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Rating: 
Summary: I'll never smile again
Review: An incredibly detailed, truthful, moving, and painful personal account of war as experienced by a front line soldier in the Vietnam War.
This book was obviously written from extensive notes taken by the author when he had the time in the field to write down his feelings and experiences. For reasons of his own, the book was not published until after his death in April 1994.
This book will have immense meaning to anyone who has experienced the hell of war, as well as, anyone who wishes to understand the sacrifices our fighting men and women in battle must endure. President Bush and his top advisors should read this book before they send our treasured youth to fight another war. If those in positions of highest political authority, after reading Sgt. Peterson's war memoir, still decide we must go to war then they will understand we must fight the war to the finish with the best military tactics and strategies available not hindered and defined by vague political considerations.
I recommend this book to all. I sincerely thank Mr. and Mrs. Peterson for their service to our country.
Rating:
Summary: why was this not a bestseller?
Review: one of the best memoirs i have read on the vietnam war.
maybe even one of the best books i have ever read.
peterson's daily account of his vietnam experience is meticulously described,providing a view of his metamorphosis from an average midwestern farm boy to combat-weary grunt that is brilliant. reads more like a novel in the sense that the character in the first few chapters could not even fathom the feelings,thoughts, and experiences of the character at the end.
also provides compelling illustrations of the frustrations and inner conflicts felt by an average american required to follow orders which he is morally opposed to and intuitively wary of.
the book grows darker by the page and the reader is drawn into his sense of impending doom and constant fear.
i highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the vietnam war.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read
Review: Robert Peterson takes you with him as he recounts his experiences as a GI in Vietnam. Peterson paints a vivid picture of what life was really like in the Nam. The hell of marching day after day, fighting the elements while searching for the elusive VC. Never knowing where you'll be heading to next. Forming bonds stronger than blood and then watching those men die, and then getting up to do it all over again the next day. It was a real eye opener for me, fighting in Vietnam was nothing like I expected, not like the movies at all. It all seemed so pointless. The more you read the darker it gets. This is one of the best books I've ever read. I took it everywhere I went and I had trouble putting it down. Robert Peterson was an amazing writer and Rites of Passage was an amazing book.
Rating: 
Summary: DISTURBING, POWERFUL, TRAGIC
Review: SSgt. Robert Peterson returned from Vietnam a paraplegic, having had his spinal cord severed by friendly fire from Spooky, a gunship "spewing out thousands of rounds per minute" from mini-Gatling guns. The detail of description and dialogue here is amazing, and it would have been helpful if, in the prologue or forward, mention had been made of how Peterson could have recalled it all so vividly. The author mentions a diary he kept, but it is uncertain whether he wrote in it every day. This reader experienced a sort of approach/avoidance conflict whenever time permitted his picking the book up again and continuing it. A foreboding doom threads in and out of the narrative, although it does not dominate it. The overall mood is rather dark, and you know that the more you read, the deeper you head into a tunnel with no light at the end. Peterson seems to have lacked a solid hold on a personal philosophy that might have lessened the depression and pessimism that weighed so heavily upon him as he trudged through the jungle and on the trails with the 25th Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 14th Regiment. He believes in God but is unsure about God's nature, purpose, or design in this world turned-upside-down by war. Such a tentative hold on a world view, I believe, makes Peterson extra-vulnerable to the demons that can haunt an infantryman from witnessing the horrific tragedies that are bound to occur in wartime. Although I did not serve in a line company like Peterson, it was faith in God and a solid understanding of my Christian beliefs that got me through my tour in Vietnam. Such a foundation, whether it be religion or ideology, can radically alter the way you interpret events and how they impact you. Nevertheless, Peterson does find a kind of tragic salvation in booze and in erecting a protective shield around his psyche that detaches him from the carnage and apparent meaningless of the war. He rightly criticizes the Army's tactics in executing a conventional war against an elusive and wily guerilla army, whose sanctuaries across the border remain insanely off-limits. Peterson repeatedly longs to fight the enemy on his own terms, and believes that America was just spinning its wheels in Nam by not taking the war to the sanctuaries and to North Vietnamese soil. He is, therefore, understandably demoralized by an appalling lack of vision among the military and civilian leadership. There is plenty of action here, and when there isn't, the narrative still holds your interest as you get to know and love soldiers like Nuckols, Alabama, Vickers, Underhill, and many others. You care for these men and find yourself pulling for them. Thus, you learn about the camaraderie that bonds the men and motivates them to fight. Peterson rose quickly through the ranks to become a staff sergeant. He was a good soldier, and his platoon sergeant and company CO's recognized him as such. More than anything, Peterson was a patriot who, when his country called (he was drafted), did his duty with honor, fortitude, and valor. It is a valuable book for those interested in delving into the life of the lowly grunt in Vietnam. Perhaps more fascinating to me is the psychological study of men at war that Peterson's raw narrative provides.
Rating:
Summary: an unforgettable account of Vietnam
Review: This book was a tragic, candid look at the lives of everyday soldiers caught up in a hellish conflict. This reality is so unimaginable for my generation today, yet these men confronted it with honor and dignity. The author's affection and admiration for his companions makes his memoir both powerful and moving.
Rating:
Summary: an unforgettable account of Vietnam
Review: This book was a tragic, candid look at the lives of everyday soldiers caught up in a hellish conflict. This reality is so unimaginable for my generation today, yet these men confronted it with honor and dignity. The author's affection and admiration for his companions makes his memoir both powerful and moving.
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