Publisher's Synopsis
It took ten years and lots of support to write this book. My time in Vietnam as a soldier in the United States Army influenced my ability to share what I saw and experienced while I was there. Many aspects of it are based on true life experiences, and a number of personal encounters. The story is based upon fragments of memory as well as figments of creative story telling. Names, places and facts are rearranged, altered and paraphrased to conceal identities and details of those who requested anonymity, and to draw together events which enabled me to tell the story in as tasteful a manner as possible. The language of war is profane. Brutality is described in raw detail, yet there is a worthwhile message within. I don't need to spell it out. Those who read this manuscript will understand exactly what was written and why. War is a word which conjures up human suffering. All soldiers in time of war walk through a dark valley enveloped in a vast shadow of death. Fear no evil is a fantasy. We fear for our lives and for those we protect. We fear for our homeland and fight on to preserve liberty and Freedom for the future. We do this over and over again. Every generation since the dawn of man has destroyed its own in the name of some noble philosophy. Regard for humanity always falls prey to the spell of a purpose it creates when human cruelty is beyond understanding. Profound causes and religions crusades often appear worthy, but their hollow bond continues to permit history to be written so many ways even though the outcome is always the same. How do we find peace in the chaos of our human saga when we are the reason for our own suffering? Can we truly leave the world a better place than we found it? Have we ever?
