PLEASE NOTE:  In January 2007, I originally reviewed Part/Volume 2 of “The Hard Ride: Vietnam Gun Trucks”.  That book was entirely printed in black ink and was released in November 2003.  However, in April 2011, the book was updated, improved and re-released by Rhame House Publishing; The most dramatic difference being that the book was printed in color when possible.  Therefore, there are now two (2) editions of Part/Volume 2: The “1^st Edition” being the book from 2003 with the yellow cover and printed in black/white ink and the “2^nd Edition”, being the book from 2011, with the blue cover and printed in color ink. 

Lastly, although very similar in content, there are definite differences between the two editions.  Therefore, I decided to update my review in light of the release of the 2^nd Edition.  In addition, you should know that the majority of the review below covers both editions of Part 2.  However, if there are notable differences between the two editions, I will clearly note that fact.

Patrick Keenan January 2012

Book Content

Normally, when I decide to do a review of a reference or model kit, it is a review sample or a new product I’d like to work on or read.  This review came about much differently in that the book came to my attention by accident and is a few years old.  However, within 1 minute of glancing over both volumes of “the Hard Ride”, I decided that they just had to be reviewed in order to get the word out to other WFV enthusiasts and modelers that these books are out there and available.  To me, both parts/volumes of “The Hard Ride” are books that are unique and unparalleled.

There are two parts/volumes of the “Hard Ride”, the second part being this book.  I’ve chosen to review them separately but making the write ups available at the same time.  In my opinion, they are so closely linked that they must be reviewed together.  In fact, the author, James Lyles, told me that the book was originally supposed to be published as one volume, but the first publisher unilaterally published them separately.  I have to agree with Mr. Lyles, the two volumes should have been published as one.

Anyway, the most important aspect of both parts/volumes of the “Hard Ride” that you should be aware of is that they were authored by a veteran Gun Truck Crew member.  In fact, Mr. Lyles was the NCOIC (non-commissioned officer in charge) of a number of gun trucks in his Vietnam era military career.  Being an ex-gun truck crew member gave him unparalleled access to information and photos not normally available to most authors.  Not only did he provide a large number of photos to this book, but as an ex-gun trucker, he was able to persuade other ex crew members to provide information and photos too; No small task.  Being “one of their own” he was able to access a massive treasure trove of material and photos from the other ex-gun truck crews because they knew he would do them proud.  In fact, there are literally many dozens of contributors to his books, not just a few.

Mr. Lyles does not fail his brethren as it is obvious that “The Hard Ride” is a labor of love to him.  By the way the books are written, one can tell he wants you to know about the vehicles, but most importantly he wants you to know about the gun truck crews themselves and their dedicated service while performing very difficult and dangerous missions.

Accuracy of Information

As is the case with Part/Volume 1, the flow of the text in Volume 2 is usually fine and is logical in most instances.  The author writes effectively and succinctly and is able to get his point across easily.  The major weakness of both volumes 1 and 2 again (in my opinion) is due to the fact that the first publisher unilaterally split the book into two volumes.  Volume 1 doesn’t suffer too much, but Volume 2 is more adversely affected, at times seeming incomplete or unfinished, especially if read alone.  You really need both volumes to get the full benefit of this resource set. 

Photograph and/or Illustration Quality and Selection

Again, the biggest strength of this book is the photo selection.  Like Part/Volume 1, the 2^nd Edition of Volume 2 contains a similarly large 300 photos presented, 250 of which are in color, whereas the 1^st Edition of Volume 2 has no color photographs as it was printed in black ink.  Even more startling is that a majority of the photos have never been published before, as they come directly from Mr. Lyles or he has obtained permission to use them from ex-gun truck crewmen.   Reading the book is almost like looking over someone’s personal photo album, except with a much more diverse subject matter due the sheer massive number of contributors.  The only complaint I have about the photos is that many are smaller than I’d like to see, and the detail can’t be discerned due to that size.  However, I’ll “forgive” Mr. Lyles in his decision to present as many photos as possible in his books.

Quality of Medium

The 2^nd Edition of Volume 2 is a soft cover book similar in size and quality to other the 8 ½ “x 11” modeling reference books. The soft cover media is of a decent quality which facilitates fairly frequent use/reading of the book.  The pages are of good quality glossy paper as well.  However, after some normal browsing, the book's binder failed and a few pages came out. Although disappointing, this fact would not have prevented me from buying the book due to the qualtiy of the subject matter.