The unique story of a US Marine athletic team competing for a national championship at the height of the Vietnam War. In the summer of American riots, at the height of the Vietnam War, two junior officers and three enlisted men gather at Virginia's Marine Base Quantico to train - not for combat, but for cross country running. The Quantico Marines tells the unlikely story of the team-combat veterans and new recruits, misfits and heroes - whose job is to represent the Corps on the college campuses and backcountry trails of the East Coast. The runners have a lot working against them, from battlefield scars to unsupportive base officers to challenging romances. But while their wounded comrades are filling the hospital just up the hill with life-threatening injuries, their lives are safe. Or are they? There are surprises lingering just below the surface, and the real danger may come not from the Viet Cong or the angry anti-war protestors, but from the sweet, pretty wife of the team's head coach. This is a novel full of unexpected turns and unforgettable characters, set in a year that was unlike any other.