Follows "Swoff, " a third-generation Marine enlistee, from a sobering stint in boot camp to active duty, sporting a sniper's rifle and a hundred-pound ruck on his back through the Middle East deserts. There is no cover from intolerable heat or from the Iraqi soldiers, who are always potentially just over the next horizon. Swoff and his fellow Marines sustain themselves with sardonic humanity and wicked comedy on blazing desert fields in a country...

Col. Robert Gould Shaw is the 25-year-old white son of Boston abolitionists who volunteers to command the first all-black 54th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins is the inspirational sergeant who unites the troops. Pvt. Trip is the runaway slave who embodies the indomitable spirit of the regiment. After months of tough training and eventual small battle experience, they are lead to glory in their final assault...

Anthony 'Swoff' Swofford is a third-generation enlistee who goes from a sobering stint in boot camp to active duty. He sports a sniper's rifle and a hundred-pound ruck on his back through the Middle East deserts. He lives with no cover from the intolerable heat and the potential threat from Iraqi soldiers. Swoff and his fellow Marines sustain themselves with sardonic humanity and wicked comedy on the blazing desert fields in a country they don't understand,...