Book excerpt: Meet Joe Carini: youthful renegade, independent thinker, compassionate husband and corpsman of the US Navy as the Vietnam War begins to surface. Joe was never the ambitious type. He liked to keep his head down and do an honest day's work whilst dreaming of seeing Europe. He wasn't interested in war, or in learning discipline in the US Navy. And it seemed like Joe was about to get his way when he got transferred to San Diego, where being sent away to 'Nam was unheard of. When he's assigned to a red-line brig, however, amongst hardened, unaccommodating marines and even less friendly inmates, Joe finds himself in a whole world of trouble. Contained within is 'dimrats', the toughest zone in the area - nothing short of a nauseating torture chamber. Joe struggles to keep himself in line and follow orders, but finds himself pissing off the marines and aggravating his superior officer, risking getting tossed into dimrats himself...