A STEP BACK IN TIME.... This Story was written by Shannon, an 18 year old High School senior, who is my next door neighbor.  It was an assignment given to her by her history teacher, to interview a Vietnam Veteran. Thought I would add it to my site.  Hope you enjoy reading it. I'm glad that our young people are getting the opportunity to learn more about the sacrifices that all veterans endured to maintain freedom. She did this interview the summer of 2002   As America’s involvement in the war in Vietnam sank deeper and deeper, there were many opposing views on how the nation should respond.  Some people felt that it was not our war and that we should have nothing to do with a civil war half way around the globe. While others thought if we did not get in to stop it, it would only lead to more trouble in the end.  Rich was only nineteen years old when he enlisted into the United States Army.  He knew there was a war going on and being the young, "patriotic kid" that he said he was, he felt he needed to do his part.  Even though many others were dodging the new use of the drafting services, Rich felt it was his duty to join.  So on September 26, 1968, Rich enlisted into the U.S. Army for four years.  By this time, America was heavily involved with the war in Vietnam and there was always the thought on Rich’s mind that he may have to go to war. Almost thirty-five years later, Rich was able to sit down and talk to me of his experiences of the Vietnam War.  Ten years ago, this may not have happened as many veterans have had trouble resurrecting the unspeakable past, but I have now had the chance to catch a glimpse of how he felt while he was stationed in Vietnam. Rich was born in 1949, right here in Illinois.  His family stayed in town to raise him here as well.  He grew up with both his father and his mother, as well as two sisters. At only 19, Rich chose to leave his family to help his country. Enlisting on September 26, 1968, Rich was the first member of his family to join the service.  He says some of his influence to join came from the accomplishments of World War II. "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were appreciated by their nation" George Washington Rich had several military occupational positions while serving the country.  He was an Eleventh Bravo Infantry Soldier, a 64 Charlie (heavy-duty truck driver), as well as spending 2 years at Fort Ord, California, as a OOF40 drill instructor and one year in Vietnam. He had first heard about the war in the early sixties, and knew how many Americans had opposing views.  One of the biggest concerns of that time was an idea called the "Domino Theory". Many American officials felt that if the rest of Vietnam fell to Communism, many of the smaller surrounding areas could also be taken over, spreading Communism farther and wider than before like a domino reaction.  Since North Vietnam was already Communist, we were trying to prevent the spread of Communism from the north to the south. To train for his eventual mission to Vietnam, Rich attended boot camp at Ft. Campbell in Kentucky.  He then was sent to advanced infantry training in Ft. Lewis in Washington.  When upon return home for a leave, he told his parents he was to be sent to Vietnam.  Like any other loving and protective parents, they were worried about their son but knew how strong his efforts would be.  They told him to be careful and that they would see him when he returns.  Out of 214 members in his infantry training, 212 soldiers were to be sent to Vietnam, the other two were being sent to Korea.  They had all pretty much expected to be sent to help out the American efforts already in force in Vietnam. After 9 weeks of AIT (advanced infantry training), Rich and his company flew out for their destination on March 3, 1969. Arriving in Vietnam, Rich was sent along with the Alpha company 3rd battalion-60th infantry-9th infantry division as part of the unit Mekong Delta Mobile Riverine Force, to the way south end of the Mekong delta.   His division and he worked areas of Canto, My Tho, and the village of Ben Tre.  Their base camp was located in Dong Tam, South Vietnam.  They were sent to a larger ship the USS Colleton, anchored in the middle of the river near the village My Tho. His first real war experience happened just a few days later of his arrival to the USS Colleton.  When I asked if he was scared, he said it was only when you realized that your life was truly on the line as live ammunition was being fired at you, did you really realize how scared you were.  This first war experience was also probably his worst.  He explained that he could feel his heart pounding in his chest as the chopper was flying them to their destination.  Others in the chopper just looked at him like he was a joke.  They descended to the rice paddy with machine gun fire in every direction and all different colored rockets.  He compared this with the "twilight’s last gleaming" in the Star-Spangled Banner. Rich could hear the explosions and gunfire around him, as well as someone yelling for the medic.  He then ran over to the medic who was frantically running from one wounded man to the next, with brown medical tubing hanging from his mouth and tears streaming down his face.  After awhile, the rest of his company patched up the wounded the best that they could and he was never to really know which ones were to live to which had died. Besides the first awful event Rich had experienced, a common day of the water mobile and air mobile force consisted of the trip from the Navy run USS Colleton (where the unit had gotten permission to live) to shore.  It was there where two sets of five helicopters transported the soldiers by "eagle flights" to the jungle where they operated searches and sweeps.  Some days, Rich said, you could find nothing for hours, while some other days you may be pinned to the ground for hours under gunfire.  In one occasion, of the 36-man platoon, there were already 20 casualties within the first hour.  They ate meal combat individuals, also known as C rations, yummy vacuum-packed pouches and cans including a main meal of possible beans and franks, along with crackers, and a pecan cake roll.  Four cigarettes in package accompanied the meal. Rich explained what types of weapons the American troops used over there.  Rich himself used weapons such as the M16 rifle, M60 machine gun, M79 grenade launcher, and the M72 laws rocket, a light anti-tank weapon able to pierce armor (also seen in the second Dirty Harry movie ).  He explained to me that the U.S. had special attack techniques.  These Special Operations included night ambushes, using the tactic of blocking forces, and the use of the jungle defoliant chemical Agent Orange.  All of these techniques went up against the techniques of the Vietnamese.  He told me of the NVA regulars (the North Vietnamese regular army, with uniforms and all), as well as the Viet Cong (who could be men that were farmers by day yet soldiers by night, very hard to identify).  Zappers were also men, whom within a matter of possibly six or so hours, moved so extremely slowly and quietly just to advance about a half a blocks distance to a position without being noticed.  America, facing these forces, also had the help of the Korean R.O.K.s, soldiers from Korea, and the South Vietnamese army. As expected with so much fighting, Rich said there wasn’t really much free time.  But for every three days spent in the wet fields, they were pulled out for a day to recuperate.  They were located in an area with many rice paddies causing many dangers, but if any free time was found, it was mainly spent hanging out with the other soldiers, reading books or magazines, or writing home to family members saying how much they were all missed.  Being 14,000 miles away from home, Rich said he had never felt so homesick as he did at times in Vietnam.  Letters were the only way he could keep connected with his family. Even though there was so much going on with the fighting in South Vietnam, the soldiers were still able to keep up with events happening in America.  Although our troops in Afghanistan have had the chance to watch this years Super Bowl and attend overseas concerts and such, the soldiers of Nam were only able to hear of, yet not participate in, what was happening at home.  The year Rich was in Vietnam was also the same year Jim Morrison died, Woodstock was held, and Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon.  Rich even went on to say that they did get along very well with some of the Vietnamese, whom he feels are good people who just got caught up in a bad war.  He realizes that 58,000 American lives were lost in the Vietnam War, but it cannot be compared to the 3 million Vietnamese lost in their own country. When I asked Rich if he had made any friendships overseas, he said yes but unfortunately you didn’t get the chance to make very many because no one was ever really around very long.  With as many people as Rich had fought with, he said he could only remember around 15 names of people he knew.  Although in the over 30 years he has been home, he has since three times contacted two men with whom he fought.  Unfortunately yet very obviously, many friends were lost due to tragedy at war. There was not just one specific day that Rich ever felt really afraid for his life, yet it was every day that he was afraid.  His main influence to keep going was just simply to get home and be back with his family.  The thing he had missed the most while overseas was being able to spend holidays with family, and the freedom to do what you wanted, even if it were just to drive down the street to the gas station for a snack.  He could not wait to return to the conveniences of home, such as hot water and electricity, or the taste of real food like hamburgers and the sight of round-eyed girls.  Electric shavers and hot showers seemed like such a luxury! Exactly one year of the day he left for Vietnam, he returned home on March 3, 1970.  This was known as "Tour 365" because you returned home on the same day as you had left one year, or 365 days earlier.  Rich returned to his family, along with some war protestors at the airport, safely.  When he heard that the war was over, to him it was kind of like, "Hey, it’s over!" although it was a good feeling. DROS:  March 3, 1970    When the world became better He did manage to bring home with him an authentic Vietnamese rifle he picked up after chasing the Viet Cong who had dropped it. Unlike the security of today’s airports have been forced to come to, Rich was able to bring this Mossin Nagant rifle home with him since it was not an automatic loading weapon.  He keeps it in a locked case but still has it in pretty good condition.  He offered it to me for use to bring to school for show and tell but I told him would be jumped before I even reached the steps of the school! Even after his return home over thirty years ago, Rich still is affected by the war today.  He was never injured during the war itself, like being shot or such, but has been seriously injured in other ways.  In 1988, Rich was one of the first cases ever to be diagnosed with the cancer from the handling of and exposure to the warfare chemical Agent Orange.  This was recognized to be service connected in May of 1991.  His soft tissue sarcoma cancer caused him surgery to remove two tumors the size of softballs, encapsulated in a sac containing five and a half liters of fluid, from his lower intestine.  As with many other veterans of the Vietnam War, Rich has been one hundred percent service connected with Severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  He was diagnosed with this in 1978.  He has had many flashbacks, diagnosing him with chronic flashback phenomena, fairly common to veterans of this war.  Although some soldiers returned physically wounded, he returned mentally wounded.  He dealt with many problems in 1993 and still visits the Veterans hospital on a regular basis to help him deal with what he had faced and experienced during the war.  Rich told me that 58,000 American soldiers were killed over in Vietnam, and because of the effects of the war, that many and more Vietnam veterans have committed suicide…a reaction called delayed stress since many veterans did not receive medical treatment until an on-average 8 to 10 years later. Overall about the war itself, Rich feels that it was necessary that we helped in the actions to help prevent the spread of Communism.  He felt for himself that it was necessary to do his part and help defend his country.  He told me it is not something you would ever want to have to do again, but you would if you had to help out in a situation like it was, you didn’t want to miss the experience of feeling you had really helped someone in some way.  He felt America’s actions saved the lives of many more people he thought would have been killed if we had not gotten involved.  He does not regret what he had to do as his duty to his country and he feels the efforts of all the veterans was worth it. He has since been invited on a trip to return yet refused, avoiding anything that happened unfortunately before.  Losses like that are not something you would like to experience again, for anything. Even today, Rich has stayed positively involved in the war efforts.  Because of his exposure to Agent Orange, Rich is on disability to work, but has yet been sent by the government to return to school, where he has since received a degree in Computer Sciences.  He speaks on occasion to classes at the High School on America’s involvement, as well as his own involvement in the war. When I sat down to interview Rich, I didn’t realize how much I was really in for.  I have learned an unbelievable amount of information on this war, and of all the efforts Americans put into the safety of our own country.  With the issue of the Vietnam War being so controversial to some, I feel that the actions and lives of the men lost are to be honored with all respect.  To look at Rich now, standing 6’8" and weighing about 270 lbs, I cant believe that this tough looking, Harley riding, yet caring man was once a young and inexperienced nineteen year old having to face all this.  That is just a matter of months older than myself, and to think of putting some of my cousins or closest male friends through what Rich had to deal with is unreal!  After this interview, I respect Rich in all aspects of what he has done, not only for himself or his "duty" to the country, but for what he has done for me as an American.  And the same goes to all other veterans, of any war, who have given their lives for their nation. I thank Rich for all I have learned. This Story was written by Shannon, an 18 year old High School senior, who is my next door neighbor.  It was an assignment given to her by her history teacher, to interview a Vietnam Veteran. Thought I would add it to my site.  Hope you enjoy reading it. I'm glad that our young people are getting the opportunity to learn more about the sacrifices that all veterans endured to maintain freedom. She did this interview the summer of 2002