How did such a socially inept, unscarred, high school marching band geek, chess club nerd, piano-playing, teetotaling mama's boy wind up with a parachute on his back, a knife in his teeth, and a team of America's finest warriors following him out of an aircraft's jump door into the night? How did he get there? How did he STAY there? And why did he try so hard to do something so out of character for himself? This three-volume collection of short stories chronicles that unlikely rise from a trombone-playing high school band nerd to an elite U.S. Air Force Combat Controller, circa 1977 and 1978. It's a chronological line-up of vignettes, a firsthand account of all the struggles, dangers, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences of working his way through all the unique exotica of a spec ops career, as experienced by a dorky misguided wannabe, and retold by a middle-aged professional-grade smart-ass. What's not to like?