Eustis James

United States combat involvement in Southeast Asia is winding down, but to those tasked to face the enemy, the intensity is heart stopping and the action is life threatening. Young EUSTIS JAMES takes on the challenges of life during this turbulent period. Not long removed from a simple midwestern college life, EUSTIS JAMES shifts his priorities from simple subsistence to general existence. While the country foments, he speculates on whether or not the conflict will end before it is necessary to emerge from his safety cocoon. He is apolitical, but the machinery of the U.S. Selective Service System pushes him inexorably into a combat role in the Southeast Asian conflict. When he arrives it is spring, that dry period that permits easier movement of men and materials. The Communist enemy masses troops and supplies in Laos and Cambodia in preparation for what it hopes to be the final victory over the regime in the south. If the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) and Vietcong can smash the U.S. supported resistance, they can declare victory over a world superpower as well as the long time enemy in Saigon. Conventional wisdom has always been that the NVA only survive because they avoid any face-to-face confrontations with the U.S. military. The warm weather offensive of 1972 puts that concept to the test. Pouring powerfully out of Laos and Cambodia, the enemy struts into South Vietnam to confront the U.S. backed forces directly. The results are bloody and the outcome is in doubt. Air support for the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) will determine the victor. The stakes do not get any higher. This is a life and death poker game and EUSTIS JAMES has just taken a seat at the velvet table.