The education of Corporal John Musgrave : Vietnam and its aftermath
(Book)

Service, patriotism, faith, and civic pride. Musgrave grew up looking forward to the day when he could enlist to serve his country as his father had done. During his senior year in high school, with the Vietnam War already raging, he signed up for the Marine Corps. Here he renders his wartime experience with a powerful intimacy and immediacy: from the rude awakening of boot camp, to daily life in the Vietnam jungle, to a chest injury that very nearly killed him. He describes the difficulty of returning home to a society rife with antiwar sentiment, his own survivor's guilt, and the slow realization that he and his fellow veterans had been betrayed by the government they served. Ultimately, Musgrave found peace among his fellow veterans working to end the war. -- adapted from jacket