This is the story of an Appalachian boy becoming a man during the Nixon era and during the final years of Vietnam, when young Americans demonstrated against the war, African Americans demonstrated for civil rights, and women demonstrated for equal treatment. The story is biographical and very personal in nature, but the narrative intends also to paint the milieu and general history of those very interesting, very momentous years in the American experience. It includes an auspicious beginning to a military career, a heartbreaking fall from grace, undying hope, and absolute faith in redemption.