"I never saw myself as a soldier. I always imagined myself doing many different things, but this one was not one of them. My senior year in high school I planned everything out. It was nothing like this. Life has a funny way of changing your plans."

Author Ramon Carrasco joined the U.S Army as a last resort, eager to leave the boring normalcy of Big Lake, Texas, and to make a fresh start. But he struggles to find his place in the military. Shipped off to Seoul, Korea, he must learn to deal with the absence of important people in his life, mainly his family, and come to terms with old...