Rites of Passage: Odyssey of a Grunt

by Robert W. Peterson

Book Overview

A raw, powerful account of an infantryman's life during wartime complete with all the horrors and the heroism . . . Robert Peterson arrived in Vietnam in the fall of 1966, a young American ready to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345446941
• ISBN13: 9780345446947
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 564 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Excellent and compelling read

Robert Peterson tells of his tour as a Combat Infantryman in Vietnam using his notes and diary entries as a source. During his 11 months in-country he goes from being a green troop to an assistant squad leader to a squad leader, going from E-1 to E-6 in that time. His writing style is very compelling and effective. He is able to capture just about everything a line infantryman would deal with throughout a tour in Vietnam. As I read his accounts of pulling OP duty, resting at the base camp, or hanging out with friends during down time, there is always this feeling of anticipation and fear of the next battle. The battle details are excellent as well, and really highlight the suddenness, fear, danger, and feeling of mortality. It seems to just grind along with this impending sense of doom... SSG Peterson sprinkles in a bit of anti-war activism, political unrest, and criticism of the conduct of the Vietnam War as well. Some of this may have gelled later for him but it adds a nice complement to the story. His epilogue to the book is sharp and represents the very essence of what young potential soldiers should consider as they go off to serve to their country. His account is patriotic but also tempered by confusion and hurt over the conduct of the war. This is the kind of book that really represents service in Vietnam... without the romanticism that some authors choose to employ.

an unforgettable account of Vietnam

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.

I'll never smile again

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.

why was this not a bestseller?

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.

DISTURBING, POWERFUL, TRAGIC

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 hi