Vietnam Archives - Page 14 of 21

THE TWELFTH DAY, 30 Days has September

The first spotting round of the fire mission came screaming in. I didn’t care if I could see or hear it in the rain, or the fact that clustered down under the overhanging cliff behind the berm, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to properly observe anything anyway. I...

THE ELEVENTH NIGHT, 30 Days Has September

by James Strauss | 165 comments

There was no hooch for Captain Casey. The remnants of his tent lay scattered about the sand, a testament to the power of the Chicom 82mm mortar rounds that had impacted, taking Billings’ life with them. Only Billings’ bloody poncho survived, along with some...

THE ELEVENTH DAY THIRD PART, 30 Days has September

by James Strauss | 214 comments

“There’s a lesson to be learned from this and I’ve learned it oh so well,” was coming out of any number of small radio speakers when we marched across the perimeter and into the temporary encampment Captain Casey referred to as his command post. I walked in the lead...

THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT

by James Strauss | 2 comments

So what can we do? Oh, there are the protests, and there is plenty of justified bitter vitriol to write and pass on. But, really. What do we do, those of us who are taken aback, feeling left out and worried right down to our cores that the country’s one...

THE TENTH NIGHT SECOND PART, 30 Days Has September

by James Strauss | 204 comments

I wasn’t quite right and I knew it. Even with the rags pulled from my ears I could not hear much of anything. The noise had been too great. Counting wasn’t working either because this night was not about getting through, it was about living through. Living through, I...