It is 1962, and the US Army Special Forces is expanding to confront the communist challenge in Southeast Asia. Sergeant Jake Campbell has come a long way from the sharecropper's house he grew up in near Nickelsville, Virginia. Just three years ago, he and a friend hitched a ride to Kingsport, Tennessee, and joined the army. Now he is headed for training camp in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, unaware that he is about to undergo the biggest challenge of his life. Campbell immediately immerses himself in the Special Forces training group, anxious to prove himself. He is expecting a tough road ahead lined with mental and physical challenges, but soon finds that he must also face bigotry and class discrimination. Regardless, Campbell persists through pain, sweat, and blood and soon earns a coveted spot with the Green Berets. Ordered on a mission with First Sergeant William Booth-a man who has no love for Campbell-to Laos to train Hmong soldiers to fight the CIA's secret war, Campbell's idealistic view of the world is turned upside down as he witnesses the ugly underbelly of unfettered power, corruption, and injustice. In this fast-paced, action-packed military thriller, one soldier must fight for his life in the steamy Vietnamese jungles amidst murder, conspiracy, and a superior who harbors a secret that, if revealed, will ruin him forever.