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Rating: 
Summary: Vietnam: a view from a reluctant draftee
Review: A few reviews here criticize Ketwig for being anti-war before, during, and after. But isn't that the point of the book? Ketwig makes it pretty clear early on. No, he wasn't a heroic grunt fighting in the rice paddies and central highlands... he was just a kid who loved muscle cars, motor racing, getting laid, and playing drums. Not college material, he was faced with enlisting and learning a trade, or waiting for the draft and surely being sent to Vietnam. As it was, he enlisted but wound up in Vietnam anyway, working on the motorpool as a welder and mechanic. But he was exposed to things most of us would consider traumatic. It left him scarred, and being a civilian myself, I do not feel entitled to judge him. If you want to read the story of a true hero, read "Brennan's War" by Matthew Brennan. If you want a firsthand account of a scared teenager who wanted to be anything BUT a soldier, read this book. The fact is, not everyone is cut out to be a soldier. Ketwig was not, and never claims otherwise. Being the mother of a soldier myself, my heart lies with the volunteer soldier, one willing to lay his or her life on the line to protect our freedom. But on the other hand, I sympathize with those draftees of the Vietnam era. It was a rough time to be young. And Ketwig's story is gritty and heartfelt. And tells one side of the story quite well.
Rating: 
Summary: A story of War and the way back to a somewhat normal life
Review: I first read a few pages from this book in an anthology by Paul Fussel (The bloody game). Fussel set out to disprove the aphorism "Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier" (Dr. Johnsson) and "And a hard rain fell" really supports Fussels thesis. John Ketwigs story describes how a young man, initially intent on refusing service in Vietnam, gradually becomes sucked into something far greater than he ever imagined, the war. This is a heartbreaking and yet hope-inspiring novel, Ketwig vividly describes that most crushing insight, the fact that in war, you are considered expendable. The accounts of how he and his comrades tried to maintain sanity and a belief in that the outside world really existed had me close to tears at times. Ketwig also describes the long and difficult way back to a normal civilian life after leaving the army. This book is required reading for anyone trying to understand a painful part of the history of the latter half of this century!
Rating: 
Summary: More like "Woe is Me"
Review: Save your money! The author was a draftee motor pool mechanic that accidentally got caught in a little action. Most of the book is a lot of whining about the Army and America. The author spent most of his time in Vietnam drinking, smoking dope, and pining over some Thai prostitute. When he got home, he burned his uniform. This book may interest Michael Moron (Moore) as the subject of his next documentary.
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