The summer of 1966 ends tragically for Californian Charlie Sullivan. He's been ordered to report to the local draft board in two weeks or face five years in the penitentiary. Sullivan fully understands he might end up fighting the war in Southeast Asia-maybe even losing his life in the process.. After a grueling basic training, Sullivan lands in Vietnam as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division, where he feels a huge disconnect between the beauty of the country and the stark horror of war and killing. He fears snipers, booby traps, and even the Vietcong women. Each day in the jungle brings new challenges and new battles, and it's a struggle to stay alive and sane as Sullivan watches his friends and fellow American soldiers die. "It's Only a Small War" follows Sullivan's journey fighting in the Vietnam War-from basic training, to a deadly ambush in the jungle, to his return home where the brutalities of the war still haunt his nights and days.