By the Rule: From Close Quarters

Draftee Philip Dosier tells the story of his war. Straight from high school, too young to vote or buy himself a drink, he enters a world of mud and heat, blood and body counts, ambushes and firefights. “Then it began—fifties and sixties and frags and AKs and RPGs—down toward the road where the seven-four had parked—frags and claymores and sixteens on auto and more AKs, lots of AKs—on the south side of the laager by Bravo Company and to the east by the grunts.”

The inspiration for fellow in...