Tears of the Dragon is the story of a small group of GIs and civilians in Vietnam who worked to find a better life for the people of that country. Scattered military Civil Affairs teams, together with usually young U.S. State Department officers, spent their days in remote villages of South Vietnam to improve conditions of life and to begin the process of democratic election of public officials. The war characterized in Tears of the Dragon has received virtually no notice. It was a war of construction of schools and rural medical clinics, digging of wells, and introduction of new agricultural techniques. It was carried out by idealistic GIs and American civilians who often spoke the Vietnamese language and who worked every day with the Vietnamese. people.