No Good War
An Infantry Memoir about the Vietnam War
By John Herrick
An honest look at the life of a soldier drafted at the height of the Vietnam War, No Good War takes the reader from basic training through the stress and chaos of battle and living in the field, and then back home after serving to try to come to terms with the emotional fallout of having been a soldier, from nightmares and an outsized startle response to hearing loss and and dealing with the Veterans Affairs for support.
With a new system for the US military draft now in development, this book is as relevant in 2026 as it was in 1966.
“I make no apologies about my bitterness towards rear echelon personnel, officers, and military leadership. The infantry – the grunts – did the work and fought the war.”
John Herrick
In this timely book, John Herrick illuminates his experience being drafted into the Vietnam War. From March 1967 to March 1968, he lived in Vietnam as part of the First Cavalry (A/2/8), walking point and ambush patrols, engaging in search and destroy missions, being routinely dropped into enemy fire, and fighting in the disastrous Battle of LZ Pat, during which 43 more soldiers of his already depleted Company were wounded or killed.
“You can get the soldier out of the war,
but you can’t get the war out of the veteran.”John Herrick