Short

by James H. Krefft

A Vietnam-era antihero engages Army inanity. Short is the tale of how Dan Waytes double times through two maddening years at the stateside front of Fort Pershing during the early 1970s. But General Pershing never met a lieutenant the likes of Dan. He and his buddy Mike Stvrski, ?Montana Mike,? who once rode a bull named Really Big Mutha, maneuver through Army heroes and doofuses, training recruits in how to soldier on?and off. Twenty-two months to go, and counting, as executive officer (XO) of Bravo Company. Dan meets Faye McBride, a leggy post librarian who makes him want to check out more books than he could ever read. Dan soldiers on, forging ration forms, pencil-whipping requisitions, and ghost-writing literature term papers for the battalion XO. First Sergeant Roy, ?top??who rages, ?Paperwork don?t get young soldiers ready for war??teaches him how to manipulate regulations, records, and reports. While soaking in Chaplain Rap?s sermon on ?shorttimers,? he feels the loss of his Uncle James, who fell from the branded blue sky. Dan and Mike are dispatched on a mission to a faraway land, where Mike finds something he never expected?and tougher to handle than Really Big Mutha. With nine days left, Dan observes a barracks inspection that leaves little to anyone?s imagination. While attending a soiree at Main Chapel, Dan and Mike figure out that a Really Big Unauthorized Thing has been going on. ?Now, we know why our noses have been twitching,? Dan comments. But do they?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0979351022
• ISBN13: 9780979351020
• Release Date: October 2014
• Publisher: Military Writers Press
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.5" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 16 years and up