CUT OFF

The novel 'CUT OFF' is about a man's extraordinary survival skills. The reader follows him on an adventure as he undergoes hardship, danger injury and deprivation. Many of the passages are narrated in the brutally-strong language of men at war and contain the black humor of those in constant peril. The story is testimony to what a trained and determined man can endure and achieve.

It starts in West Illinois and takes the reader to Missouri and then to Fort Campbell, Ky., for induction, basic and infantry training. From there our man is sent to U.S. Marine Corps intel and STA training at Camp Geiger, N.C. then it's a whistle-stop in Hawaii and on to Saigon, briefly and to Bien Hoa for first deployment, at Peiku Air Base. Our marine, Spec is now a lance corporal and excels in his role at the air base before being posted on to Dong Ha, via Quang Tri. He sees a lot of action in and around the Song Ngan Valley with 2nd Bn, 1st Marines before he is again re-posted to Xuan Loc, adjoining the Australian-occupied Phuoc Thuy province. He is soon sent to an Aussie unit operating in the area on liaison duties and ends up staying at their Nui Dat base for quite a while as a popular addition. His next detachment is to a Thai Bn based at Bear Cat where he becomes interested in Thai ways but is devastated by news of a good friend. He is soon sent to Khe Sanh and on to Chu Lai. Poor leadership tactics on an operation there result in the death of another great friend and his own severe wounds.

Cut off, he self-medicates, saves himself from starving alone in the jungle and slowly recuperates. Disillusioned, he sets out for Thailand, via Laos. Against all odds, he makes it to Bangkok where he lives unobtrusively while considering what he should do. The solution is found by doing an under-cover military favor in return for Australian citizenship and an Army peacetime job. However, the Aussie army calls on him to co-lead an almost suicidal mission in North Vietnam. He is badly wounded but slowly recovers in Sydney hospitals. He finally marries a wonderful girl he met in-flight and in doing so becomes a well-off farmer in tropical North Queensland. There, he has carefree peace and serenity. But the thinking reader will wonder if his warrior-itch might return and see him once more seduced back into battle-action.

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