Experiences of Alma Day, a Mormon during the Vietnam War 1966 to 1968 who shares his perspective of warfare while actively staying true to his religious convictions and while serving with war-hardened Marines where violence and vice surrounded all. Alma miraculously survives a close-range grenade attack and, after recovering, heroically chose to return to Vietnam when given the option to stay in the United States to finish his service.When he returned to Vietnam, he was assigned to serve with the “Fighting Fifth”, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, the most highly decorated regiment in the Marine Corps and documents how he survived, on the prayers of his family back home, the Battle of Hue, one of the bloodiest and longest battles of the Vietnam War. Alma also shares the experiences of a few other Marines who did not make it back to have their honorable service properly documented. The realities of war are thoroughly, yet delicately described to give the reader a sense of what transpired without offending your sensibilities. Below are a few excerpts from the book:“Our Judo teacher told us how he killed several Koreans with his bare hands, and how he enjoyed watching the men die in slow agony. Most of the men acted interested. When he screamed, "Kill! Kill! Kill!" they responded like Hitler's hysterical audiences. I wonder what these men will do in Vietnam. Natural charm and creativeness seems distant and dead to them…I decided that never again would I point an accusing finger at some far-off Nazi regime, as being the prime example of barbarism. The seeds of the same vicious contempt for our enemies are in our very ranks today.”“…I walked closer to see what the young mothers were bending over. They were rocking back and forth in a weeping incantation. No one could comfort them. I could see the little bodies that our two short rounds had killed as they played. How small they lay! Oh, such tiny forms, still soft from life they played in moments before. Still dirty from happy contact with Mother Earth… The U.S. Army paid the people reparations money for the hapless children who were accidentally killed. The parents received $40 for a child; $50 for a water buffalo.”“Morning found her in the same position. Her food was untouched. A change of guard brought a colored fellow, who immediately saw in her a play-thing. Before I had left, his teasing and bedeviling got so bad that I swore a hissing warning: "If I ever catch you man-handling or even touching her again, I'll see that you're written up and ‘busted'!" I was a PFC, but he respected my warning”“I hope I shall never speak of Communism in terms of some ideology that deserves respect. To me, it is the most ruthless plague of human degeneracy that man has invented. It twisted mothers in Vietnam into fighting fanatics, and babes into cunning roughs, and American boys into beasts of prey”“I think the thing that gets me into my most trouble is trying to defend and express my concern for the Vietnamese people themselves. This seems to rankle the Marines. I can't help feeling that the peasants over here get ten times the injustices and injuries of any combat unit. Yesterday, for instance, one of our tanks was plowing over a knoll, and I guess the driver didn't see the little minibus that tried to get out of its way. Those who saw the accident said the people in the minibus didn't have a chance. They probably thought the tank would swing out of its way, but instead it lumbered right over it, killing eight people instantly.”“Someone nudged me and whispered, “Where do we run if they come this way?” I grabbed his arm and said, “We won't run! That would be the worst thing we could do.” He was literally trembling, and his face turned furtively from side to side in fright. He was one of the new men, and I felt sorry for him”