This memoir tells the story of a warrior, a U.S. Marine whose service in Vietnam from 1965-67 went above and beyond duty. He led the reconnaissance team Broadminded on secret missions that encountered the North Vietnam Army (NVA) in short, fierce contact during Special Forces landings (SFLs) and in the jungle. Capers accepted each reconnaissance mission regardless of danger. He vowed to always bring back team members, including his final mission when the team and their leader were evacuated, though badly wounded. The Marine’s motto to leave no man behind became his guide. He insisted that the team’s dog, King, killed in that final skirmish be carried out. Faith in God saw them through, with Capers claiming, “God was my backup.”

Gunfire resulted in fewer casualties to American soldiers than the mines and booby traps set up by the NVA. But equally devastating “wounds” resulted from the American public’s attitude toward them (such as being urinated on by a hippie while at the airport on a stretcher) and PTSD (then undiagnosed) while recovering in stateside hospitals and at home. Wounds would heal before memories.

In this book about war, the reader will recognize that the author took losses personally. The 400-page book also shows strong, American boys becoming men on jungle battlefields. The reader will be drawn by bonds Capers inspired within his team, which even carried him through the untimely deaths of his wife and son. Surviving team members remain like family, with tributes to their admired leader published within the book. A glossary of military terms is included. This book is also about racial accomplishment. Capers was the first African-American Marine Recon to receive a field commission. Healso posed for the first black Marine recruitment poster. In Capers’ words, “Not bad for a sharecropper’s son from South Carolina.”

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