Army 101

Axe spent a year interviewing and following the lives of student-cadets and trainers with the USC Gamecock Battalion (""undergrads with guns,"" as he labels them) to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a representative university ROTC program - one of 270 currently in existence. Axe invites us along to witness the quagmire of confusion in a nighttime training exercise, the immersion into procedures and jargon of the classroom, and the high aspirations of candidates at Airborne School. Replete with a vivid account of the annual Ranger Challenge and a campus visit from George W. Bush, Axe's narrative follows the unit through the exercises and experiences that are designed to recast them as junior leaders in America's long war on terrorism. ""Army 101"" is an insider's look at the current state of training and the cultural values being taught to those who will soon join the ranks of nearly ten thousand ROTC graduates already serving in activity duty around the globe.