To Fall In or Fall Out? That is the question, the philosophical question Nate Flowers must grapple with in Chapter 2. Whether it is better to just fall in and follow orders, try to be just one of the troops, or to relive bittersweet memories of civilian life. As he grows accustomed to barracks life, Nate finds an unexpected kind of camaraderie founded on the protest music of Bob Dylan and Barry McGuire.

  It’s 1965 and Nathaniel Hawthorne Flowers, family in disarray, flunked out of college, has enlisted in the U.S. Air Force to avoid being drafted into the Army. As he stands in the cold outside the Chicago Loop Greyhound Bus Terminal, he’s in doubt about that decision: Why does the destination sign on the bus say, “Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here”? Why is his mother so eager to get him into the service? Does he have any clue what kind of wild blue yonder he’s about to fly into?