This book gives a valuable insight into Australia's military involvement in South-East Asia and Papua New Guinea as experienced by infantry officer, Pat Beale. He was involved in anti-terrorist activities in Malaysia, action in Borneo during Confrontation and then Vietnam, with a Special Forces unit.

General Peter Cosgrove said of this book:

...this is a wonderfully evocative account of soldiering in what now seems to be a bygone era, when one could spend years of peacetime and operational service in Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam. It is all brought to life by an author with an eye for detail, beauty and humour. Once again I could almost smell the jungle paths and the tropical vegetation. Pat Beale has given us a valuable glimpse of the human face of soldiering and warfare. The human aspec has not changed substantially over the centuries, even though the context of warfare chages. It is the reality of war and combat that should never be forgotten.