Early morning formations and close-order drill, Saturday afternoon football games and the pure hell of being a plebe. Spit-shined shoes and polished brass, flying flags and fluttering guidons. Sunday parades, full-dress balls, and the never-ending grind of studies. The joy of cars and girls and dreams of youth. And above all, the exciting, confusing, always uncertain adventure of growing up and coming of age.

Sixteen heartwarming, often humorous stories that cover four decades of ritual, custom, and tradition at Morgan Park Military Academy, seen through the eyes of one legendary instructor, Capt. Francis S. Gray. For more than forty years, his common sense and stubborn insistence on academic excellence helped generations of cadets struggle through awkward adolescence and into young manhood.