Review by Dale Howard, Vietnam Vet & singer of songs and ballads

In a world awash in books on War and in particular the unabated American obsession with Vietnam, Templeton has artistically created a mosaic that uniquely combines Heller’s famous portrayal of normal society exposed to the frustrating bureaucratic logic of the military with Remarque’s description of the extreme physical and mental stress brought on by detachment from civilian life by soldiers. Although Templeton, demurely, attempts to disguise his own self in the book through the use of his, one of a kind - “SORTA NOVEL”, it’s not difficult to discern the “auto” in this biography of him as a young Marine groping his way through the novel, unfamiliar, exciting, and tragic ethos of the late 1960’s and the danger, horrors and absurdities of military service in Vietnam. He has done a magnificent job in blending the serious, deadly business of war…and through the goofy hipster lingo, his hilarious escapades with a host of aptly “nick named” Marine Corps friends and associates: he, like Heller, exposes what it takes to maintain one’s sanity during life’s most trying and difficult situations. This is a good read and I highly recommend it to those seeking to discover “how it was”, back then, in this still controversial period of history.