At the Mercy of Chance: A Pensive
Warrior's Fieldnotes From West Point
to Kon Tum is a true account of a young
man's journey from a humble yet fulfilling
nurture in Illinois through graduation from
West Point and combat in Vietnam. It's
about the myriad ways the reality of active
duty tests the relevance of the soaring
motto: Duty Honor Country. It is a clear-
eyed accounting of individual selflessness
of service to the nation side-by-side with
the bewildering ambiguity of "boots on the
ground" strategy, and provides an answer
to the question of how much a soldier is
truly asked to give in war.