The Mercenary's Manual Part One

I wrote this book in 1976, when the war in Vietnam was over and brush wars were exploding around the globe. Recruiters seemed to be everywhere and trained and untrained soldiers were being hired and flown off to battle daily. The money and adventure were too great to resist for many, but, for some, it didn't end well. Some went off with little or no training and some died. This book was a basic introduction, a way to avoid the mistakes you could only make once. It covers the operation of common weapons, demolitions, navigation, evasion, small unit tactics and dozens of skills and tricks a soldier better know if he hopes to live. It sold over 13000 copies around the world through six or seven printings and led to The Mercenary's Manual Part Two and Combat: House to House. All this enabled me to travel to conflicts in the Middle East and Central America to gather information at the fronts. I'm publishing it word for word as it was then... written by a 20-something for the same immortal age group. It will still speak to the same group and maybe enable a few to come home who otherwise might not.