Reared in a industrial city during the 1930s depression a young man leaves to find overseas adventure and a passage into adulthood. The seeker eventually gets much more than he bargained for. This book takes the reader through the gates of delinquency, cheerless military service, struggles, failures, and troubling acts including cold war espionage, and concluding with ten consecutive years in war torn Vietnam. This is a story of a youngster's lengthy transition into maturity. Parts of this story should not be read by the moralist or the squeamish.