Escape From The Presidio

Harold knew he couldn't in good conscience accept his orders to Vietnam after advanced Army training. After going home on leave before his scheduled travel to Oakland for shipment to Nam, he goes to San Francisco to seek help with a conscientious objector discharge application. San Francisco in 1968 is a hub of activities against the raging Vietnam War and a magnet for young people.
While A-wol he meets the beautiful Floe, a Canadian, and falls for her like there is no tomorrow. Constant companions, they explore the city together and spend their nights at the Cadillac Hotel. When Floe rejects him, he, in a distraught fog, turns himself over to the Presidio Army Base. He is one among a constant stream of A-wol soldiers, apprehended in the area and sent to the Presidio Detention Center. What he encounters at the Detention Center and Stockade is harassment and cruelty beyond his imagination.
He becomes friends with a small group: Tom another conscientious objector applicant, Garvey the wheeler dealing soldier searching for any angle to facilitate his discharge, Klinker who left the Oakland Base before his Nam shipment, and Dennis the Nam veteran befriended by Klinker while both were A-wol. All are desperately hoping to avoid Nam orders. Their antics on and off the Presidio are comic and poignant. The group often leave the base on weekends: Harold to the dark haired beauty Sandra, Tom to his alluring wife Marilyn, Garvey to the Captain's pottery wife Sharon, and Klinker and Dennis to the enticing college girls. Can they survive the cruelty and absurdity of the Center and avoid going to Nam to fight a war they all believe is a mistake and a travesty?
Escape From The Presidio is a vivid page turning tale of cruelty and redemption that is filled with memorable characters willing to do anything to avoid Vietnam.