Publisher's Synopsis
"A clear and vivid portrait of everyday life . . . as the world suddenly morphed and twisted into the turbulent and uncertain times . . . of the Vietnam War." Jeannie Beall On December 1, 1969, millions of young men huddled in living rooms and dorm lounges across the United States, holding their collective breath as 366 blue plastic capsules were dumped from a shoebox into a deep glass jar, the lottery with no cash payout. A year later, with his college deferment ended by his graduation, Ohioan John Serbu received the letter he had dreaded for more than a year. "Congratulations! You have been selected . . ." On these pages, Serbu writes of his days in boot camp, in advanced training, and in Vietnam. He's both a boy thirsty for an ice-cold Pepsi, and a man, face-to-face with his own mortality as he sits on an explosive-filled bunker. It's one man's story, yet it's also a universal story of coming-of-age in a time of war, a story of a "citizen soldier who served his country willingly and honorably during the increasing turbulence and hostility to the military that developed during the Vietnam War" (Colonel Lester E. Bennett, Vietnam Veteran).
