I was a college senior in the Fall of 1969 ready to graduate at the end of the semester when the Draft Lottery was started and, guess what, I won with #21. I joined the Army National Guard on December 15, 1969 and reported to Fort Bragg in North Carolina on March 13, 1970 for Basic Training. It was an experience that I will never forget. When I read "Sunshine Soldiers" in 1971, I said to myself, "This guy was really there with me!" I wish I had the book today, but I lent it out to a "friend" who never returned it (sound familiar?). My son is now 18 and I wish I had a copy for him to read just so that he knows what to expect if he ever wants to join the military.

I read the Sunshine Soldiers while in Army Basic Training at Fort Ord, CA in 1972. It opened my eyes to what was ahead, and helped me keep my sense of humor. I loaned my copy to another soldier, and never saw it again. I've been looking since.

Leaving for Navy Basic Training in September of 1973 I needed some reading material. The cover art of this book caught my eye and once I started reading I couldn't put it down. A M.A.S.H. for my generation or even better a survival guide to Basic Training. I reread the book many times until I lost it to a friend who was on his way to Army Basic Training for the Reserves just as Mr. Tauber was. I hope it helped him as it helped me. A great read and example of just what the military was like during the Vietnam Era from an author who like many of us was a peacenik trying to do the right thing.

I've read this book 3 times, the first time being about 20 years ago. The characters are accurate representations of the various factions that dominated the era. For someone who was just old enough to (16-17) to witness the period, without having as much at stake as those slightly older, this book reveals how much was sacrificed by the Vietnam generation. I keep hoping that someday Tauber will write a sequel which will let us know what happened to Willie, Joanna and the rest after 1970.

I first read this book my freshman year of high school for honors History class. I must say, at the age of 14 I found the book overwhelming. Tauber gives what I now know are very accurate depictions of the social environment of the 60's/70's. The characters come to life in such a way that one can identify with them and understand the emotions of the time. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the social atmosphere of the 60s/70s. For anyone who wasn't grown or even born at this time, reading this book will give you such a great insight into what was going on and why it was such a turbulent time in our history.

At the time I first read this book I was living in Africa, fairly disinteresteed in the boomer generation, and this was the book that turned it around. In many ways it was my first introduction to the decade, the way it was experienced here in the US, and also to the modern American psyche. Although it is a brilliant comment on the politics and mores of the time, the driving force throughout is the accurate, human, living characters that inhabit and inspire the novel. On top of the sometimes bleak, sometimes ecstatic narative thread, is the most poignant, wonderful love afair. Honest, not a word of schmaltz. I am perhaps biased by over 10 yrs of fond absence from this fantastic book, and I must confess that I'm more interested in finding a back copy than giving a constructive, objective review.