Robert Wall is 18, living on a farm in North Carolina. He wants adventure and excitement and joins the Army. His first overseas tour takes him to Korea for 16 months, then to Fort Polk, Louisiana. He is discharged in 1957. Restless, he joins the Air Force in 1958 and is assigned to Sheppard Air Force Base, Wichita Falls, Texas for Jet Engine Repair School. He's shipped to Everux-Fauville Air Base in France for 18 months, then to Edwards Air Force Base, California. Discharged in 1962 he decides to re-enlist in the Army. After basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he graduated from International Morse Code School and volunteered for Special Forces (Green Berets). After successfully completing parachute school at Fort Benning, Georgia he was shipped to Fort Bragg, North Carolina and completed 8 months of Special Forces training. After additional Special Forces training for 18 months in Okinawa he volunteered for duty in Vietnam, serving 12 months as a communications supervisor. In 1968 he volunteered again for Vietnam, this time assigned to the top-secret outfit; MACV-SOG. Sent to Khe Sanh, he and his team ran reconnaissance missions in Laos and the Ho Chi Minh Trail, going from North Vietnam to South Vietnam, tolerating heat and jungle. After this tour he volunteered for the Canal Zone, working as a communication supervisor in Honduras until 1971. He spent the last 3 years of his enlistment as Operations Sergeant and Acting First Sergeant at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. He retired August 1975.

本作の真髄は、ノースカロライナの農村からベトナムの「死の原野」へと身を投じる青年の、飽くなき渇望と魂の変遷にあります。単なる従軍記に留まらず、平穏な日常に馴染めない「持て余した生」が、極限の戦場でいかに磨かれ、変貌していくのか。その克明な心理的軌跡は、読む者の胸を激しく揺さぶります。 特に精鋭グリーンベレーとしての矜持と、機密部隊での孤独な任務が描かれる後半部は圧巻です。生死の境界線で味わう高揚と悲哀、そして長い旅路の果てに辿り着く「帰還」という円環構造。そこには、時代に翻弄されながらも己の居場所を戦火の中に求め続けた一人の男の、剥き出しの人間性が凝縮されています。