Mark Miller was fresh out of college when he was drafted for active duty in Vietnam. The thought of fleeing to Canada crossed his mind, but instead he wound up undergoing "shake 'n' bake" training-the quick and mostly inefficient method of preparing new infantry sergeants for leadership.

Shake 'n' bakers had a reputation for getting themselves-and sometimes their men-killed quickly, so the men of the Garbage Squad were understandably leery of their new sergeant. Fortunately, Miller and his squad saw eye to eye on a very important detail-they all wanted to get out of Nam alive,...