Boat Sailors — James Nelson

The war in Vietnam (a Cold War era military conflict) began November 1, 1955, (the first US military advisors arrived in 1950) but would not end until the fall of Saigon, April 30, 1975. The war would kill (minimum to maximum numbers, according to Wikipedia) 1 million to 3 million Vietnamese, 200,000 to 300,000 Cambodians, 20,000 to 200,000 Laotians. And 58,220 Americans.In the mid-nineteen-sixties some conventional fleet submarines were refitted to carry small teams of UDT and SEALs. Their primary mission was beach reconnaissance.The main submarine used was the USS Perch, left over from World War II, but still plenty spirited.She participated in the operations Jungle Drum III, Dagger Thrust, Double Eagle, Deck House II, and Deck House IV. The operations the Perch participated in during 1965-66 during the early years of the Vietnam War are used as a basis for this story, requiring two main fictional characters:Brice Moser needed to get away from the farm for awhile--sow some wild oats--as his dad and uncles called it. So he joined the navy. Just a few days from saying ‘I do' he was on his way to San Diego, California, boot camp, then weapons school, then shore duty. Well, shore duty wasn't a lot more exciting then throwing bales and milking cows back in Iowa, so he volunteered for submarines. With the Vietnam War heating up, things would soon get a bit more interesting.This absolute neophyte to the ways of the navy -- especially the submarine navy -- would need a mentor:Second Class Electronics Technician Richards, hailing from Texas, had already been in the navy for five years, and his boat, as boat sailors fondly referred to their home submarines, had just gotten orders to steam from Pearl Harbor, into the western Pacific and their new home port of Subic Bay, the Philippine Islands.