Bugging Out: An Army Memoir (1954)

Bugging Out: An Army Memoir (1954) tells how the author dropped out of Boston College after three years to marry, then volunteered for the Army draft to qualify for the G.I. Bill of rights on his return to college. He was not prepared for the emotional torture that Army life would inflict on his previously free spirit.

Demoralized by cruel superiors during infantry basic training, and lonely for his pregnant wife, he is caught between duty and self-preservation. Reluctantly, he turns to "bugging out" mentally and physically while functioning as a military misfit.

With wit and irony, O'Connell uses candid dialogue with authentic Army language and vivid descriptions to relate how he dealt with the military assaults on his independent personality.

The author's "battle of wits" shows one young man coping with the Army's challenges to his sanity, and offers scenes reflecting outrage, despair, and hilarity.