Knight's Blessing (Hardcover)

A veterinarian specialist in the U.S. Army, 17-year-old Steven Russell Blessing is headed for the safety of a rear area position in Vietnam-until he finds a long-awaited opportunity to prove he is a real man. Volunteering to join with the Combat Trackers, a five-man/one-dog team that walks point for infantry units puts Blessing on a path that will take him from innocent boy to war-hardened veteran on the front line of a brutal conflict. Intertwined with Blessing's story is an account from a not-too-distant future in a VA hospital psychiatric ward. There, a post-war inpatient known as Mr. Knight has the staff baffled, but underneath his clueless faade, he prepares to undertake his final mission. KNIGHT'S BLESSING is based on actual events. The language is coarse, the drug use is authentic, the prostitution is genuine, the mysterious guiding Voice is not imaginary and the final culmination of events will blow you away. Author R.T. Budd served a tour in Vietnam with the 62nd Combat Tracker platoon, First Cavalry Division (Airmobile). During his post-war nursing program at Penn State University, he had a clinical rotation on a VA Hospital psychiatric ward. R.T. spent 17 years in the Army Nurse Corps and 16 years in civilian life as an RN, with most of his career spent in the operating room. He lives with his wife near Hershey, Pennsylvania.