Carrots in the Dark

This is a work of historical fiction. The narrator, Corporal Walt Dobrinski, is invented, but the unit he served in was not. The 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team, the "Rakkasans," was a real formation, the U.S. Army's principal parachute infantry force in the Korean War. This story, based on the author’s research and personal information from Billy Glenn Stepp (who served there) imagines one soldier's week inside what was and still is categorized as an unofficial police action rather than an actual war. To the men of the 187th, the only difference was the designation.

*In memory of the men of the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team who jumped at Sukchon-Sunchon and Munsan-ni, and of all who did not come home from either drop zone.* 4003 words