The co-authors both served in Vietnam as combat infantry officers with the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) during peak years of the war. Orkandwas later a Pentagon spokesman on the Volunteer Army project and after retirement, president/publisher of the Centre Daily Times newspaper in State College, Pa. Duryea, who died while the book was being finalized, held a PhD in military history from Temple University. The authors show that the flawed M16 rifle was a microcosm for all the misjudgments made during the Vietnam War by the military and civilian chain of command.