The Boys of Summer

“…I remember their faces.  I remember their pride in their unit, “STRIKE AND KILL,” but above all I remember their happiness at the thought of going home to family, friends, loved ones, fiancés, and most of all, America.  America for everything she stands for, America, the reason they all wore that uniform and the reason they served so far away from home.  America must know, America must appreciate, America must miss their most valued treasure, their American soldiers.  They ARE a part of something bigger, they always will be.  Please let us all remember them together, these young American heroes, from every corner of our nation, who were willing to risk everything for our future.  They are forever young; they will always be in the summer of their lives; they are the Boys of Summer.”

The author, Michael Casciaro served in the 3-60th Infantry battalion as a rifle platoon leader in 1985 when his unit replaced the 3-502nd in the Sinai Peninsula to assume duties in the Multi-National Force and Observers (MFO) peacekeeping mission between Egypt and Israel.  This is his story of the events leading up to and the aftermath of the Arrow Air Flight 1985 crash in Gander, Newfoundland that killed 248 members of the battalion he replaced.  It also chronicles the life of an Infantry Second Lieutenant fresh out of the Infantry Officer’s Basic Course (IOBC) and U.S. Army Ranger School after reporting to his first unit.  There he endured rigorous training to prepare him to lead his soldiers in combat and perform duties of an officer in the MFO under one of the Army’s most inspirational leaders in the 1980s.  Leading men under those conditions was tough, not politically correct, and focused on one thing…ensuring your soldiers survived combat.