JOHN HOWARD ARRIVED FOR HIS FIRST TOUR IN VIETNAM IN 1965, the first full year of escalation when U.S. troop levels increased to 184,000 from 23,000 the year before. When he returned for a second tour in 1972, troop strength stood at 50,000 and would dwindle to a mere so the following year. He thus participated in the very early and very late stages of American military involvement in the Vietnam War. His two tours, recounted in First In, Last Out, provide a unique and fascinating lens through which to view not only one soldier's experience in Viet-nam, but also the country's.

After graduating from West Point in June 1964, Lt. John Howard was assigned to command a platoon in the IOIST Airborne Division, the legendary Screaming Eagles. A year later, Howard and his men joined the flood of soldiers to Southearst Asia, unprepared for the war the would be tasked with fighting. Howard was soon recruited to join David Hackworth's Tiger Force, a special unit of paratroopers formed by the charismatic and tough-as-nails Hackworth to "out guerrilla the guerrilla" in the rice bowl of Central Vietnam. Their battles with the Viet Cong were up close and personal.

Howard returned to Vietnam as a battalion senior advisor with the South Vietnamese 6th Airborne Battalion during North Vietnam's Easter Offensive in 1972. Vietnamization was in its final stage, with American troop levels diminishing by the day and South Vietnamese regulars assuming the heavy fighting.

He was present when the ceasefire took effect on January 28, 1973, an eerily quiet day without celebrations, and left a month later, almost literally the one who turned out the lights.