Not since the early Tom Clancy books, Red Storm Rising, The Hunt For Red October, and Cardinal In The Kremlin, have I read a book that I just couldn't put down. That changed when my friend Bob loaned me his copy of The Greatest Beer Run Ever, by Chick Donohue and JT Molloy. He said, 'You need to read this'.
It is a simple, true story of a fellow who decides to have a beer with some friends. It's complicated by the fact that his friends are serving in Viet Nam.
For Boomers, Viet Nam profoundly changed each of us. I lost good friends there. A lot more came home physically and mentally wounded. Most struggled alone with their physical and emotional scars, that they were seldom able to heal. Many were exposed to chemicals that lead then through pretty awful times before they died. My grade school and lifelong buddy Huck who was a spotter, always laughed that he probably killed more elephants than ole Karamojo, all the while they cut more and more of his face off to slow the cancers. The stories of my friends go on and on.
I say all this to explain why I never watch films or read stories from that time. For me it is not entertainment.
But...a few weeks ago, I read Bob's copy of The Greatest Beer Run Ever. Bob was drafted into military intelligence, of all things. I was up all night! I could not put it down. This book gave me the first positive feelings about that time that I can ever remember.
We sometimes forget or fail to recognize the lengths friends will go to for each other.

A good read that is coming out as a movie that I will go to and when I do, maybe I can feel a little better about my old buds and what they gave up for the rest of us. Thanks Buck, Red, Butchie, Huck, Randy, Jimmie, Steve and all you other guys.
Bfly

I'll have to look for that; on Amazon perhaps? Thanks for the recommendation + your service as well.

I don't deserve thanks, my friends do and all that went do. It is one of the greatest regrets of my life. I drew a 354 in the lottery. Took my physical, but didn't get called. I should have volunteered, but didn't.
Bfly