A sculptor who gives himself amnesia so he can critique his work objectively. A World War II private, training for D-Day, who writes the president with a scheme to bring down the German economy. A foreman who must transport a two-ton block of stone using only brute strength and brains. A woman, disguised as a man, who fights in the American Civil War. A surveillance expert who owes his success to a flying saucer. From ancient times through the present and into the future, these fifteen stories of adventure, passion and discovery explore the distant connections between those who serve their countries and those who serve themselves.