Most of us are used to thinking of warfare in modern terms- with tanks, guns, computerized weapons systems, and grown adult combatants. However, there are still underage soldiers in the world, fighting in various conflicts. It is a cruel and disgusting thing to use children as soldiers, teaching them to kill and then expecting them to have no issues doing so or any issues mentally or emotionally afterwards. This account is something that everyone should read, to raise awareness for things that go on in the world outside of the one that we live in. I wish this book would have included a little more background about the war, but I realize it was a personal account of someone who was a child soldier. Personal accounts are so important to the historical record, and this one certainly fits into that category. I simply cannot imagine living through these things.