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The few. The proud. The Marines. Do you have what it takes…not just to join them, but to talk others into joining? Can you occupy an isolated outpost—a strip mall, a small office, a lonely building on a busy street—and work the phones and set appointments and bring people in? Can you dress up in your sharpest uniform and venture out into the community, to colleges and high schools and even shopping malls, and talk to skeptical young adults about how the Marine Corps can make their dreams come true? And what happens when they hang up on you, or slam doors in your face? When they do it day in and day out? How will you deal with the disappointment when some are medically disqualified, and others conveniently forgot to tell you about, say, their felony conviction for crack possession? Or when young women and girls are eager to set appointments…not for the purposes you’d like, but because they want to hook up with a man in uniform? When some of them are stalkers, and others are still in their mid-teens? Can you do this six days a week, and keep at it long into the night, all while your wife is back at home, wondering what you’re up to? Can you keep at it week after week, month after month, coping with all manner of bureaucratic absurdity, working without any vacations so you can hit your recruitment quotas, flogging yourself to the point where your marriage and your sanity are in jeopardy?
And did we mention there’s a war going on?
That's right, can you do all of the above when three young men from the community—men your predecessors recruited!—have already died in combat? When you’ve seen their pictures and you know their names? When you don’t know if your recruits will meet a similar fate, but you do know that many of their parents are pissed that you’re even talking to them, and willing to take desperate measures to keep their precious young children from heading off to war?
Sergeant Nathan Weidman had to answer all these questions, and more. As a young Marine, he moved to the exotic locale of Southern Illinois in the mid-2000s, with his wife and toddler in tow. What followed was a dizzying tour of duty unlike any you’ve read about, devoid of the dangers of combat, with no risk of life (or even limb) but myriad ways for it to be permanently ruined. (To say nothing of the dozens of other lives that he had the chance to derail—or help redeem.) Hilarious, heartbreaking, nerve-racking, exhilarating, but never boring, it’s a story you’ll never forget, and it’s one you’ll race through...provided you have the courage to try. Do you have what it takes?
And did we mention there’s a war going on?
That's right, can you do all of the above when three young men from the community—men your predecessors recruited!—have already died in combat? When you’ve seen their pictures and you know their names? When you don’t know if your recruits will meet a similar fate, but you do know that many of their parents are pissed that you’re even talking to them, and willing to take desperate measures to keep their precious young children from heading off to war?
Sergeant Nathan Weidman had to answer all these questions, and more. As a young Marine, he moved to the exotic locale of Southern Illinois in the mid-2000s, with his wife and toddler in tow. What followed was a dizzying tour of duty unlike any you’ve read about, devoid of the dangers of combat, with no risk of life (or even limb) but myriad ways for it to be permanently ruined. (To say nothing of the dozens of other lives that he had the chance to derail—or help redeem.) Hilarious, heartbreaking, nerve-racking, exhilarating, but never boring, it’s a story you’ll never forget, and it’s one you’ll race through...provided you have the courage to try. Do you have what it takes?
Price: $9.99
Publisher: Tortoise Books
Imprint: Tortoise Books
Publication Date:
10 November 2026
ISBN: 9781965199329
Format: eBook
BISACs:
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Military, HUMOR / Topic / Military, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs, FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Military Families, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / Iraq War (2003-2011)
"A brisk and entertaining romp through the unexplored world of military recruiting. Part portrait of small-town America, part sex comedy, part deadly serious reflection on how our country picks the women and men who go to war, this is the most surprising memoir you'll read this year."
— Brian Castner, author of The Long Walk
“Weidman drags readers into the high-pressure world of military recruiting, where every decision carries weight and where ambition, desire, and discipline collide. This bold memoir follows a US Marine recruiter during wartime as he seeks out the next generation to carry on the legacy—constantly finding himself at the crossroads of ambition, seduction, and responsibility. As he guides candidates through one of the most life changing decisions, he tests the limits of power, trust, and morality. The book is a must-read for anyone who has ever been recruited, and everyone who is crazy enough to be a recruiter.”
— Major Scott A. Huesing USMC (Ret), bestselling author of Echo in Ramadi
“Reading like a mix of true-life Catch-22 and Bushido philosophy, a U.S. Marine's knife-edged vignettes reveal the moral hazards of a duty-tour as a recruiter—selling young people a warrior ethos while in a landlocked state of sex, drugs, office politics, and micro-management. The secret? Look for the right kind of crazy, both in yourself and peers, and in those few and proud others who will follow. An essential read—place Weidman’s book next to other modern Marine war stories and memoirs: Phil Klay’s Redeployment, Brian O’Hare’s Surrender, and Anthony Swofford’s Jarhead. Highly recommended!”
— Randy “Sherpa” Brown, co-editor of Things We Carry Still: Poems & Micro-Stories about Military Gear and Why We Write: Craft Essays on Writing War
“The United States Marine Corps sells transformation—turning the most average of young Americans into demigods. Is it a religion? A cult? Nathan Weidman’s Thirty-Six Fighting Holes tells the unlikely story of Marine recruiters—evangelists tasked with prowling the nation’s malls and high schools in search of souls willing to endure hostile drill instructors, laughable pay, and the possibility of violent death—all for the right to be called Marine. A seemingly inhuman task. Yet Thirty-Six Fighting Holes tells a deeply human story—beyond the mythology—the highs, lows and above all, the price paid to recruit those young souls. It’s a helluva story.”
— Brian O'Hare, author of Surrender
— Brian Castner, author of The Long Walk
“Weidman drags readers into the high-pressure world of military recruiting, where every decision carries weight and where ambition, desire, and discipline collide. This bold memoir follows a US Marine recruiter during wartime as he seeks out the next generation to carry on the legacy—constantly finding himself at the crossroads of ambition, seduction, and responsibility. As he guides candidates through one of the most life changing decisions, he tests the limits of power, trust, and morality. The book is a must-read for anyone who has ever been recruited, and everyone who is crazy enough to be a recruiter.”
— Major Scott A. Huesing USMC (Ret), bestselling author of Echo in Ramadi
“Reading like a mix of true-life Catch-22 and Bushido philosophy, a U.S. Marine's knife-edged vignettes reveal the moral hazards of a duty-tour as a recruiter—selling young people a warrior ethos while in a landlocked state of sex, drugs, office politics, and micro-management. The secret? Look for the right kind of crazy, both in yourself and peers, and in those few and proud others who will follow. An essential read—place Weidman’s book next to other modern Marine war stories and memoirs: Phil Klay’s Redeployment, Brian O’Hare’s Surrender, and Anthony Swofford’s Jarhead. Highly recommended!”
— Randy “Sherpa” Brown, co-editor of Things We Carry Still: Poems & Micro-Stories about Military Gear and Why We Write: Craft Essays on Writing War
“The United States Marine Corps sells transformation—turning the most average of young Americans into demigods. Is it a religion? A cult? Nathan Weidman’s Thirty-Six Fighting Holes tells the unlikely story of Marine recruiters—evangelists tasked with prowling the nation’s malls and high schools in search of souls willing to endure hostile drill instructors, laughable pay, and the possibility of violent death—all for the right to be called Marine. A seemingly inhuman task. Yet Thirty-Six Fighting Holes tells a deeply human story—beyond the mythology—the highs, lows and above all, the price paid to recruit those young souls. It’s a helluva story.”
— Brian O'Hare, author of Surrender
Nathan Weidman is a debut memoirist who served twenty years in the United States Marine Corps—three of which were as a recruiter during the war in Iraq. After retiring, Weidman earned his MFA in writing and pursued his longtime dream of becoming an author. His goal: to show that stories revolving around the day-to-day military can be just as fascinating as those involving combat. Weidman currently resides in Noblesville, Indiana with his wife and two sons, where he teaches English and Composition at a local community college.