Forces-At-Play [Paperback]

In love, and hoping to avoid the draft, Atticus and Noel secretly marry at City Hall. Their happiness is interrupted by a fateful letter from the Selective Service; the forces-at-play have ordered Atticus to report for active duty. The night before Atticus departs, he picks up a six-pack at the corner liquor store. He blurts his fate to Wally, the owner, who attempts to console him. Wally says he'd also been drafted and served as a combat Marine in World War II...but, in the middle of his story, he drifts into a trance. He recovers, peers deep into Atticus eyes, sees something, but refuses to say what it was. In the morning, Atticus reluctantly takes a train to the Selective Service Center. Like Wally, he is inducted into the Marine Corps. At the MCRD in San Diego, he is nicknamed Mr. Attitude by a boot camp drill instructor, and it sticks. Mr. Attitude becomes convinced information about his attitude is following him from duty station to duty station. The warnings about his behavior plague him and his actions get worse. Finally, at Camp Lejeune, Captain Dristan puts him on quota for Vietnam. Noel is hurt when she learns he is going to war. Attitude realizes too late he could have behaved and served the rest of his enlistment in the States, but he rationalizes, Vietnam is his destiny. En route to Vietnam, Attitude bonds with Fang, another Marine from Camp Lejeune. In Okinawa, he clashes with a psycho Marine returning from Vietnam who everyone fears. Attitude and Fang receive orders that take them to the Message Center at a dreary outpost in Dong Ha. Later, Attitude receives extra training to become top NCO at the Phu Bai Message Center. Shortly thereafter, however, he follows the correct procedure and embarrasses the new MC Chief, Sgt. Hassle, who retaliates by promoting another Marine ahead of him. Like a story about kismet that Attitude read as a child, he has crossed paths with a man destined to become intertwined with his fate. As if a string of bad luck haslƒ9