The Expendables

A novel about the men of the First Air Cavalry in Vietnam and the bloody battle of the la Drang

Black, white, rich, poor, southerner, and northerner—in Vietnam they became brothers, brothers beyond blood. Men like Vinny, Blake, Eugene, and tough old Flynn had nothing in common—except the raw courage that was their greatest weapon during the fierce thirty-five-day conflict of the la Drang, the first battle to pit a U.S. Army division against a regular North Vietnamese Army division.

This is their story, and the story of the men who fought with them—and the 304 who didn't return. Their lives and deaths are etched in the horror and agony of day-to-day combat and nights of exhaustion and mortars. In a hard and dirty war, it was easy to find selfless courage and respect for one another.