A powerful tale of life after war by short-story masterTobias WolffHooper, a Vietnam veteran, finds himself at an army base inWashington State. His days are uneventful, filled with mundane duties, emptyconversations, and the occasional jaunt with a married woman.A phone call in the middle of the night breaks Hooper's predictableroutine. One of the guards at the communications center is threatening to killhimself-and says he'll shoot the other guard if he interferes. Hooper goes totalk to the distressed soldier, a cook nicknamed 'Porkchop' who's disappointedby his life as an army man. As their talk reveals the struggle to readjust tolife after combat, the situation turns deadly, and the men must face theconsequences of their actions.