STEVE FLETCHER, U.S. MARINE

Eighteen year old Steve Fletcher enters Marine training at San Diego in 1953 in an effort to find himself after a turndown by Amberst's dean of admissions and a bout with his local juvenile court. This ringingly authentic account of Marine bootcamp includes in its cast of characters the perverse drill instructor (who draws two years for his trouble), legitimate war heroes of Tarawa and Chosin vintage, and a racially-intolerant Texan. Our hero, court martialled for showing up at inspection with the dirtiest rifle within memory of grizzled Corps veterans, vindicates himself in a daring forest fire rescue and draws a blue ribbon assignment at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.