MACOMB, Mo., May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Authors T.L. Kennedy and P. Peck- Kennedy tell the true Vietnam War saga of a teen who leaves high school to join the Marine Corps and experiences events that he will struggle with the rest of his life in their new book, "I Do Solemnly Swear" (available now through AuthorHouse).
High school senior Jack Callahan has a plan for his life. Unfortunate for his parents, it is not to join a seminary after graduation to become a priest, which was their wish. Instead, Jack wants to fight in Vietnam before the war is over and, rebelling against his family's wishes, he's not waiting until after graduation to do so.
The Kennedys describe the background behind Jack's decision to drop out and join the Marines, including his core values and beliefs that he developed growing up in Chicago, Ill., and his childhood friends, some of who were Marines. When Jack arrives at boot camp, he is swept into a different world and must deal with the culture shock and new reality of the Marine Corps life.
Surviving boot camp is only the beginning for Jack. Two additional training camps, Infantry Training Regiment and Recon, follow boot camp, and then the real test begins. Readers follow Jack into the Vietnam jungle and walk step-by-step with him as terrorizing events occur, and he is forced to undergo changes in order to survive in combat. The people that have the biggest impact on Jack's life become close to the reader as well, as the Kennedys display their characters through rich and vivid description.
The Kennedys reveal the personal struggles of those who fought in the Vietnam War due to the political turmoil surrounding the war in the tumultuous '60s and '70s. "They not only fought the Viet Cong, North Vietnamese Army and the jungle environment of snakes, rats, spiders and tigers, they fought their own consciences, their own families, their own country and themselves," they say.
T.L. Kennedy wrote from the personal experiences he endured as a Marine in the Vietnam War. In 1967, at the age of 17, he quit school and quickly found himself in Vietnam. He was discharged from active duty due to injury, but later in life continued to be active in the Marine Reserves as a Corporal, Staff Sergeant and Staff Sergeant Recruiter. He now resides on a 50-acre farm with his wife, co-author P. Peck-Kennedy, in a small town in Missouri, raising horses and dogs. The Kennedys have eight children and 16 grandchildren. "I Do Solemnly Swear" is their first book, but they plan to write future books about the years and struggles following the war.
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