Field of Ashes

'Green didn’t want to talk about the war.'This worked well, because no one wanted to hear about it.'When he did feel the need to talk about something, there was no one to talk to.'Everyone had heard too many lurid tales of atrocities and violence on the news to be interested in the truth.'FIELDS OF ASHES, the third book of the Violent Season Trilogy, tells the story of the lives of soldiers and their loved ones after the Vietnam war. Young American soldiers find themselves thrown back into their former lives and expected to deal with the trauma of their combat experiences in an often unwelcoming and hostile society. The novel, written by an infantry and ranger veteran of the Vietnam War brings its readers not only onto the battlefield, but also into the minds of the young men, both American and Vietnamese, who fought there, and the effect the battle has on their loved ones at home.RAY GLEASON is a retired army infantry officer, medieval scholar, teacher, and author of both fiction and non-fiction works.Ray served as an infantryman for nineteen months in Vietnam with A Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 'Cacti Blue,' and as a LRRP team leader with K Company, 75th Infantry Regiment (Ranger). During his army career, Ray served in a number of command and staff assignments, collecting the Combat Infantry Badge, Bronze Star for Valor, Air Medal, Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Gold Palm, and a helmet-full of Army Commendations, and federal and state awards.Upon retirement from the army, Ray enrolled at Northwestern University and earned a Master’s Degree and a PhD, specializing in medieval literature and semiotics. Ray teaches on the Chicago campus of Northwestern as an Adjunct Lecturer. Go Wildcats!Ray has authored several fiction and non-fiction works, including the Gaius Marius Chronicle series, the Gaius Marius Mystery series, and the non-fiction A Grunt Speaks: A Devil’s Dictionary of Vietnam Infantry Terms.Ray and his wife, Jan Peyser, an award-winning silver smith / jeweler, share their time between Indiana and Chicago.