Who is the man behind the gun? In an effort to find out, Charles C. Moskos, Jr., a sociologist and journalist, interviewed American soldiers in Germany, Korea, the Dominican Republic, and, especially, in Vietnam. From these interviews and from his own participation and observations, Dr. Moskos has constructed a fascinating, highly readable account of the norms, attitudes, and styles of life in the "enlisted culture." Often quoting the frank idiom of the soldiers themselves, he shows what life is like for the man in combat, with the prospect of loss of life and, even worse, the loss of limb. He describes the soldiers' commitment to service life, their political attitudes, and their relation to the larger American society.

In this first comprehensive study of the rank and file since the end of World War II, the author, himself a 1950's veteran of the ranks, traces the changes in the portrayals of enlisted men in the mass media, plays, and novels over the past decades and reveals the strains within the ranks arising from class differences among enlisted men.

Dr. Moskos finds that the once successful integration policy of the Armed Forces has been confounded by persistent white racism and the emerging black consciousness, and that the conventional explanations of combat motivation—particularly in Vietnam—are no longer adequate. The author believes that the convergence of the military and society which began in World War II has been reversed and that the military is becoming increasingly isolated from civilian society.