[1] In 1963 he decided to leave the pulpit to pursue a career as a novelist full-time,[2] believing that he could be more effective in terms of reaching others that way, stating that "religion is basically out of touch with people".

"[4] The newly ordained rabbi David Cohen, a Brooklyn, New York native, joins the United States Air Force as a chaplain.

He goes through the common induction process for the military; attends Air Force Chaplaincy School with other rabbis, priests, and ministers; and serves at his first duty station.

Describing an early scene in the book when Cohen comes to the defense of a Puerto Rican man who is suffering at the hands of a prejudiced officer at the Army's induction center, Behan notes that "this episode sets the tone for the whole book, the battle of David Cohen with the forces of darkness, both in and out of the Air Force".

[4] The novel received favorable reviews, with the New York Herald Tribune describing it as "amusing, powerful and deeply felt...the initiation of an ingenuous Brooklyn rabbi named David Cohen into the paradoxes, absurdities, horrors, and heroisms of military life.