It is January of 1986, and the Cold War has gotten warmer.
The shadow of Vietnam still looms after a decade.
There is a deep divide between combat arms and support soldiers.
Doctrine is uncertain and soldier confidence in it is low.
Civilian and political confidence in the US military is still low.
Tensions between the Soviet Union and NATO are at an all-time high.
There is no doubt that the Soviet Union and NATO will eventually come to blows. It is not 'if' it is 'when'.
The US Department of Defense only cares about numbers to offset the Red Steamroller's overwhelming numbers.
Strategic locations must be manned at all costs.
The Fulda Gap is the most important strategic location in Western Germany.
2/19th Special Weapons has a critical task in holding the Fulda Gap.
To hold the Fulda Gap, 2/19th will use nuclear and chemical weaponry.
In a Total War situation, there is no such thing as a civilian target, everyone must die.
The barracks that 2/19th lives in overlooks the Gap from the frozen height of a mountain, less then 500 vertical feet below a glacier.
My name is Anthony Stillwater.
My friends call me Ant, a nickname I have long forgotten the origin of.
I am 19 years old.
I am a Corporal in the United States Army.
I am a squad leader and site leader for 2/19th Special Weapons Group.
I am in complete charge of a 125 bunker ammunition site known as FSTS-317, AKA Atlas.
I handle, supervise, and store thousands of chemical rounds and hundreds of nuclear rounds at Atlas.
If so ordered, I will enable the use of those rounds on all targets within my area of operations. Civilian and military alike.
Because of that fact, my name is on a KGB hit list and I am an Army sponsored terrorist target.
I have been shot twice.
I have been stabbed five times.
I have been blown up and badly injured once by a bomb planted in a night club.
I was critically injured with minor brain damage less than a month ago.
Despite my injuries I have returned to Alfenwehr and 2/19th to perform my duties.
My life depends on equipment made by the lowest bidder.
Nobody cares about any of that.
Nobody cares about me or any other enlisted man or NCO of 2/19th.
I am a dead man walking.
I live in Hell.
I will probably die here.
...nobody will care.