After the break-up of the Raider Regiments in 1944, the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Marine Corps Divisions were in dire need of non-commissioned officers. Ex-Raiders, such as Gunnery Sergeant Rawlins, were used in these spots as replacements. Gunnery Sgt. Rawlins and his Raider squad were sent to the Fifth Marine Division, Twenty-seventh Regiment, Camp Pendleton, California. Here they began training for the bloody battle of Iwo Jima, where over twenty thousand Japanese Imperial troops waited-ready and willing to die for their emperor. Follow Rawlins and his team through grueling training at Camp Tarawa, Hawaii; thirty-four days of living hell at the foot of Mt. Suibachi-the bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history; living off the land while marooned on an island near Japan; dealing with civilian life after the war; and their return to duty when the Korean War breaks out. This novel, based on historical fact, follows Gunnery Sgt. Rawlins and his squad from the war against imperial Japanese forces through the Korean War. Weapons, tactics, training, organization, and attitudes are accurately portrayed from both the American and the Japanese perspective.