Book excerpt: On the other hand, I was part of another family, one that was showing us that in times of conflict we could rely on each other without reservation—different brothers than those at home, but brothers none the less. As with any family we had our differences, but when push came to shove, we were together, and one day our lives might depend on it As a directionless eighteen-year-old in a mid sixties small village in England, John Green decides to join The Life Guards if only to defy his father, who once had a naval career. For sixteen weeks, John and his fellow recruits undergo punishing physical challenges, a grueling, daily routine of exhausting and meticulous cleaning and polishing, and endless inspections under the caustic eye of their never-pleased training officer. But as time goes on, this challenging training and the good humored camaraderie that arises between the recruits makes them capable of doing things they never dreamed of. With great humor, emotional insight, and a pride that has never left him, John Green makes the day-to-day life of young men in military training very, very real: from the insecurities; to the punishing physical challenges; to the daily, insulting criticisms of superiors; to the homesickness...and on into the bonding, maturing, and hard-won achievement that turns scared, homesick boys into soldiers and young men of distinction.