This comprehensive collection of true-life soldiers tales takes the reader from the muddy trenches of WW I to the arid landscapes of present-day Iraq, by way of the Pacific, Korea, Vietnam, immersing the reader in the immediate drama of combat as infantrymen, Army and Marine Corps have experienced it. Soldiers tell of their struggles with the enemy, hostile terrain, weather conditions, their own fears and doubts, struggles against their own commanding officers, lack of proper equipment, fighting ferocious opposition in the Pacific war, jungle warfare in South-East Asia, evading a hostile enemy in a bone-chilling Korean winter. Written with honesty and immediacy, these take the reader through the full gamut of experiences; we endure what they endure, and see what they see, be it a successful retreat, routing the enemy, recovery in hospital, imprisonment, the boredom of waiting and the sheer terror on fighting hand-to-hand.