A Walk-On Part in the War: A '70s Odyssey — Steven A. Babiuch

College dropout Scott Sanderson sits
in a rural Florida holding cell in the
middle of the night, awaiting a hearing
the following morning. He has
ventured from Los Angeles on his
motorcycle to see the country before
the responsibilities of post-college
adulthood ensnare him. Ignoring his
draft status, the journey takes him first
to Mardi Gras, then to Florida, where
his arrest abruptly curtails the
adventure.

Faced with jail time, he reluctantly
follows the judge's orders and joins the
navy. This solidifies his notion that life
is stacked against him and that the
generation in charge has rigged the
world in its favor. In his new situation,
Scott deals with many of the issues he
left behind: his relationship with his
father and his family, his commitment
to the service, his relationships with
women, and his future.


Interwoven with historic events of the
era and the lives of his peers both at
home and in the navy, A Walk-on Part
in the War follows Scott on his quest to
find direction in a fractured and confused
America. A modern-day odyssey, this
novel captures the waning optimism and
the rapid pace of individual and social
change that overtook mid-1970s
America.