything special about this guy.

OK, this may sound a little unfair. These are terribly difficult pieces to do. A story told by the subject in his own words is an editing nightmare. You’re torn between the virtues of good storytelling that require the producer to shape a picture by grouping facts that the subject may not have described in the order in which they happened and being fully loyal to the chronology of the interview. You sort of have to tell the subjects story to themselves, almost being half a therapist.

How could this be made better? The producer needs to determine what the listener needs to hear in a way that resonates. It would have been better to tell the story of the subject’s life to day and use flash backs to show the impact on the war. There are several techniques that can be employed once a producer has a clear vision of the story.

You will find this piece to be well mixed and technically well done. Levels, mixes, transitions are seamless and the folks who put it all together did a great job.