Jerry Baer

Circumstances Alter Cases Jerry Baer

In 1955, two young men sit on an overnight train in Baltimore, Maryland, heading to Ft. Jackson in South Carolina to begin Army basic training. Both were drafted; one is a 22-year-old black man and the other, an 18-year-old white boy. They have never met before. Ellis Cook, at 22, 6'3", 240 pounds of solid muscle, has been a laborer who assumed that was his future. He was happy to get out of Baltimore. Benny Fox, 5'6", 137 pounds, realizing the only way to a college education was through the GI Bill, had volunteered to be drafted right after he graduated from high school. He too was happy to be leaving Baltimore. Unknown to them as they travel to the south, basic training changes the course of their lives and cements their lifelong friendship.