Bill Shanahan decided to leave the noise and danger of line patrols in Vietnam to join the Long Range Reconnaisance Patrol, or Lurps. These were dropped behind enemy lines, deep in the jungle, to monitor enemy movements and call in artillery or air power as needed. Quiet, deadly and dangerous, but, as he puts it, more likely to see the enemy and not get killed. A thoughtful memoir of a young man adapting to an alien situation, which incidentally tells us much about human nature as well as why the Americans lost in Vietnam. A readable memoir of the highest order.