Review Detail

When fifteen-year-old Noah's pacifist parents die of the smallpox in Texas, he is sent to Camp Hale, Colorado to stay with his uncle James Shelley whom he has never met. James is part of a rough-and-tumble mountain skiing unit, and the commanding officer is less than pleased that Noah is there, so he and his uncle agree that he will train with the unit. Noah has never skied, and believes that war and fighting are bad, but he bonds with his uncle and the other men, and learns about what is going on in Germany under Hitler. Training is rough, and it comes out that Noah is not quite old enough to train, but when he turns 16, he enlists with his uncle's permission. When the unit (the Tenth Mountain unit, or the Phantoms) ships out to Italy, Noah gets a taste of fighting and war, but realizes that helping people who have been suffering under the German occupation is worth it, even when he loses several friends.