Prologue: 3 August 1990 -- Into the wild blue: Every man a tiger -- Big lie -- Vision of Bill Creech -- Shield in the sky: Mission to Jeddah -- CENTCOM forward -- Planning the storm -- Band of brothers and sisters -- Thousand-hour war: Storm! -- Hits and misses -- Lost and found -- Punch and counterpunch -- Day in the war -- Ten percent war -- Shock and awe -- Final thoughts: building coalitions.

When his army unit is ambushed during the first Gulf War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw saves his fellow soldiers just as his commanding officer, Major Ben Marco, is knocked unconscious. Using the incident for political gain, Shaw eventually becomes a vice-presidential nominee, but Marco is haunted by dreams of what really happened in Iraq. As Marco investigates, the story begins to unravel. He begins to figure that the entire unit was kidnapped and brainwashed...

Now a Major Motion Picture from Universal Pictures New York Times bestselling author Anthony Swofford weaves his experiences in war with vivid accounts of boot camp, reflections on the mythos of the marines, and remembrances of battles with lovers and family. When the U. S. Marines -- or "jarheads" -- were sent to Saudi Arabia in 1990 for the first Gulf War, Anthony Swofford was there. He lived in sand for six months, he was punished by boredom and...