This memoir follows a young man from his teenage years as a bloodhound trainer, farmworker, and student in and out of colleges and marriages to the battlefields of Vietnam. His mission is: "e;to keep Americans alive."e; Often irreverent, this book examines leadership in combat situations and the gut-wrenching decisions that must be made. Aeronautics, physiology of a crash, PTSD, and detailed accounts of actual battles are reported and examined from a "e;been there done that"e; perspective. The book takes you on a roller coaster ride of successes and failures, as Bond evolves from an idealistic teenager to becomes one of the more decorated combat veterans in our Nation's history. Beginning with some of the history which accompanied him into combat, he weaves a tale of contrasts. Confronted with age-old questions of what is worth living for or dying for, he leads us through the decisions he faced and resolved for better or worse.