Four Flags: The Odyssey of a Professional Soldier. Part 1: US Marine Corps Vietnam 1969-72, Israeli Defence Force 1975-77

Dave Barr had had a penchant for trouble since day one, born in the back of a car, shooting by the time he was five, riding a motorbike at seven, Dave regularly got into fights at school. The only reading Dave would do growing up involved motorbikes, shooting, westerns and the military. After reading Battle Cry by Leon Uris aged 12 he knew he wanted to be a Marine. Following a series of menial jobs, working at a barbers and in service stations, at 17 he joined the Marines before shipping out to Vietnam. This was his dream come true, flying as a helicopter gunner, he ended the war with an impressive 57 Air Medals.

After leaving the Marines, like many veterans Dave found it hard to hold down a good job and stay out of trouble. It was then that he read about Israel. Always looking for a rush Dave learnt to skydive before he deciding to take his chances, emigrating illegally to Israel. He was inducted into the Israeli Army and then the Paratroops, where the training was difficult, involving long tough marches, and learning Hebrew. After serving his time he left Israel - back in the USA Dave was stuck in a rut and ready for his next adventure....This is the first volume in the gripping and action-packed memoirs of Dave Barr, providing a rich and colorful account of one man's odyssey as a professional soldier, seeing war at the 'sharp end'.

Dave Barr (born April 12, 1952) is an American veteran of the Vietnam War and a motorcyclist best known for being the first double amputee to circumnavigate the globe. He lives in Bodfish, California where he is hired to as a motivational speaker traveling in the Us and abroad. He is also the author of three books and was inducted into the American Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2000. Plus the Strugis Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2013. Barr joined the US Marine Corps when he was 17 and served in Vietnam on a helicopter gunship. After his discharge from the Marines in 1972 he lived in various locations around the world and served in the armed forces of several countries, including: two years with the Israeli Parachute Regiment and one year Rhodesian Light Infantry. He was in the middle of two years of service with the South African Defence Force when he was injured in a land-mine explosion in Angola in 1981. In 1981 while riding in a military vehicle in southern Angola, his vehicle drove over a land mine and the resulting explosion cost him both of his legs, above the knee on the right and below the knee on the left. Prosthetic legs allowed him to complete his tour of duty. In 1990 Barr being the first person to ride a Harley-Davidson 83,000 miles around the world. He went on to do a Guinness Book record ride including a 13,000 mile Atlantic to Pacific segment across Northern Europe, Russia,and Siberia in the dead of winter.From Dec 8, 1996 to Apr- 1997. Barr also set a second world record for riding what he called The Southern Cross. In just 45 days form October to Nov 2002, he completed the first motorcycle journey ever between the four extreme geographical corners of the Australian continent"