Arlen's Gun

About the Book

“Arlen’s Gun” centers on an alienated and angry young man from the worst streets of Baltimore. The Vietnam War is raging and, virtually certain to be drafted, he’s persuaded by a friend to avoid that fate by volunteering for the Air Force. Both end up in Vietnam, his friend in a comfortable administrative job while he becomes a gunner on an AC-47 gunship. His attitude isolates him from the crew members, and the nature of the gunship’s mission isolates him from the reality of war itself until his plane is shot down and crash lands in no-man’s land. It is the monsoon season, bad weather grounds rescue helicopters, and the crew is rescued by an Army unit. Events strand him with his rescuers, soon caught up in desperate battles where the airman gradually discovers in the motley group a path to brotherhood.

About the Author

Edgar Doleman, veteran of a twenty-year career as an infantry officer, served in Berlin, Korea, two tours in Vietnam, and at various posts in the U.S. Prior to his first tour in Vietnam, Doleman commanded a basic training company where young draftees and volunteers transitioned from being civilians to being soldiers; from being kids to being men, responsible for themselves and their comrades. After retirement, he wrote “The Tools of War,” one of the Time-Life series “The Vietnam Experience.” Later, he was inspired to write “Arlen’s Gun,” a novel about the amazing character of the men who fought it and of one particular young man’s transformation.