The Yellow Footprints to Hell and Back

Book excerpt: In the 1960s, during the Vietnam War, there were two ways of becoming a Marine-being drafted and choosing to join. Author Gregg Stoner, a baby boomer in disagreement with the war, joined the Marine Corps as a protest against the draft and with a strong desire to avoid fighting in Vietnam. Stoner's first enlistment began just after the Tet Offensive and was during a time when most Marines were sent to combat. But he was the only soldier from his platoon of eighty-five to remain stateside. The Yellow Footprints to Hell and Back details Stoner's life in the military-from a private in boot camp to working as a sergeant drill master. Beginning with the first grueling experiences as a new recruit to the immense pride at graduation, Stoner shares his inner thoughts at what it took to become a Marine. He had joined the Marines to avoid fighting overseas, but he gained much more than he had imagined. Filled with abundant anecdotes, this personal memoir relays the interesting and, at times unbelievable, stories of the Marine Corps. It conveys the feelings and attitudes that dominated this special time in American history.