On August 6, 1966, 22-year-old Lieutenant Robert O. Babcock landed in Qui Nhon Harbor to begin a journey that would shape who he was for the rest of his life. During his year in Vietnam, he was responsible not only for his mission but for the lives of the Soldiers entrusted to his care. Every day brought new — often terrifying — challenges, and every challenge prompted the question “What now, Lieutenant?”

This is how Babcock responded to that question, kept his men safe, and came home in one piece. It is a story of a year spent on edge, patrolling the Vietnamese countryside, ready to make the kinds of decisions no one is ever truly prepared to make. It is a story of new cultures, combat, fear, tragedy, and bravery —  told as it happened, from the journal he kept and the photographs he took.

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