Dead Man Zone - Paperback

Korea DMZ-1983.

Rip Razorton, a recent college graduate and a newly minted Second Lieutenant in the United States Army, enters a military environment filled with danger and a Korean culture he doesn't comprehend.

Stationed at Camp Howze in the Western Corridor with the Third Brigade, Second Infantry Division, Razorton, harassed by superior officers for an unknown transgression, learns the DMZ mission from a senior non-commissioned officer known as the "NCO Scholar."

Despite being messed with, Razorton maintains his sanity by working hard and learning the ropes. But what kept him going is his love for his exotic American Indian girlfriend, with an eagle feather in her hair, Angeni James.

Razorton's job: Collect battlefield intelligence on the North Korean threat. That meant duty on the volatile DMZ. Firefights, explosions, and defections were common in the No-man's-land called the "Z."

Death and mayhem could come quickly. One day, it came for Razorton during a firefight with North Korean commandos. Snatched away by the NK infiltrators, Razorton's saving grace was a hardcore former Green Beret and SOG recon team leader, SFC William "Wild Bill" Harrison.

Suffering PTSD, Razorton turned to alcohol to ease the pain and the guilt.

Razorton, having been disciplined for insubordination toward a senior officer after the firefight, is reassigned as an army escort for an American USO band called "Total Infusion."

Seeing the band members for the first time, Razorton thought they looked like "freaks." He wanted nothing to do with them.

Feeling empty and full of pain, Razorton continued to drown his guilt and sorrow in alcohol. Then, with no warning at all, the female lead singer of the band with purple hair came to his rescue.

More conflict followed. He didn't know who he loved the most... his girlfriend with the feather in her hair or the purple-haired girl with the beautiful, saucy voice.

DEAD MAN ZONE for DMZ is a hard-hitting military thriller-laced with unexpected romance-loosely rooted in the real-world experiences of C.R. Olachea during his 1983 assignment on the Korean DMZ.