The commanding officer is Major Stanley Woolley, a cold, cruel and sour taskmaster, training the squadron with brutality.
Woolley keeps no emotional attachments, even to his girlfriend Margery, a nurse in the Hospital Corps.
Distracted by the thought of Margery and the life they could have together, Woolley is killed while leading the next combat patrol.
A review of the book on wordpress.com states that it is now regarded as something of a classic and that 'Robinson searingly conjures up the brutality and insanity of the war'.
[2] The book was recognised at the time of its publication for its quality and was nominated for the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1971.