These short stories are eyewitness account from the frontlines of the War of Independence, the period of time where Indonesians declared war against the Dutch forces (the latter seek to regain control of the archipelago post World War II's defeat of the Japanese). The stories are more about the personal struggles of the individuals involved in the battlefields, not the heroic elements of war. The stories also reflect the author's personal experience having to join his schoolmates in the trenches in their early teens without his father's approval, being reminded of his little sister at home, and the painful memories of losing his friends in the line of fire.