From combat training at "Fort Puke" in Louisiana to arrival in Cam Ranh Bay, "Eleven Bravo" introduces a newbie infantryman arriving in Vietnam. Fresh from training as an 11B (eleven bravo), the MOS for the combat infantry, the young soldier arrives in-country as astronaut Neil Armstrong walks on the surface of the moon in July 1969.


"Gonna Stick my Sword in the Golden Sand" is less about patriotism and heroism than it is about the gut-wrenching reality for the Vietnam combat soldier. RW Holmen is the author of an acclaimed novel of historical fiction ("A Wretched Man, a novel of Paul the apostle"), and his story-telling craft is on full display in this series of short stories he calls "autobiographical fiction" that are inspired by true events but with literary embellishment that offers a compelling, even haunting, interpretation of the Vietnam experience.


For veterans, "Golden Sand", will be a vivid re-creation of Vietnam service, for those who lived throughout the turbulent sixties, "Golden Sand" offers meaning and context, and for those too young to remember, "Golden Sand" offers a glimpse into the most controversial war and perplexing period in American history. It all starts with "Eleven Bravo".