Fortunately, not everyone who was on active duty during the Viet Nam era went to war, but they didn't miss all the action. Although no one was shooting at them, non-combat officers were heroically engaged in the age-old battles against military logic, rules, and bureaucracy. This is the memoir of Captain William Stone, who not only led the first systematic critique of Mexican food available near the White Sands Missile Range and singlehandedly revised the wording on the mess-hall inspection formhe also cleverly got his men out of morning formations and was killed twice during exercises. On active duty, he courageously rode in helicopters, was ruled the victor in an Inspector- General complaint against his colonel, and even fired a missile. (Okay, it was only a rocket filled with weather instruments.)Captain Stone describes ROTC and unveils the mysteries of KP, sick call, saluting protocols, uniforms, and getting beer at the PX. He tells of juggling a university education with a military obligation and recounts the joys of active duty, such as firing an M-16 in full automatic mode when told not to, taking over the company when the real captain wasn't there, being in an Army research lab at the dawn of weather satellites, and suffering the vagaries of Army publishing.No Drafted Captains is sometimes irreverent, sometimes nostalgic, but always humorous. Think the Army is different now? Maybe not so much.
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