Assigned to post-World War II Japan in the first year of the occupation, military typist Van finds his distinctly Western values tested by the culture, his duties as a babysitter for General MacArthur's son, and startling news from his young war bride.

Describes the men and women who fought in the Vietnam War, the kind of war they fought, and the distress and difficulty they suffered on their return to the United States.

In the tradition of "Black Hawk Down," The Good Soldiers takes an unforgettable look at the heroes and the ruined soldiers fighting in the Iraq War. "It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. It became known as "the surge." Among those called to carry it out were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head...

Fort Selden was a small frontier fort built in 1865 with the mission of protecting the citizens of the Mesilla Valley in southern New Mexico. This book tells the story of Fort Selden's beginning, its years of service, and its eventual abandonment. Throughout Fort Selden's history, its troopers conducted patrols, provided escort for wagon trains, and chased horse thieves, bandits, and Apaches through spring dust storms, drenching rains, winter cold,...

'Grunt' tackles the science behind some of a soldier's most challenging adversaries -- panic, exhaustion, heat, noise -- and introduces us to the scientists who seek to conquer them. Mary Roach dodges hostile fire with the U.S. Marine Corps Paintball Team as part of a study on hearing loss and survivability in combat. She visits the fashion design studio of U.S. Army Natick Labs and learns why a zipper is a problem for a sniper. She visits a repurposed...