First published 2006
Philip Dosier gets drafted straight out of high school in Chicago. Too young to vote or drink legally, he ships out to Vietnam where mud and scorching heat become his daily reality. The teenage soldier learns to navigate ambushes and firefights while body counts mount around him. Blood becomes commonplace as Dosier witnesses the brutal education that transforms every combat soldier. The war strips away his innocence through violence and survival. When he finally returns home, Dosier carries the weight of what he has seen and done. America itself stands on the edge of transformation, but Dosier must reckon with how profoundly the war has changed him. His story unfolds in the direct language of an ordinary draftee who endured extraordinary circumstances.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, war, military-fiction
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, war-trauma
Setting: Chicago, Vietnam
Period: Vietnam War
11 pages · Audio CD · Blackstone Publishing
Content warnings: graphic-violence, war