Tears of the Dragon

For a long time I didn't understand why.

With two-thirds of the troops in non-combat jobs during my 1969-70 Vietnam War, how did the images of crazed, baby-killing, officer-fragging, drug-addicted GIs become so deeply entrenched in the American psyche? Either things were unbelievably different in South Vietnam when I was there or today's images of the Vietnam War have drifted far from their realities

Perhaps one reason for this disconnect is that there were many different wars going on in Vietnam. Then and now the war I experienced had a lot more to do with what was going on inside our heads than with jungle combat or booby-trapped rice fields. It was an interior war, darkened by stress and fear of what might happen, by the strangeness of the people and the culture around us, and by confusion over events at home. It was a war of very young men, many of whom had never left their home state, let alone traveled to a strange foreign country where sing-songy words gave no hint whether they were coming from the mouths of friends or enemies.

In my Vietnam War, I lived in remote parts of the country, drove almost every day on rutted dirt roads, and spent most days working with Vietnamese people. I spoke a little of the local language and made a few Vietnamese friends. Like most other GIs in Vietnam, I did not hack through the jungle looking for the enemy, but I sometimes walked, drove, or flew to the places where those fighting troops lived. And, I lived with them for short periods and listened with them to the sounds of the night.

Let me try, in my own fashion, to tell the story of my Vietnam War.