LAST TRAIN RUNNIN'

In RD Foster’s novel, Last Train Runnin’, the main character, US Navy Corpsman Everett Blaylock, sums up his opinion of the Vietnam War in the words of a song:

Oh the rich kids went to college,
And the poor boys went to war.
They were soaking up the knowledge
Of beer and sex and cars.
We were shootin’ folks and dying,
They didn’t even know what for.
The rich kids went to college,
And the poor boys went to war.

Foster experienced his share of combat in Vietnam with the Marine Corps. In this novel of the 1960s, Foster tells his war story through the eyes of Everett Blalock, a Navy Corpsman with a serious case of fear. The young man was a renowned folk singer in Austin, Texas. After the wealthy parents of his sweetheart arranged for his induction into the Army through the draft, he enlisted in the Navy to avoid becoming an infantryman. That plan did not exactly work.
The story begins with Everett in bloody combat southwest of Da Nang. The sole survivor from an ambushed eight-man squad, he receives a Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
Thereafter, he watches many men die while he survives helicopter assaults, search and destroy missions, costly firefights and rocket and mortar attacks. Homesick over his shattered relationship with his girlfriend, he writes songs—which are in the novel—about the good parts of life that he and the men around him are missing. Between battles, he teams up with a harmonica-playing sergeant and they create and perform music.
Alternating chapters present the life of David Duncan Westerfield, an antiwar University of Texas rich kid in his sixth year of a college deferment. As a newspaper trainee, he receives an assignment to learn what became of Everett Blalock, who dropped out of sight after rock and roll took center stage from folk music. An out-of-control boozer and druggie, David staggers through a self-defeating series of life-changing events regarding protest, love, wealth and war.
His assignment takes him to Vietnam. The results of his quest and meeting with Everett have repercussions that extend decades beyond the end of the Vietnam War.
Along with writing books, RD Foster has been a singer, songwriter and musician since leaving the Corps.