Promoted to 1st lieutenant at the height of the war, Robin Bartlett, just 22 years old, assumed leadership of the 1st Platoon, A Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division in May 1968. Over the next seven months, Bartlett would lead his platoon of 30 men on helicopter combat assaults, ambushes and search-and-destroy missions along the DMZ in I Corps.--BOOK JACKET.

My first worst day in Vietnam -- Training for war -- Ranger school : learning to lead, preparing to kill -- Back at the 82nd -- First days in country -- Ambushing gazelles -- The jungle penetrator -- FNGs in the field and base camp -- Face-to-face -- Pay officer -- Blown ambush -- Saturation ambushing -- Recon by fire-enemy base camp -- Beyond artillery cover -- LZ is green -- Autorotate -- Stream crossing -- Letting it all hang out -- Tracer rounds -- Surviving leg cramps -- Ambush in the rain -- Escort to Laos -- Tear gas attack -- Night firefight -- Hard Luck Simons -- Walking point -- You fight it, we write it -- The battle of the parrot’s beak -- Assistant defense counsel -- Buying art supplies -- Welcome home -- Butterfly coincidences -- Attributions -- A boots on the ground point of view.