19 Miles

19 Miles: Cambodia 1970 and Other Stories is a reflective Vietnam War memoir that focuses not on politics or spectacle, but on lived experience. Centered on the pivotal 1970 Cambodia Incursion, the book traces the transformation of a young infantry officer facing responsibility, uncertainty, and the quiet weight of command. John S. Tomko, Jr. served in combat in Vietnam and Cambodia in 1970. He later spent nearly thirty years as an Army officer in the Active Army, Army National Guard, and U.S. Army Reserve, and three decades as a civilian in the Department of Defense working in policy, mobilization, and national security planning. This breadth of experience informs the book, but its focus remains grounded in what it felt like to be young, responsible for others, and unsure what the next hour would bring. Rather than explain the Vietnam War or debate its politics, 19 Miles captures moments as they were experienced at the time: distance, terrain, fatigue, fear, routine, and the burden of decisions that carried real consequences. The stories resist dramatization and avoid hero narratives. Instead, they examine how memory works, how time changes perspective, and how responsibility remains long after the event itself has passed. Written for veterans, military families, younger generations, and readers seeking an honest account of combat without clichés, this memoir offers emotional accuracy over spectacle. It honors those who served, especially those who did not return, while preserving the personal side of war that often disappears behind ideology or nostalgia. 19 Miles is not about persuading or revisiting old arguments. It is about remembering carefully, truthfully, and without adornment.