A Goodreads user asked Susan VanHecke:

What's your most favorite line in Rock 'N' Roll Soldier?

Susan VanHecke After Dean, the main character, returns home from Vietnam, a friend, also just back from the war, stops by. When a truck backfires outside, Dean's friend dives for cover under the living room sofa. As the friend stands up, totally embarrassed, Dean tells, "I told him about how when Mom asked me to help her in the yard that morning, I'd checked the flower beds for booby traps."

To me, that one line captures the indelible impact of the war on these young men. There would never be a normal, everyday life for them anymore—it would always be colored by the things they saw and did in Vietnam.

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