Truth About War

Al Bumbry is a name familiar enough to any major league baseball fan old enough to remember or appreciate the sport in the 1970s. Al played outfielder for the Baltimore Orioles. He's also an army veteran, one of the very few major league baseball players to have served in Vietnam. We sat down and talked with Al about his service in Vietnam, returning home, and returning to baseball.

In this episode of Truth About War, Vietnam Army veteran John Cleveland gives voice to the paradoxes of war. John served as a platoon leader with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vietnam. He began his tour in 1970 at one of the darkest, most chaotic times in our nation’s history and described Vietnam as "the Wild West." Wild, it was. This episode of Truth About War contains explicit language.

In this episode of Truth About War, we sit down with documentary filmmaker and producer Lynn Novick. She may not be a household name, but you know her work. Novick has been directing and producing with Ken Burns for years, one of their most recent documentaries being The Vietnam War—an epic 10-part, 18-hour PBS series. Novick and host Nick Grimes discuss the film, the lasting impact the Vietnam War has had on American society, and whether the war in Iraq and Afghanistan will ever get the “Vietnam treatment.”

The Veterans Breakfast Club is all about veterans’ stories. Truth About War takes a deep dive into these stories to explore big questions facing our nation and our future: Should we bring back the draft? Were the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan worth the cost? Does the military handle racial divisions better than the civilian world? We’ll talk with some high-profile veterans as well as some lesser known people who’ve served on the frontlines of history. We’ll also call upon experts in various fields in order find what Truth About War we can uncover.