Tales of the Yellow Silk

Book excerpt: Tales of the Yellow Silk is Derek Harts collection of short stories, covering Sergeant James Kendles brief tour of duty in Thailand from October 1974 to June 1975. The nave young sergeant considered his assignment as both a grand adventure and exotic travelogue. Instead, he found himself embroiled in a highly sensitive love affair and assigned to a dangerous covert military operation. So, sit and read about a different kind of war. A war that had no rules, no sides, no objectives, no honor, no results, no history, no monuments, no winners, and no official players. It was real to those who lived it, men and women. Daily life was not filled with the dread of being killed by the civilian population, as in Vietnam. Americans patrolled, set ambushes, spied on the Khmer Rouge or Pathet Lao, and saw a lot of Cambodia or Laos, then came back for a cold beer. Still, some of them didnt come back at all.