APO 123 - Softcover

Brebbia, John Henry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1439270503 ISBN 13: 9781439270509

Publisher: CreateSpace, 2010

Synopsis

At the height of the Cold War, First Lieutenant Anthony Bertolini arrives in Verdun, France and finds a military circus where a headquarters should be. Only a day's drive away from the Northern Area Supply Command, communist armies plot the destruction of the West, but Verdun's young Army lawyers have more pressing concerns. In the tradition of the characters from M*A*S*H, they dodge flying beer bottles, subvert Army regulations, and plan clandestine all-nighters in search of romance and laughter and joi de vivre. Bertolini is seduced, but France's earthly pleasures lead to hard choices - about love, loyalty and the meaning of family.

About this title

Review:

APO 123 Rewards the Reader - Those who serve--or have served--in the armed forces, view military lawyers in a certain way. The lawyers, members of the Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAGC), are usually perceived as learned, dispassionate, and conventional officers. With his novel, APO 123, John Henry Brebbia, Esq., shows us that the conventional view is wide of the mark. The character of the JAG officers in APO 123 range from conventional to wildly nonconforming. Their interactions with other officers and men of their unit create fascinating and highly amusing stories within the main story.

The protagonist, First Lieutenant Marc Anthony Bertolini, comes from an Irish-Italian family of middle-class Boston. A graduate of Boston College Law School, Anthony served as an enlisted soldier before receiving a direct commission in the JAGC. The reader meets Anthony as he serves in the headquarters of the Northern Area Supply Command (NASCOM) at Verdun, France, in the late 1950s. That was the post-Korea era and the Cold War continued. France was still a member of NATO in those days, and quite a few U.S. units were based there.

As one who served in that era, this reviewer can attest to John Henry Brebbia's accuracy in depicting the customs, environments, and issues in which our enlistees and draftees served. Their experiences developed an extensive folklore as well as barracks (and shipboard) humor.

In the Prologue, he writes, "APO 123 seeks to capture the spirit of this body of folklore, and especially the barracks humor." He succeeds and surpasses that goal.

The reader is rewarded by viewing the antics, and shenanigans of characters with names as diverse as Boswell, Bowersock, Bril, Cox, Hardegree, Neuman, Pike, Tatarian, Tidwell, and Vine, to name just a few.

Anthony Bertolini is involved in their actions and inactions quite often. The reader comes to realize that Anthony may be part of the pranks and humor, but he is also a caring and compassionate person. His awareness of the Bostonian social classes comes through in his finding love with a very upper-class Boston girl and Vassar graduate of his age. He copes with the stresses and contradictions in that situation, veering into amorous interludes with other women. The ultimate solution to those stresses in Anthony's life concludes the saga very well.

John Henry Brebbia enriches the story with insights into the relationships, both official and personal, among the U.S. forces (and civilians) and the French authorities and people of the Verdun area.

Read APO 123 to learn, to be amused, and to appreciate those who served and still serve our Nation. --F. Clifton Berry, Jr. - author and editor of magazines and books on military topics

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1439270503
• ISBN 13: 9781439270509
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 566