June, 1982. The Pentagon has a problem.

Nearly one in four new military recruits can’t read at a functional level. Orders are misinterpreted. Equipment logs are signed with an X. Mistakes aren’t embarrassing—they’re dangerous.

Desperate for a solution, a hardened brigadier general does the unthinkable: he reaches outside the military establishment and into the most unexpected corner of American culture.

What follows is a tense, darkly funny confrontation between rigid command structure and bright plastic chairs… between national security and children’s television… between a man who wins wars and a group of people who teach the alphabet.

Inspired by real events, Operation Puppet Master explores a bizarre and almost-forgotten moment when two very different American institutions collided—and neither side was prepared for the other.

Sharp, absurd, and rooted in truth, this story asks a quiet question beneath the humor: What happens when the people who shape young minds refuse to shape soldiers?