Most people don't know any more about the Army than what they read in Beetle Bailey© comics. The author, Jack Durish, didn't before he joined it. His father never served. His brother served in the National Guard during the period between Korea and Vietnam, but he was six years older and a mystery to Jack. He had uncles and cousins who served in World War I and II, but very little contact with them. Thus, Jack marched off to war with no idea of the trials awaiting Him.
According to the United States Department of Veteran Affairs there are something less than 23 million living veterans today. That's about 7.5% of the U.S. Population. Thus it may be said - paraphrasing Winston Churchill - never have so many known so little of what so few have done for them. If only a small number of the remaining population have any interest in knowing, this book will be worthwhile.
Jack created this memoir of his service as a member of the Army so that readers may experience it for themselves. It gives them an accurate idea of what it looked and felt like.
Each increment appears as a short story. The sum of them memorializes the year that Jack spent in training to be an infantry officer, beginning when he was inducted on March 3, 1966, until the date he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, February 10, 1967. The stories are arranged to present some semblance of continuity and a common narrative thread. In them, readers will not only experience the events, but also feel what it was like to train for war.
