In the Line of Duty

This is WWI like you've never seen it: not as carnage and tragedy, but as a bewildering comedy of errors. Tommy Lang, a young lieutenant in the American Air Service, finds himself stationed at a dreary flying field in central France, woefully unprepared for the peculiarities of military life. What follows is a串联 of misadventures - a disastrous trip for a drink, an unexpected promotion, run-ins with suspicious military police - each more absurd than the last. Tommy bumbles through command responsibilities far beyond his experience, befriends a cast of fellow officers, and ultimately must face the music after going AWOL to escape his own misery. The resolution arrives with an ironic twist that captures both the ridiculousness and unexpected warmth of military camaraderie. For readers who want their war fiction with a wink rather than a wound, Greene delivers a charming portrait of young men trying not to make a hash of things in circumstances designed to ensure they will.