infantry soldiers

Surviving Son is a compelling true story that provides the reader with an insight into the life of a combat infantryman who fought in Afghanistan at the same time as his younger brother, Steven, who was killed in action just miles away. Scott takes the reader on a journey through his upper-middle-class childhood to his call to service after 9/11. With college degrees and a bright future ahead of them, they left the safety of suburban life to fight on the front lines in Afghanistan. When Scott was asked why he would do this, he responded, “Why not me?”

In 1970, John Kowalski is one of many young, naive teenage soldiers sent to Vietnam to fight in an unpopular war. Dubbed “Cherries” by their more seasoned peers, these newbies suddenly found themselves thrust into the middle of a terrible nightmare. On-the-job-training is intense, however, most of these teenagers were hardly ready to absorb the harsh mental, emotional, and physical stress of war. When coming under enemy fire and witnessing death first-hand, a life changing transition begins...one that can't be reversed.