Rating: 
Summary: Each chapter could be a book by itself
Review: After I read this book, I wrote a letter to the author recommending he expand his last chapter into another book. As it turns out, Mr Rasimus and I were at the same base at the same time, although I don't think we ever met. At the time, before the Air Force got ECM pods, F-105 losses were staggering. Sometimes several per day were shot down. At one point the odds of surviving a single mission to the Hanoi area were at best 1 in 4. That means that for every flight of four planes that went into the area, AT LEAST one would be shot down. Sometimes all four were lost, but when you took off in your flight of four, you KNEW that one of you wasn't coming back. Mr. Rasimus does an outstanding job of describing the political climate and the matter of fact way that he and his fellow pilots went about doing a dangerous job with unsuitable equipment under ridiculous rules of engagement (e.g., you must never attack a SAM site unless it attacks you first). Every morning my alarm clock was the boom of the afterburners of the morning strike taking off. We flew against the same targets every day at the same time from the same direction. I don't know where our biggest enemies were: in North Vietnam, in Moscow, or in the Washington DC mission planning groups. Anway, this is a great book and a welcome addition to the collection of knowledge of how wars should and should not be fought. I know that writing accurate history is difficult, tedious and fraught with emotion, but I sincerely hope the author accepts my suggestion to add to our sum of knowledge from his first-hand perspective.
Rating:
Summary: When Thunder Rolled: An F-105 Pilot Over North Vietnam
Review: An excellent look at the mix of emotions that a young Fighter Pilot feels on his way to, during and after combat. The need to prove yourself, the desire not to screw up and also the fear. Mr. Rasimus writes in such a way that the reader feels like he's in the cockpit with him, not just hearing about the missions after they've happened. You feel his aprehension on the cramped Pan-Am ride to SE Asia. You feel the butterflies in your stomach as he prepares for his first mission. As someone who flew in combat as a young LT (though not nearly as dangerous a theater as North Vietnem), I can certainly say that Mr. Rasimus helps you to see all of the highs and lows that a young LT on his first combat tour feels. In all, a superbly written book. Highly recommended!!
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put This Down.
Review: As a person lucky enough to have benefited from the wisdom of Ed Rasimus over the years I was very anxious to get "more of the story" about Raz and his Vietnam experience. Ed's frank assessment of everything from the political absurdities to the failures of the personnel system reinforce the frustrations our military endured during the Vietnam conflict. On the other hand, particularly for those that have flown and fought, the storytelling is riveting. I laughed, grimaced, and at times found myself misty-eyed with his recounts. This is an awesome book written by a true and tested warrior. I've recommended it to all of my friends.
Rating: 
Summary: Corrosive candor
Review: Few who have not done it can imagine what it is like to fight, kill and risk death, most particularly in military aviation, a small, close-knit and relatively closed community. But Ed Rasimus takes us there, all the way inside, and reveals his weaknesses and strengths with corrosive candor. Admission of fear is supposedly unmanly, but he has the courage to admit it and becomes more in our eyes, not less, by seeing it through anyway. How many others were there with similar emotions? How many, or how few, came back to talk about it with such humility?
"Raz" asked his wife to read this book for comprehension and made sure that she 'got it' into the core. That alone should stand as a mark of humility and excellence, for both of them. The naked facts are that F-105 drivers in 'Nam faced horrific odds, and fought a war--without flinching--hampered by political decisions and ignorance. The content takes you by the throat, including revealing passages about the rest of the gang, from brave to, um, somewhat less than brave, and from charismatic to, um, a little more stupid that capable. If you doubt the horror, go to the Appendix and read the F-105 Combat Theater Losses, April-November 1966. Over 100 brilliant and brave pilots lost, just in that six-month period. Read it and weep.
War is hell. The war fought by the Thuds and recounted by Rasimus was one of the most difficult ever. North Vietnamese IADS (Integrated Air Defense Systems), provided by the Soviets, faced Air Force and Navy attacks conducted under some of the most restrictive and dangerous ROE (Rules of Engagement) strictures imaginable, imposed by armchair politicians and generals safely ensconced in Washington. If anything, Rasimus doesn't press these issues, which were in fact much more difficult and dangerous than he describes.
This book should be required reading, because it captures the era before PGMs (Precision Guided Munitions), when flying skill and courage made the difference between mission success and failure, and when pilots had no choice but to go down into the heart of darkness to do the job properly.
Rating:
Summary: The Real Thing
Review: From first page to last, the roar of the Thunderchief's engine will shove you back in your seat and keep you there. Want to know what it was like to be a fighter pilot in a fighter squadron? Wonder how you'd handle the raw danger and what would keep you going back into the jaws of terror? Ed Rasimus takes you there in When Thunder Rolled. From his tentative moments of learning to fly the biggest fighter ever, to the courage of going downtown amid the black bursts of antiaircraft fire and orange plumes of 500 pound bombs, you'll be right beside him. But, in the end, this is more than a techno war memoir. It's far more personal. You'll meet the guys who flew with him, get to see what drove them to fight the good fight, against often terrible odds and with little hope of praise from the very country that sent them off to war. It just doesn't get more real, more true than this between the pages of a book. When Thunder Rolled is the classic readers will turn to fifty years from now when they want to know what it was like to fight the air war in Vietnam. Best book I've ever read on flying and fighting, courage and comraderie.
Rating:
Summary: Exellent;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Review: I am a pilot and this is real.
How unusual.
Rating:
Summary: The Real Thing
Review: I believe that I have read every F-105 related book ever printed. Of all the books I have read I always liked 'Thud Ridge' by Jack Broughton best...until now. While I still put Broughton right at the top of my list, and certainly at the top of my list of heroes along with Leo Thorsness, Ed Rasimus has written the definitive F-105 pilot memoir with 'When Thunder Rolled'. I loved it from beginning to end; I only wish it had been longer. His recollections rang true as a scared young man who flew fighters in the beginning to a mature veteran fighter pilot at the end. I understood him better than I have other authors as I can totally understand the overwhelming fears of going to war compounded by being the new guy recently qualified a very intimidating machine flying into the worst conditions ever known. Ed, if you read this: thanks for my new favorite Thud book and thanks for your service under the most trying conditions I can imagine. For everyone else: go buy this book NOW! You will not be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: Each chapter could be a book by itself
Review: In "When Thunder Rolled", the reader does not receive the image of Ed Rasimus as a macho-type fighter pilot. In fact, he actually was thinking of quitting after only one mission. Despite these thoughts, his fear, and idiotic rules of engagement, he completed 100 missions over North Vietnam in an F-105 Thunderchief against some of the most formidable defenses our pilots have flown against. In 1972, he returned for a second tour flying the F-4 Phantom. Truly a remarkable individual.
Rating:
Summary: The definition of courage
Review: In "When Thunder Rolled", the reader does not receive the image of Ed Rasimus as a macho-type fighter pilot. In fact, he actually was thinking of quitting after only one mission. Despite these thoughts, his fear, and idiotic rules of engagement, he completed 100 missions over North Vietnam in an F-105 Thunderchief against some of the most formidable defenses our pilots have flown against. In 1972, he returned for a second tour flying the F-4 Phantom. Truly a remarkable individual.
Rating:
Summary: THE authoritative book on driving the lead sled in 'Nam
Review: Jack Broughton's "Thud Ridge" and Basel's "Pak Six" used to be THE books on flying the Thud in 'Nam, but they'll have to move over for "When Thunder Rolled". Rasimus, our truly 'reluctant' hero, paints a vivid and comprehensive account of 100 missions over North Vietnam and Laos, bringing the humid Southeast Asian air to life with SAMS, high caliber AAA and the occasional MiG appearance. I really give the author a LOT of credit for putting to paper his fear and apprehension, making it a theme for the first third of the book. It took a lot of guts to admit he was not only scared, but actually "looking for a way out" of flying combat, even well into his first experiences.
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