Virgin No. 72

Dave Simms, a young black marine, stationed at the Da Nang Air Base as a supply clerk during the Vietnam War, fights not only the Viet Cong, but the everyday boredom and the absurdity of military life. His struggle for identity leads him through a drunken and reefer smoking year of ludicrous events. In the midst of perilous surroundings, Simms finds himself protected in many ways, but not always. There were short periods of being unshielded that left its mark on him that not even drunken nights could erase. Simms rarely meets the enemy, however, his worst fears came more from what the marines could do to him. The preposterous, blood-thirsty mind-set of the Marine Corps fueled his hatred for them and his overwhelming determination to leave Vietnam, not only alive and in one piece, but in his right mind.