Wake Up and Go to Sleep

Here is the humorous and fictional account of the Vietnam conflict told through the eyes of Sgt. Jery Douglas, a candid and spirited young man from Erie, PA. Douglas, whose main goal is to do his duty and make it home alive, invites the reader to join him on his fourteen-month tour near Phu Bai. Here he learns to survive with the drug culture, death, and the realization that things are not always as they seem.

The conversational and often comic tone invites the reader into the most personal experiences of a soldier: his struggles with love, faith, racial harmony and prejudice, and even life without baseball. Lyle takes the reader on a very intimate journey into the memory and conscience of Douglas: the isolation and loneliness he felt, the hope he entertained, the unexpected friendships he made, and the many responsibilities and positions that were shifted to him. From medic to typist to generator man and back, and ultimately through a journey into maturity, this story really puts the civilian in the soldier's boots. Prepare to explore the very human aspects of military life in this timeless memoir-style retelling of events inspired by the experiences of the men whose lives and psyches were forever changed by their service to their country.