The author decided over a forty-year period to write about his experiences in South Vietnam with the Fourth Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry. His parents had managed to save every letter he had sent home during that time. What Mike decided to do with the help of his oldest granddaughter, Sierra, was to reproduce the letters in chronological order, with all the grammatical errors, misspellings, and fractured sentences as is. The letters were often written in harsh jungle conditions, under duress with pencil and often wet paper. He felt it would help convey, somewhat, the terrible conditions he and his fellow members of the "herd" were constantly under. Under each reproduced letter, he then wrote of happenings during that time, a diary of sorts. He also concluded he would not spend much time with the blood and guts but devote the majority of the work to the everyday goings-on, both funny and serious! The book begins with time spent in West Germany before moving on to South Vietnam. During the height of the war, more and more paratroopers were needed to fill the ranks of the fallen and discharged, so the Army started a second jump school, the original being at Fort Benning, Georgia, at Weisbaden Airforce Base, West Germany. He was then sent halfway around the world to South Vietnam, and the rest is history!
