In 1st Force Recon you performed at a very high level of proficiency. Or
you died. . . .
In 1969, First Lieutenant Bill Peters and the Force Recon Marines had
one of the most difficult, dangerous assignments in Vietnam. From the
DMZ to the Central Highlands, their job was to provide strategic and
operational intelligence to insure the security of American units as the
withdrawal of the troops progressed.
Making perilous helicopter inserts deep in the Que Son Mountains, where
the constant chatter of AK-47 rifle fire left no doubt who was in
charge, Peters and the other men of 1st Force Recon Company risked their
lives every day in six-man teams, never knowing whether they would live
to see the sunset. Peters's accounts of silently watching huge movements
of heavily armed NVA regulars, prisoner snatches, sudden-death ambushes,
and extracts from fiercely fought firefights vividly capture the
realities of Recon Marine warfare, and offer a gritty tribute to the
courage, heroism, and sacrifice of the U. S. Marines. . . .