Evan Davis is a writer, or at least he would be if he could finish his first book. Because the book has languished unfinished, Davis finds himself presented with an ultimatum by his agent: Take a three-month assignment as a press embed in Afghanistan or risk losing his book contract. Since the job does have a salary attached he takes it, but before departing, a friend hands Davis a hastily gathered good luck charm: three paperclips. Over the months in country, he gets to know the men of a small team of US soldiers that he is deployed with and rediscovers his muse writing about their experiences in Southwest Asia for a truth hungry American public. Davis also finds a use for each of his talismans, as they save his life and those of the men he comes to regard as his team; the soldiers who promised each other that they would all make it home in one piece.
