The Barracks Thief is the story of three young paratroopers waiting to
be shipped out to Vietnam. Brought together one sweltering afternoon to
stand guard over an ammunition dump threatened by a forest fire, they
discover in each other an unexpected capacity for recklessness and
violence. Far from being alarmed by this discovery, they are exhilarated
by it; they emerge from their common danger full of confidence in their
own manhood and in the bond of friendship they have formed.
This confidence is shaken when a series of thefts occur. The author
embraces the perspectives of both the betrayer and the betrayed, forcing
us to participate in lives that we might otherwise condemn, and to
recognize the kinship of those lives to our own.