Old Bastards - Paperback

OLD BASTARDS

They were too old for the draft, too cynical for glory, and exactly what the Pacific Theater needed.

In the brutal meat grinder of World War II, the U.S. Army is running out of young blood. Enter the 305th Regiment's "experimental" unit: a ragtag squad of over-the-hill draftees who have traded their bad backs, factory jobs, and bar tabs for rifles and the unforgiving jungles of the South Pacific.

At thirty-eight, Hank Reilly is a Chicago con man, bootlegger, and reluctant sergeant who knows how to spot a rigged deck. But the Battle of Guam is a game with no rules. Stranded in the suffocating heat and relentless crossfire of the Pacific Theater, Hank leads a mismatched band of middle-aged misfits-a Pittsburgh steelworker, an anxious Boston pharmacist, a New York gambler, a near-sighted accountant, a moonshiner, and a hulking Oregon logger. The brass sent them into the meat grinder as an expendable psychological test. The "Old Bastards" just want to survive to see the next sunrise.

Facing entrenched Japanese forces, impenetrable concrete bunkers, and suicidal banzai charges, Hank and his squad must rely on street smarts, improvised tactics, and raw, stubborn grit. There is no glory in the mud and coral dust. There is only the guy next to you, the heavy recoil of a rifle, and the dark, wry humor required to outlast the absurdity of war.

Old Bastards is a gritty, character-driven military action-adventure. Written with sharp, hard-boiled dialogue and visceral, tactical combat realism, this WWII historical fiction thriller strips away the romance of the battlefield. It delivers a fast-paced, unsentimental journey into the heart of the Pacific war.