After a quarter century of army life, Fred Oldenburg here sets out the reality of training for and serving in some of the world's most dangerous places. Stretched to the limits by four tours of Northern Ireland, two in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan, he unsparingly recounts the often riotous way in which he and his fellow soldiers spent time away from daily confrontation with violence. As for the regions our journalists and politicians glibly describe as trouble spots, this Infantryman vividly depicts the harsh front-line truth about places and people and sudden bloody death.