Finding solace through helping a TV show understand war
By JAMES LAPORTA
Associated Press
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — When Associated Press journalist and Marine Corps veteran James LaPorta agreed to advise the NBC-TV show “This Is Us” about depicting the military authentically, he found more than he’d bargained for. The process of creating a new character for the show led him to memories about his time in Afghanistan and the things he’d experienced. In the end, it became, for him, a melancholic and ultimately therapeutic reflection of his wartime experiences and the life he began living after they were over.
