The night was coming on fast, what with the west wall of the valley rising up only a few yards to our backs. The question was not whether we would make a rapid advance down the valley to attack an expected and hopefully unprotected enemy rear, but how and when we would do it. Arriving on site in near or full dark would be a disaster for any such force as ours, no matter how powerful or total the element of surprise might be. The earlier question that had to be answered was where to set in to wait for dawn’s early light without giving away our intent to move down the valley any more than we already had. The NVA complex, above and below ground along the hill across the river, had to be extensive for its troops to keep coming back time after time no matter how hard they were hit with powerful supporting fires.
In the morning, our force and Kilo Company would have the Skyraiders back, and the Ontos could lay down direct fire into the side of the hill. What communications were like, between the forces we’d already faced and those likely set in near where Kilo had to come down from the mountain, would no doubt remain unknown.
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Thankyou LT. for anther chapter. Don
You are most welcome Don. I continue to rebuild the valley in my mind and using the
props and letters that made it back home. The ‘history’ I’ve found so far, in other books and
reference, is filled with holes and strange macho mentality. So I persevere along as best I can.
Semper fi,
Jim
James and other Vietnams vets,
I’ve read every installment of this book and have to admit that I’m humbled, and saddened, by your experiences, compared to mine.
I was in the artillery in the 101st Airborne during the first Gulf War. We went in, kicked butt, and went home to a massive homecoming parade. It just seems so unfair to what you all experienced.
Granted, some of us have suffered from PTSD and a lot of us, myself included, live with the effects of Gulf War Syndrome but it all seems so minor compared to what you all went through.
God bless you all.
Bravo, 1/320 FA
Thanks Bill, the active duty guys out there on the line today have it the same but different.
The accountability is way up due to technological advances. What happened in the bush in Vietnam
could never happen today because it would not be done in secrecy like it was then. Thanks for piping and thanks for
the kind words and support…
Semper fi,
Jim
I was field radio op.
Lost my best friend
Tom Soliz on 9/1/67
Ha was Alpha 2. I was Alphe 2 X-ray. Never cried in field but waited til
Returned to rear then
Uncontrollable crying for
Hours
Too busy in field to cry.
Semper. Fi
Thanks for tellin it like it was
Cpl Bryant Pace
Alpha 2xray out.
Thanks Bryant, for your straight from the heart rendition of what happened to you
and your friend. Some things don’t go away and Tom will be embedded inside you until
you are no longer with us…as it apparently and painfully must be.
Thanks for writing this on here for all of us who have Toms inside of us…
Semper fi,
Jim
I needed something better. If nothing else, other than confirming just how accurate and effective artillery was to use in real field conditions and just how loosely held together a Marine combat (unit or company?) really was, I’d learned that the men liked some drama and meaning in undertaking any following of orders, especially when those orders were issued by a junior officer.
Thanks Richard for letting me know that that sequence reached you where you live.
Semper fi,
Jim
Actually, that is a correction James. Needs something after combat, i.e. unit, team or company.
Very intense chapter…..
Thanks for the edit Richard. You are right. I will get on it. Just finishing the next segment as you
wrote in. Thanks for the help and for coming on here at all…
Semper fi,
Jim
P.S. Now corrected
Hope all is well for you, mighty glad you are back James….
Thanks a lot Al. Yes, I am back and writing right now!
Semper fi,
Jim
As others have stated, glad you are back at writing !
Thanks for sharing your story.
Thanks to all who have served.
You are most welcome Glenn. Working away into this night and with your support, I know.
Thank you for that right now!
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim, I feel like i have to make a second comment here….so many readers have talked about how difficult the return home was, and still is for many…and how the wives and girlfriends did their best to cope and understand…bless them….and how so much has been left unsaid…I think that’s one of the main reasons that what you are doing here has become so important to us…the look on the face of the bike rider as he rode off with tears in his eyes…words unspoken, but words heard…. we know that there are men out there today that made that ‘walk’ with the Gunny through the floor of the A Shau..men that shook their heads in disbelief when the Gunny ordered them to ‘listen up’..telling them to ‘form up on him, in four ranks..”….and every single one of them knowing that what he was asking went against the most basic of all rules in combat. “”never bunch up”” one round will get you all….but they did…and he brought them to attention…and marched them off like the “600′ and they were angry…and tired, and hot beyond description..but they were going anyway…and at some point, the gunny hollered out loudly…”All right you raggady assed sum bitches, I want to hear you…tell these ass holes out there just who we are!”” let them hear you Marines!! and he would have led them off himself… “From the Halls of Montezuma…..”…and they did it…knowing that the steel rain would be falling on them at any second…but they did it anyway… daring charles to do anything about it…… Now…come forward almost 50 years……imagine that you are one of those guys that made that walk through the A Shau…with your brothers of India Company… at some point over the last few decades you have mentioned that “walk’ to others…but you saw the look in their eyes…and you know that no one believes you..so it’s never mentioned again…but it’s there….an amazing, unimaginable, tiny piece of that war that goes unheard of until now…They hear rumors that one of their own is telling their story… right here….
There are guys out there right now that are being quietly vindicated by what you are doing…you are telling their story right along with your own…. thanks Lt….From the Halls of Montezuma…..Semper Fi
I don’t think I could have written that paragraph better than you just did Larry.
That’s a wonderful piece of literature. A vignette of real life and emotion, going back in time
and then returning the present. The guy on his Harley outside the coffee shop. I didn’t even mean to write that
piece about what happened but the comments of people like you draw such things out of me.
Thank you for the writing you do on here, which is straight from your heart and soul…pretty neat places in this small part of the universe…
Semper fi,
Jim
I missed the guy on the harley. Where is it? I have missed everything since you went on that trip out west,for a time I thought you were on a walk about or something and I did check in but nothing new. Then all at once everything appeared on the 16th day. Is it me or was it you? Why no claymores?,we used then up on each other. Surprising anybody made it out. Carroll
Sorry Carroll, it’s all here. I don’t understand why that would happen. Nothing has been taken down from the site that I know.
The motorcycle incident was written in reply to a comment, not as an article or story.
Thanks for caring and writing on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
How can I get a copy of 30 days has Sept. The 2nd ten days?
The Second Ten Days is not out yet, as I am only on the 16th night second part right this minute.
So there are about Twenty segments left before I can put that work together and get it up on Amazon.
Semper fi, and thanks for asking…
Semper fi,
Jim
Thank you. Semper Fi Tom
You got it Tom, thanks for commenting on here and your own thanks…
Semper fi,
Jim
“I’d wanted to discuss how we might implement the plan in detail but, once again, detail discussions seemed distant from reality in an outfit that was constantly alive only at the very edge of survival. Somehow, even in that state, the Marines seemed to know what had to be done at almost every given place and time.”
When I read the above, the thought hit me that those guys that trained us apparently knew what they were doing. However, I don’t recall tactics being taught (maybe-its been a long time), and I didn’t go to ITR (maybe there?). Remember, basic was only 8 weeks then. In your opinion, was it training, experience, leadership (seemed to be missing at the platoon level with your group), luck, or all of those factors that caused them to be able to perform in any given situation?
From the beginning, I was sold on the fact that if I’m in a fight I want a Marine beside me. That and the often reported use of drugs in Vietnam was high priority in my decision making process in choosing the service I was going into after graduation (1969).
There were no real drugs that I knew about in the unit. There was morphine, the occasional Tiger Piss beer somehow smuggled in and even
an air drop of Budweiser once that didn’t really work out. I think word of mouth and life experience surviving in the field allowed the Marines in
the company to seemingly act as one so many times and in so many situations. Individuals Marines were a lot more capable and smarter than advertised to me
in officer training. They brought a ton of adaptive thinking and acting to the combat theater and every officer needs to learn from the guys and gals already there
and doing the job about the job…because there’s little reality back in training.
Semper fi,
Jim
Agree with Jim’s comment regarding “no drugs” in a line unit in the Bush.
We knew our weakest link in the Bush meant no drugs/beer …
anything that could spell trouble if one person screwed up.
Now going back to the rear, that was a different story.
One of the things about the war in Nam was the segmented loneliness of it. While there
I never got to know about the experiences of others out in the bush at the same time.
In fact, through the years I still could not learn much because nobody was writing about the
reality of it except in sanitized versions. What happened in my unit did not necessarily happen in
other units but then not all units in combat served with the same day and night intensity as our
company went through and I didn’t get to stay long enough to spend much of any time in the rear at
all…
Thanks for adding something here with that comment,
Semper fi,
Jim
Anyone comment about the “F__k You” lizards in the jungle?
You truly knew a closeness with your unit until you lost a buddy.
Then next newfer replacement you conditioned not to get close to as I felt you will die sooner vs later and it hurt to lose a friend.
So midway in the Year cycle you might start thinking there was a chance to get back to the world and you really get crazy wanting to hold up your end but wanting to go home.
War is dirty, mean, painful.
I served and made it back.
All the “hero’s” did not.
God Bless you for writing your book .
God Bless our Men and Women in Uniform 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Project transition was a terrible sort of replacement program. Your buddies died and you got new
guys to replace then and you were supposed to continue on like that was just fine. It wasn’t just fine.
Thanks for the comment and your feelings about what happened to you…and me…
Semper fi,
Jim
God has so blessed you, James Strauss with a immense purpose and amazing strength in writing your story. You are helping so many by bringing into the light the truth of the nightmare horrors of Vietnam.
You definitely married a Beautiful Soul, who undoubtedly loves you very much and has stood by your side in the goodtimes and the badtimes. Truist of commitment of love. God Blessed you nearly fifty years ago with your wife.
I love that you offer each segment free to all readers but I also realize that we as readers need to buy your books, encourage others to buy the books and leave a comment on the site we buy them from. It is enough just for you to share your deep feelings and pain through your writing of your story.
So what do you say out there world? Let’s buy more books.
God Bless you, God loves you and His purpose for you immense.
Prayers for you always
Nancy
I cannot argue with any of that Nancy. And you are too neat a person to argue with, anyway.
I was talking to a group of guys pretty sold on the bible at breakfast last week. They had a copy of
Revelations. They were surprised that I knew about Paul or the tiny island he wrote the book on
off of Turkey. In fact, I’d been there. And time at the end of Nero’s reign and what life had to be like in that
Roman first century A.D. It is always so interesting to talk about the existence of God and the meaning of
what the bible could possibly be…and how that meaning is so skewed among so many groups and individuals.
Thanks for encouraging everyone to buy the books. I put this all up for free because there are so many out there
who have nothing. Maybe a library card. They can go online and read this. I just have to count on God to
provide whatever He sees fit to provide.
Love you, and Semper fi,
Jim
Did any of those guys you talked about the bible with, ever mention what it really amounted to?
For me, the Old Testament was a wonderful expression about the relationship with our Creator and His creation. It is a compilation of interactions between God and mankind. His chosen people were met to be an example for all mankind to learn from, as the Old Testament primarily consisted of stories about the Hebrew people and the problems that they encountered in life on this planet. As God stated, there was nothing new under the sun as His people faced every aspect of life and it was recorded in the Old Testament. Not only that, but it described creation itself, for all who took the time to read it. More importantly, it established the precursor which was to come, that would finally bring peace to mankind.
Then came the New Testament written about God’s only begotten Son, who brought hope to all of mankind that walked the earth. His sacrifice on the cross, opened the Gates to the Kingdom for all of mankind who would believe of the purpose for that sacrifice. It was a blessing of mercy that no other man who has walked this earth could possibly give and it was free to all who would accept it!
Plenty of food for thought in your comment J. Thank you. It is unfortunate that
so many today attempt to live the historical stuff of the Old Testament instead of undertaking the
body of work expressed in the New.
Semper fi,
Jim
For me it has been 51 years when I left there. I am still a loner but am surviving in this crazy world. I just can’t allow myself to get close to anyone. A lonely life. Attend meetings with other veterans but it is true we enjoy each other’s company but Do Not talk about our experiences. I feel the comrade connection but not after I leave.
A.L. I understand the pain of your experiences and also your lonliness. Not having others around to understand is very difficult
and also that part where you know a lot more about reality than they do but can never convince them that you do. American’s all think
they know what’s going on in the world when, in real truth, they have almost no clue at all. As far as being culturally and socially informative, the America media is a deliberately evil abject failure. Keeping everyone out of the data loop keeps decisions out of their hands. That is America today.
You are living and seeing it and it’s frustrating as hell, and lonely too…
Semper fi,
Jim
Perfectly said
Thank you Jack. I am not sure what your refer to as ‘perfectly said,’ but what the hell, any time I’ve said anything perfectly
I’ll take that compliment! Thanks for being on here to keep commenting and keeping me going.
Semper fi,
Jim
You have to admit ,Trump likes Marines and others with military experience.
Yes, Roger, Trump loves real warriors and the military in general. A lot of people love war movies too.
Trump did not love any of it enough to go when he was able.
Semper fi,
Jim
I was not in Vietnam but o serve after in the eighties my brother was a navy seal over there In 70&71 it was Vietnam vets that’s trained me when I enlisted in the Army so I thank all Vietnam veterans who served over there you are some of the greatest soldiers in the world
The guys coming home, those who made it, had a lot to impart that wasn’t in any training manuals and still isn’t. The war fighting
skills necessary to survive in real combat are never going to be taught by those who don’t have to go simply because they don’t believe anyone
would go it they knew. All cowards believe other men are all cowards too, deep down.
Semper fi,
Jim
There was an huge college enrollment and Canada’s population grew considerably when we were walking targets.Sure it took guts to go to Nam . But I think he is making up for it now .Sure he has secret service but he has a lot of left wing scumbags that would try to take him out .He is 70 something and had it made .Why would he give that up to get in a 50 50 war? Some say it is ego but I think its guts. I don’t know how we got that pussy before him. Semper fi
It is always best on differential sites not prepared or researched to do political commentary…
to avoid the area.
Sometimes I make comments that lean into toward that direction and I am working to avoid that.
The present is ever with us, founded on the events and our reactions to the past and how we
form up from the muck of a past, if it is combat related, is impossible to predict
but always available for critical analysis and opinion.
It’s been a long time since a real veteran has been the country’s leader.
I hope that time will come to an end during my own lifetime but I doubt it.
Many men and some women who have not been in actual combat seems to salivate while waiting to go to war,
and that does seem to be a prevalent condition in our own culture as well as others in the world.
Usually, combat veterans do not want to go to war and they don’t want to see anyone else go to war either.
I am among those who feel that way. It’s been a long time since this nation has had to go to war
but it’s been to war many times since it needed to go to one.
That’s just the way it is and the mindset of those who have not ever been in combat
brings that about all the time.
Semper fi, and thanks for your unfurnished opinion.
Jim
Amen Lt. Amen.. Nuff said.
Thanks Wes, nice laconic compliment which I accept with a smile…
Semper fi,
Jim
“The best guys, above all, to talk to are the guys who were there too.
And then we don’t talk about it.
We hang together with knowing looks when other people talk.
We hint here and there but never go deep into the A Shau or any of what really happened.
The guys come and talk to me about the book but we don’t really talk about what’s in the book.
Just that they appreciate reading about stuff that was like what happened to them too.
I ran into a black guy outside the coffee shop, on a big black Harley.
He sat there with my book and said “Man, oh Man…” shaking his head, like he knew me but we’d never met.
He pushed the bike backwards until he had clearance. Only when he turned to drive the bike away without
saying another word, did I see the tears in his eyes.
He stuck my book inside his leather jacket and was gone, just like that.
I watched him go…wondering what was in his mind but not really wondering at all. He was one of us and I understood and understand
in this writing about it. Man oh man…” So powerful, so powerful.
Thanks Sherm. Trying to describe what it’s like out here and not just what went on back then.
Thanks for appreciating.
Semper fi,
Jim
Good to see you back on post! In two places, I think you mean “stationery”.
Always appreciate the sharp eyes of our readers, Floyd
Thank you and corrected.
Semper fi,
Jim
This is a bad message. I was having a terrible day, and it shows. You can delete it if you want. In fact you probably should. Sorry.
This is the place for ‘terrible messages,’ as you put it, not that your’s was so bad. The guys and gals
on here are probably among the most understanding in the world about the after effects of trauma.
Semper fi,
Jim
Keep writing on here…
Another gripping, edge of your seat installment. Thank You for sharing and your service. To all those that serve and served and especially those that made the ultimate sacrifice…Thank You.
Thanks Al, I am hard at it again and should have the next segment up by the weekend if life will let me.
Semper fi,
Jim
Thankfully you have reached deeply again to be able to continue this impelling story. I am ignorant of the ways of the publishers of the previous book installment, but if it is money, price it where you need to and guys like me will pay what it takes to hold the next volume. I have a young man just returned from dispatching a number of the enemy, I want more of your help in being the right listener. God bless you Jim. Poppa J
Guess I have screwed the system requirements again. Previous attempt to post had two thoughts. You do a good thing continuing, and price your work wherever it needs to be. Guys like me will pay what it takes. Poppa Joe
Thanks Poppa, and I much appreciate your support and candor in communications. You are one of those
rare jewels strewn across an alluvial field of mostly coal and broken pottery shards….
Thanks for being here and in my life…
Semper fi,
Jim
God has blessed me, indeed, Poppa, just to be here and writing at all.
I am in full control of my physical being and my mind has not turned to complete mush
yet (unless you ask my wife). Thanks for everything you write and do for me…
Semper fi,
Jim
A word picture in two words “alluvial fields”. The grit from that dang river can probably still be harvested from under your finger nails and may be the source of the debris you’ve found along the your way back. Warm regards to the lady who has loved you for a long time. Poppa
Thanks Poppa. The alluvial fields in that jungle place. Those in the upcountry regions of western Africa and even further down south. Those of New Mexico, that percolate the pottery shards instead
of the African diamonds. And then there was our own corner of earth and the valley that owned us….thanks, as ever, for what you write here…
Semper fi,
Jim
Your last response has filled in some information voids which had only been hinted earlier. Thank you for sharing so much about yourself. Poppa
You are most welcome Poppa. The questions on here are easy to get lost in answering.
I’m never planning or managing what I write here which might be problematic from time to time.
But the men and women who write on here deserve as much of the truth as I can give them.
Semper fi, and thank you, as usual…
Jim
A long time ago I read the unedited journal of Lewis and Clark. To me, it was the personal “boots on the ground” account of real explorers and their adventures. Complete with misspelled words and not so good grammar, and I was sharing it. I have the same feelings when I read your account in Vietnam. With the added knowledge that I was there when you were, but North of your AO, around Vandegrift Combat Base. And, I had it so much easier than you. It cuts deep when you (we Marines) loose another Brother to the beast of war.
It’s rather strange that you would mention Lewis and Clark since I am a direct descendant of Clark!
Losing men on the battlefield was sharply cutting and deeply penetrating, maybe because of the fact that
there was no time for anything, including grieving…and then even their bodies, their very existence is gone,
erased like it was never there and another human stepping in, like in one of those old soap operas,
to take his place….but not.
And then later, through the years….
Semper fi,
Jim
William Clark would be proud of Lt. “Jr”, as I am!
Thanks Randall, the history of the expedition, the actual notes,
have a lot of fear in them, not only of the elements
but the unpredictable and violent Indian tribes of the time.
Thanks for that comment…
Semper fi,
Jim
“You’re the first chance that this unit has had at making it out of here alive” As if you didn’t have enough on your shoulders LT. Semper Fidelis Sir.
Actually, hearing the Gunny say that helped me to survive…because it gave me hope instead of only dark foreboding.
It was the first time the Gunny mentioned that any of us might live. Thanks for writing about that on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
I attended the funeral two days ago being asked to hold the doors for the crowd.The marine who died had a habit of wandering away from home the wife never knowing where he went. He was a airborn with a box of large medals on displaywith pictures of his family at their graduation so he wasnt a young man. The last time he left he took his 38 with him and was found a couple of days later. As i watched the throng of marines old and young i couldnt help wondering what they have seen or been through. I also wonder if his wife or kids were ever opened up too. I also wonder every time i csee a injured service man or woman WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING THERE? GOD bless you and your book
I can understand the ‘wandering away’ thing completely. Just met with a wonderful guy who was wandering the United States,
still looking for something…anything…in his quest to go back, go forward, escape or simply succumb….
kind of lost, but not.
A wonderful man who stopped here and I hope I helped by becoming his friend.
He helped me by becoming my friend. Too few of us left and too many.
I have lived in 14 places since coming home and been to 122 countries. But I’ve never wandered away…have it?
Semper fi,
Jim
I can only imagine how hard this must be for you to write. Perhaps it’s a bit liberating. This is an important story that needed to be told, and I think from the comments, that it is helping a lot of others. Was in the Army through the 80’s, always wondered how I would’ve reacted in a situation like this. You’ve got big, brass balls sir. Semper Fi.
Kimball
Hell, Kimball, I was running for my life and mostly on empty!
Thanks for the encouragement and support your words here give to me though.
Semper fi,
Jim
Nowhere, did the gooks watch more closely than in that valley…and it’s pretty clear that the Gunny wasn’t careful enough with his cigarette smoking..the spotters spend all day just looking for such mistakes…and it cost you Stevens….
“getting used to the fact that I was a dead man living, while waiting to die”…….nothing like it…nothing will EVER compare for the rest of your life..and it cannot be explained, or described…”no rationality to my own survival”…..there is no more fighting for God, Country, Mom, or Apple Pie….now it was only for the Corps..each one of us, minute by minute, one day at a time. and sometimes…the day would just never end…Semper Fi Brother….
The Goldsmith report on my work. I love reading your stuff about my stuff, but then what author would not?
You are a writer of the first order and the way you put words together sometimes makes my heart soar like a butterfly…like this last comment.
The way it was. The way it is…and almost never being able to see the way until it’s gone by…
Semper fi,
Jim
having been in the valley during the monsoon via, your narrative, I can still smell the vegetation, feel the pressure from the rain and the strain it built trying to see and more frustration trying to hear what was moving around me.
Scary place scary time, I salute all that went into that place and feel deeply for those brave souls that that did not make it out.
Really am enjoying your chapters
Sgt. R Frye Grunt forever..
Thanks Ron, it’s a more monumental undertaking than I ever figured it would be
when Chuck made me start.
Now, I can’t stop until the third book is done…
the story played out until the final book of afterwards.
We all came home, those of us capable of reading this,
and that story of my own might reverberate like the combat sequences.
I don’t know, but I’m gonna keep on going until this string is played
out, no matter how much time it takes or money I have to spend on doing it.
They retired me so I have a few bucks.
I thought this Amazon thing would be “free”. Not so much!!!
Semper fi,
Jim
Damn, LT. Riveting.
Thanks Tony, for that simply compliment and for putting out in front of the public that comes here.
Keeps me going kind of stuff…
Semper fi,
Jim
LT/James, how long before you shared with your wife the truth that was not in those letters? Your inner man really came out is this chapter. Thank you for continuing on with your writing. It is profoundly appreciated. God Bless!
Gary. Well, in truth, my wife is only learning about it all now. I know that seems unfair and cold of me
since we’ll be married fifty years in January. It isn’t easy for her but then she’s a very understanding woman
about what some of us went through. If she wasn’t then I would not be here writing this at all.
If you come home and are alone after going through stuff like that I think you probably get dead in pretty short order.
Back here it all felt like it was not worth it without a tribe to make it all worth it.
Being a lone, silent, combat-experienced warrior coming back home
is a highly over-rated position to occupy. And I don’t think many make it that way.
Just my opinion though.
Thanks for the penetrating question…
Semper fi,
Jim
I’m certain there are more than a few of us that have never shared with our wives or families what it was like. The good times, the beauty of the place, yes, but that’s about it. I appreciate you sharing that you’ve started to open up to your wife, I’m pretty sure having someone to talk to would be helpful.
The best guys, above all, to talk to are the guys who were there too.
And then we don’t talk about it.
We hang together with knowing looks when other people talk.
We hint here and there but never go deep into the A Shau or any of what really happened.
The guys come and talk to me about the book but we don’t really talk about what’s in the book.
Just that they appreciate reading about stuff that was like what happened to them too.
I ran into a black guy outside the coffee shop, on a big black Harley.
He sat there with my book and said “Man, oh Man…” shaking his head, like he knew me but we’d never met.
He pushed the bike backwards until he had clearance. Only when he turned to drive the bike away without
saying another word, did I see the tears in his eyes.
He stuck my book inside his leather jacket and was gone, just like that.
I watched him go…wondering what was in his mind but not really wondering at all. He was one of us and I understood and understand
in this writing about it. Man oh man….
Semper fi,
Jim
My wife said. “You have a letter and a package from President Bush.”
She wasn’t lying. A short hand written letter thanking me for my “commitment and contribution.” Signed by both he and Laura.
The package was a Civilian Meritorious Service Award for my services in Iraq.
Got the windows shot out of my crane and kept unloading equipment and supplies till it was done.
Scared the shit out of me but the marine riggers didn’t quirt so how could I? I didn’t think much of it but evidently, some one else did and Bush sent me a medal.You know those little blue boxes. Have ribbons and medals and a little tiny medal just like the big one.
My wife took the little medal out of the box and said. “This is mine. I earned it.”
I had to agree.
Wives. No, they don’t know. They are left to their imagination and I would guess those imaginations are not kind.
My hat is off to your wife Brother. And to all the wives who held their horrible imaginations in check. To those wive who welcomed home a man they did not know but loved unconditionally.
Funny. My wife collected the seventy-five bucks a month I used to get from the VA,
as here due because of putting up with my rather obvious damage.
I’m better now and I don’t get that check from the VA anymore anyway!
Thanks for that great comment and telling us about the medal.
Semper fi,
Jim
Didn’t you get the Colt from Tex, not Keating?
Yes, you are correct and that’s fixed thanks to analytically bright guys like you.
Thank you very much…
Semper fi,
Jim
>What mattered was that, in spite of everything, we were going to move through a difficult jungle night and attack the enemy to save some other Marines.
Marines? I thought Kilo was Army
Kilo Company was a Marine Company. The only Army forces we had contact with were Army engineers, some Green Berets, artillery batteries and air.
Thanks for reading and thinking about that…
Semper fi,
Jim
Good read. I was 3rd Marines based from Dong ha to Phi bai. Was glad when you mentioned Ontos. That was me in 66-67. Keep up the communication..
I am hard at it Larry and thank you for the commenting on here…
Semper fi,
Jim
What communications were like, between the forces we’d already faced and those likely set in near where Kilo had to come down from the mountain were, would no doubt remain unknown.
Leave out the second “were”.
Thanks for the heads up….
Corrected
Semper fi,
Jim
Thank You for soldiering on. I am looking forward towards this Midnight Ride of Lt Strauss coming up. Your writing always keeps me on edge. I sit here thinking why. My friend, a Green Beret Lt Col, was in Iraq and Afghanistan and lost a son their also. These fricking Politicians!
Dave. It’s tough to be a person sitting back here with no life experience in the field
and having to make decisions about guys and gals in that combat.
That’s the role of most politicians.
Most of them care but they simply don’t know because the public is not informed or convinced by the media
that veterans make great leaders in the civilian world.
Just the opposite. Dole lost. Gore lost. Kerry lost. Posers like Cheney, Trump, Bush, and Clinton,
even when their real records become public, are exonerated and forgiven.
It is simply the way things are. John McCain was trashed for being a prisoner
and nobody did one damn thing in his defense. The man who trashed him is now president.
We don’t live in a rational world and that’s one of the reasons it is so hard
to come back after learning some truths about life in combat.
Semper fi,
Jim
Don’t brag on McCain, the sob was a songbird while in Hanoi Hilton and had to get a pardon from Nixon when he came home. Of course they never told the public about that either.
Congress normally listens to the generals in the Pentagon when making their decisions. So if the generals want to throw their weight around on the planet, that is how they usually get their support.
Unfortunately, we do not have many legislators who have ever served in the bush or on the beaches, so the beat goes on.
J. Met McCain personally twice. He wasn’t all there. Not then and I don’t think now.
I forgave him that because he was so damaged over there. Did not like it at all, talking about
the guys who might still be trapped over there (that was in the 80s) and would not support any efforts to get them
back. Still, he went and took some terrible hits. So that part I brag about.
Thanks for coming back and reinforcing what I was trying to communicate here.
Semper fi, and thank you so very much for lending me your big brain…
Jim
Kerr was a poser too! And worse a protester from our ranks. He made us out to be war criminals
Hard to say how men functioned in combat because it was so intense and the real combat sequences took so many
from this life. I don’t know about Kerry’s service but I know he was there and he was in combat and the real posers
are called chickenhawks for a damn good reason. They didn’t and in most cases would not go…
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks for the next chapter. I know you were working through a lot the past few weeks. I’m sure this process is way more of an emotional roller coaster for you than us readers can image. Thanks for continuing to let us share the ride. Semper Fi.
Thanks for the understanding and care Hunter. I am back in shape, I think, and back at it.
Trying to put the next segment up this week.
Semper fi,
Jim
“That the whole letter ended in the middle with an illegible signature she might or might figure out I had to risk. I hoped she wouldn’t get it.”
Might not?
[then delete]
I’m on it Jerry, and thank you. My loyal editors on here.
Can be hard to keep it all straight…
Semper fi,
Jim
“…the beautiful blued weapon Keating had given to me.” I thought Tex gave it to you, or did I miss something? I know that was a tough chapter to write. Thank you for your continued effort.
It was Tex. I got the watch from Keating. Shit. My mind was just not right there….
I am on it getting it fixed though….
Thanks a lot.
Jim
What happened to Texs and the grunts bodies
They come into play as we depart along with Steven’s body. We did seem to stack them up a bit
along the way. And retrieval was not always top priority…and then there was the aroma…
Thanks for the question and the comment on here…
Semper fi,
Jim
Just my take on this, but each chapter is written about a 3-6 hours block of actual time, we get a chapter every week or so. To us readers, time has dragged by(re: the bodies of Tex and the others on the bank) for a week, but really they have only been there for 6-8 hours so far. Glad you are back at it Lt., our suspense just fuels the intensity, we are like a pack of hungry wolves waiting to devour our next meal, we remain ravenous and even after the entire story is told we will still be waiting for more. Even though I am not a combat vet nor a Marine, I am proud of you for telling your story, it is helping you and men just like you, I have seen it in their comments and yours. SEMPER FI!
I must feed the wolves, although it would never on God’s green earth of occurred to me
to write that without your prompting.
I just got an email from an advocate at a Texas penitentiary a few minutes ago about
others potentially waiting for the work.
Here’s a copy and paste from Ron Owen at the prison:
“They did and well received. Got a note from death row raving about the book.
They are in three libraries on the unit plus death row.”
Wow! I’m popular somewhere! I sent five books for free to the prison.
I can’t imagine that I’ll sell any books that way but at
least the guys inside are being entertained…
Semper fi,
Jim
Been waiting for your next installment. I look forward to each one! Thank you for reminding me how much you get attached to those you serve with. Look forward to the next installment.
Came back with all those missing men. Popped out of the hospital and went to Camp Pendleton
and it was all supposed to fade away behind me. The men who had not been in combat at Pendleton did
not understand at all and I cannot believe I got out of the Corps
without a court martial because I acted out at some of them.
It wasn’t their fault. They could not know. And those men probably would not believe
the books I am writing.
Thanks for commenting about that on here…
Semper fi,
Jim
That tune by the animals “We got to get out of this place”, keeps running through my mind as I read another captivating chapter. Well done sir.
Great song and I remember it played there and a lot of smiles around when it came on.
Thanks for reminding me.
Semper fi,
Jim
“We got to get out of this place”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJVpihgwE18 to help remember.
Neat song in the perfect place for it!!!
Semper fi,
Jim
Damn! The wait was bittersweet. Damn o’ Damn!
I understand the lag now. Don’t know how you crafted this so well.
James, the bittersweet was that I had waited for this chapter to the point of checking at least daily for an upload. The turn of events with Stevens caught me flat footed and with empathy for your and your Marines.
I cannot imagine the gamut of emotion that recalling this wrought from your being. I admire the courage to put it in words.
Vietnam left its mark indelibly on my generation and the world. I served but did not make SE Asia. Thanks for sharing. May we never forget.
Yes, it is a roller coaster and I never really know when I’m going to hit a dip or climb up a long hill.
Funny thing to go about writing, what with the revived characters and emotions. Thanks for caring and for writing about it here.
Semper fi,
Jim
Just going from one footstep into another Tom. Thanks for liking the work and writing about it on here…
Semper fi,
Jim
Second to last paragraph “she might or might figure out ” (might not figure)
Thank Tom for the notice.
Corrected
Semper fi,
Jim
Another suspense-filled posting, sir. Thank you. I can hardly wait for the next one, for I anticipate a great battle ahead. Keep up the great work.
Should be up by tomorrow Harvel. Thanks for the vote of support and your comment on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
17th paragraph If we pull out, now The comma should be after now.
Appreciate your sharp eyes, Kevin
Corrected.
Semper fi,
Jim
Good job Lt .Hope life isn’t being too rough on you.
Semper fi
Steve
Nah, Stephen. I’m cool and writing away this night. Thanks for being forthright and coming back to write some more.
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks!
Seems like gunny said something kind of important. I hope you are feeling better. Semper fi
Yes, I am much improved Rick and working away this night to keep the ‘wolves’ at bay!
Thanks for writing on here and for the encouragement.
Semper fi,
Jim
I didn’t serve in Vietnam, my brother did was injured but lived to come home and has done well. My draft number was very high and I didn’t volunteer. I later pastored a church where most of the men served and quickly realized I was totally out of the loop of what they and my brother experienced. My brother told me he would never tell me about it because I might have to go. I am captivated by your story and your writing. Thank you for sharing what others could not–it helps me understand just a little of what my brother and friends went through. I always admired those who served but never understood just how horrific it was.
Writing the books is a lot about the horrifics you write of.
It was a very difficult time and I think I do a pretty good idea of how
rough it was for young people to be dropped into and try to survive in.
Thanks for caring about such things and supporting this effort by
your own writing on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
James, I know with your cat passing it affected you. You made it back and got through it. It was the same way when you came home from Vietnam. You made it back.
Yes, the loss of Harvey hit me a whole lot harder than I could ever describe properly
and I have no idea why that happened like that.
I didn’t know he’d become my service animal and helped me along…
whether that was a mythical construct of my own mind or whether he really
was smarter than most people would give him credit….
Thanks for mentioning that and writing about it here.
Semper fi,
Jim
If nothing else, other than confirming just how accurate and effective artillery was to use in real field conditions and just how loosely held together a Marine combat really was, I’d learned that the men liked some drama and meaning in undertaking any following of orders, especially when those orders were issued by a junior officer.
Held together a Marine combat (platoon? Soldier?). No offense but it is a square wheel. A nice smooth rolling round one in there, you just need to smooth the corners.
No offense taken Vincent. Yes, your description is accurate in how you describe the way it has to be.
Semper fi,
Jim
So, it seems that Gunny finally acknowledged that you were the best/only chance of maximizing survival for the greatest number of your Marines. I wonder, have you heard from him since Nam?
ESSAYONS.
MajSnuff
I will hand the survival thing later on, as the novel moves toward the 3oth day.
Thanks for asking though and I have heard from three Marines who served in the company.
They were all supportive but very laconic about it.
Thanks for writing on here and asking the right kind of questions…
Semper fi,
Jim
Great chapter. Stevens was always in the right place st the right time until now.
There was no Rambo stuff in the Nam that I saw. The smallest particle,
the end of the expended bullets flight,
the malfunctioning booby trap….all of that.
You step wrong to are in a wrong place you could not possibly know to be a wrong place and
that’s it. Hence the overwhelming fear and low to high level terror…
again depending on how graphic life gets there.
Thanks for writing on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
Great comments!
Thanks Chris. This site is something else indeed. I can’t think of ever reading more real stuff on the Internet
at any time, written by real people with real emotions and thoughts. What a pleasure to be here as a part of it all…
The next segment is written and will go up tomorrow morning early.
Semper fi,
Jim
You were checking the .45 and referred to Keating. I thought you got the watch from Keating and the sidearm from Tex (last name unknown).
You are correct, Carl, as were several other loyal readers.
It is corrected.
Sometimes recalling this I lose a bit.
Semper fi,
Jim
The glitches went away , but now the enemy has reared his ugly head again in this segment !! Hard to guess what’s next !! Keep after it LT !!
Yes, it’s a difficult thing to sit and consider what’s next because real life isn’t predictive in such circumstance whatsoever.
Thanks for the support and helping keep me going…
Semper fi,
Jim
Thank you for sticking with the writing this time and getting over this hump. Please take care of yourself. J K Rowling had her coffee shop too. Please do not rush this work to make some self imposed deadline for book publishing at the expense of your quality.level.
Always thought I missed something by not serving. Drew a number in the 260s for the second year of the numbered draft which only called to 125.
My mother’s brother, a 17 year old USMC Radioman recruit, landed on Okinawa on 1Apr1944 at L-Hour + 2 hours as an 18 year old. He shipped out 42 days later and took 6 years to recover to start living normally. Never talked about his experiences. He did say that Japan makes good cars so he wasn’t bitter.
Thank you for writing about your experiences. Hope to buy you a coffee.
Dave, thanks for the endorsement and the compliment of wanting more of the work. It’s neat to have guys and gals on here that
really care. It’s a different sort of work, as these compliments have proven, and it’s going to take more than normal motivation to get all
the way through. That’s were you guys have come through in a big way. Thank you.
Semper fi,
Jim
Great reading. I think there is a word missing. 3 rd paragraph second line ” getting down valley. Should it read ”getting down the valley.” Also paragraph 33 line 3 Sevens the T is missing. I can not wait for the next writing. Your gift is the gift of writing Please continue. Thanks for your service to this country and fellow Marines. Hayward
So noted and corrected.
Thanks Hayward.
Semper fi,
Jim
I have read every chapter that you have written and I cant wait til the next one.I was a Navy cook on the U.S.S. Leader MSO 490. Never Nam got sent to Viet Nam but had many friends go there. Keep up the stories my man. I read Chuck Gorman’s book about his experience there. He went to the same school as I did but was a couple years older. His story was very touching as he describes his days there too. He was a radioman. Keep them coming!!!!!!!!
Thank you Stan. I have not read Chuck’s book but will look it up on Amazon when I am done here.
Thanks for liking my work and also for comparing it to someone’s work you found you liked a lot.
Semper fi,
Jim
Nicely done sir
Thanks Frank, I am trying my best, but infernal circumstance keeps throwing road blocks at me, one mental hurdle after another.
Thanks for writing on here and that compliment…
Semper fi,
Jim
Your comment about your future life at the moment, rings true to those who are in hospice waiting to die. We have no future on earth to look forward to either. We can relate.
Yes, waiting to die. The strange bitter calm that comes over you,
coupled with a vastly tiring effort to deny self-hope or yearning for it to be different.
There is no sleeping dreams of bounty and beauty, just flitting
mosaic pieces of unassembled pictures from the past without true association.
There can be a certain peace beyond the anger of outrageous fortune descending upon unjustified innocence…
or even that not so unjustified.
How to look out upon a world that’s going to go on, and probably not be effected anymore than like a feather briefly fluttering in
the wind…
and in the case of being in hospice for terminal treatment…
no likelihood of effecting change on those things surrounding what is left of life.
Having other people care is important, for whatever reason, but having people really care
is a tough one to judge and then think about the effect upon them when you cross over.
What of them. What of what goes on after and what of that great abysmal mystery up ahead,
like the Twilight Zone sign post? I don’t know. I’m with you, back there again,
knowing like you the death is right there, but not knowing like you at all.
Hope back then would still spring up out of nowhere, or from strange unforeseen circumstance,
and that’s not part of the traveling, moving and inexorable equation you are ever so slowly working toward.
Thinking of you, my friend, with wonder and
yes, a smile.
Your friend,
Jim
Thanks Jim for your thoughtful reply.
There is a lot to contemplate when you have time to die. One of the primary concerns you have, is for those who you will leave behind and that you have done everything necessary, to insure their comfort and future. The paperwork is endless as well as those lovely souls who work with you from Hospice. They remind me of the nurses in Vietnam, the angels in white. It is humbling to know that there still are such wonderful people there for your every need.
Spiritually I am at peace with our Creator and have felt His spirit giving me strength, to complete my journey here on earth. I have had specific encounters with the spirt of the Lord, so know that He is real and that has helped tremendously. I can’t imagine what it is like dying without belief if our God, it must be the most terrifying and lonely moment of one’s life.
Having made my peace, I know where my journey of life will take me next and from what I have read about my destination, it is a whole lot better then here on earth. I have given my life to the Lord and have assured Him that my will is His will and that I am ready to go, when He has determined my ETA.
I don’t think better words could describe your situation and, once again,
you have made me feel better…and I think you do that all the time with people.
Thank you, and you are definitely in my thoughts. I don’t think you need my prayers
but those are offered too…and I don’t say them often…
Semper fi,
And God Bless You…
Jim
Another solid chapter James…keep ’em coming!
Semper Fi, Pat
Thanks Pat, I shall so do and am writing just the second I finish comments right now.
Thank for the care and the support…
Semper fi,
Jim
I am a MARINE.KNOWING WHAT they were facing.and proud of them.
Bevause they are who we are!!!
Thanks Corporal. Really appreciate hearing from the active duty side. We are that and were that and now you are in the present part of that.
Appreciate your comments in every area from your reading of what took place before.
Semper fi,
Jim
Glad your back LT. Thing are going along like a lot of other combat companies, never knowing when or if you were going to get into contact. Staying alive was all any of us want to do, and try to keep everyone around you alive at the same time.
Jim this has to be hard to write about, seeing that it is hard for some of us to read, but thank you for doing this and keep the coming.
Yes, Mike, from one real deal to another here.
It was all about staying alive and many times being ashamed that we were reduced to that.
Sometimes making decisions to rise above that kind of fearful thinking but often being plunged
right back down into the pit of dark terrorizing despair.
Thanks for understanding and writing on here…
Semper fi,
Jim
Minor typo: clutching what was left of S(t)even’s torso.Thanks as always. Great story.
Thanks for the sharp eye.
Noted and corrected.
Semper fi,
Jim
Back on track with a strong chapter! I did notice that Stevens is missing a T one place right after he was hit. Down is missing a D above that but I missed it myself second time around.
It is kinda odd sometimes, you go through a lot with people, you miss them when they are gone although you wouldn’t have called them a friend had somebody asked.
“You’re the first chance this unit has had to make it out of here alive”. Finally! He said it aloud. I found this chapter very difficult to read. Losing Stevens was horrible, crying without realizing it shows the unbelievable circumstances you’re trying to survive in. Look forward to the next episode. Semper Fi Jim!
Yes, Jack, an attaboy from the Gunny, although in truth it seemed at the time that it slipped out of him against his will.
The Gunny was a big supporter of mine but didn’t exactly like me or the way I went about trying to get solutions to impossible
problems…the way we both saw them.
Thanks for the support and the care…
Semper fi,
Jim
Another great chapter of a great story that for sure tells how it was over there for many men.
Thank you for sharing your story
Yes, I do hear from many of the men who actually went out there and paid terrible prices.
I also hear from a lot of others who want a ‘taste’ if you will, of what the real shit was really like.
I don’t read much of that in literature and almost never see anything but a bit or two here and there in the movies
or on television.
Thanks for the compliment and for letting everyone read that here…
Semper fi,
Jim
“It was a constant brutal fear but it didn’t reach the depth of my soul except when I was under direct fire. I was getting used to the fact that I was a dead man living, while waiting to die.” I’m betting we all felt that fear. None would speak of it then and few admit it to ourselves now. Fear 1st arrived with the 1st rounds fired and grew as each body waited evac. The only time fear left was during a firefight only because there was no time to think, no time for any emotion, nothing except survival for another minute was important.
Very well said jrw. The fear was always there except when blocked aside by action to survive.
Even then, a lot of that action was done while filled with that awful emotion…
Semper fi,
Jim
Outstanding segment again!! And what a perfect description…”a dead man living while waiting to die”…the loss of Stevens was a shock, but loss is always a shock, especially when you feel responsible for your men…but the men still have hope because of you…and the gunny said it rather matter of factly…you made them think they might make it out alive…As usual great writing…and the story could only be told thru the eyes and heart of experience…I await the next instalment…
Thanks Mark, I am going to take that to mean you don’t think I need a co-author, particularly not one that’s a nephew or cousin to the publisher!
The professional criticism today is handed out from very controlled and egocentric literary authorities. Shame that new people cannot get in anymore but nepotism and cronyism have
been with the human species from the dawn of time. Just the way it is. So I continue to persevere on Amazon and on here and Facebook. Like real combat instead of that in the rear with the gear stuff.
Who knew the publishing of books would be so similar in process and result?
Semper fi,
Jim
LT the gunny is showing you some respect with his comment “You’re the first chance this unit has had in making it out of here alive”. Wow a real complement coming from the gunny. Also indicates how bad or at least what the gunny though was bad previous leadership was in the company. Strong segment this time of a horrible situation for the men to be in. Stay strong, keep stomping.
Yes, the Gunny waxed and waned in his support of me and others in the company.
He was the most complex character in the Vietnam experience.
Semper fi,
Jim
The Gunny was an experienced NCO who needed to command the respect of his subordinates. Therefore, he could not lift you up before the men, in case you failed miserably. Yet, he had to respect this junior officer who had no combat experience at all, for the way you tried to overcome each and every critical situation. He had to maintain his authoritative status, no matter what.
Yes, I could not agree more, now in retrospect.
I did not agree at the time.
I felt it was a contest that I could not
win with the Gunny. I loved and hated him.
I was afraid of him and at times wanted to do him in myself.
It was a very strange place for a 23 year old college kid to find himself.
Being alone does not describe just how alone I really felt.
Thanks for the usual penetration and understanding your comment illustrates.
Thank you J.
Semper fi,
Jim
War is hell, thinking about war is hell, reading about a war I missed by 18 days makes it seem ss far away as it was.
Thanks for the comment Frank. Yes, it was something else entirely and the expression
‘war is hell’ did nothing to help me even thought I’d heard it plenty of times before I went.
Semper fi,
Jim
I am sure it was tough to write this episode…RIP Sgt. Stevens.
Though he is gone, he is not forgotten.
His earthly struggle ended that day.
Your Marine unit lost a good man, but God gained a good soldier.
thanks for the comment Walt and for that determination. Never sure I agree about the good soldier thing because it’s kind
of impossible to evaluated and consider about oneself in such situations.
Thanks for that thought, comment and support though.
semper fi,
Jim
Good stuff!
Thanks Paul, I am on into the next segment and down that valley…
Semper fi,
Jim
There you are!
The wind died “down” but was quickly replaced by a falling sheet of rain. I looked out over the berm in front of us, but could see very little
Thanks for the help here Michael…
Semper fi,
Jim
The anguish is still there, Marine. You couldn’t say that you were in tears. You had to have Gunny say it for you. You know, but 99.9% of Americans don’t know, just how miserable it is to be cold and inundated in rain, with no where to go or get out of it. Add to that an implacable foe incessantly intent on killing you and your people, and you have a perfect picture of misery and woe. Violently lose a comrade who had at least accepted you, if not befriended you, know physical pain to your body, carry the ultra heavy burden of doubt, and still “carry on”. You’re on a difficult road. Semper fi, does apply.
Should have signed off as:
SF,
John Conway
I didn’t understand that comment Conway, and usually I understand everything you write…and smile with, of course.
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks for that complex comment Pilgrim. All of that, of course.
At 23. And then home at 24 and having lost so many
and nobody knowing it to look at me. Wow.
Now those were the days indeed…
Semper fi,
Jim
A masterful style of writing dragging us down in the valley into the mud with the leeches, rain and rushing river.
The wind died (own) but was quickly replaced by a falling sheet of rain. (down)
Instead, he was crying and screaming while clutching what was left of (Seven’s) torso to his own chest. (Stevens)
He just made believe and Nguyen went (alone) with the charade. Nguyen understands English, he just doesn’t speak it very well.” (along)
Again.much thanks Pete for your eyes an those of so many of our readers.
Semper fi,
Jim
Sir. I thank you for sharing this with us. I really don’t think that the remarks about your spelling, punctuation and other misprints have anything to do with your story. I enjoy it as it is written so keep up the good work and God bless you for serving and trying to let everyone know what the hell happened over there. I see a lot of OCD here in remarks. Again thank you Sir!!
The remarks, spelling corrections and noting of my misprints helps this effort in a big way.
I don’t have a flock of editors and the New York publisher got cold feet when he read deeply into the story.
So, all I have in your guys and Chuck to help me get the work to the kind of finished print it has to be to
be printed. Thanks for defending the story and me on here but please understand I need you and the other guys and gals
here to make it really work.
Semper fi,
Jim
Wasn’t Tex the one who gave you the pistol?
Yes, I had a ‘gray out’ on that one. Keating was my watch, not the .45.
You are correct and thank you…
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim, Junior has only had Tex’s .45 for 24 hours, so you might change (in days,) to (yet,). Dave.
I hadn’t cleaned or lubricated the automatic (in days,) and I was worried about the fact that the pistol wasn’t a rough field piece like my first one.
Very good
Thanks Harold, means a lot to get such messages. Semper fi,
Jim
I see now why it’s getting tougher to write from events of the past to current that heaviness is a massive weight to push through. Standing with you in spirit.
Thanks SSgt. Working away at this part of getting through the valley, then and now…here and there…
Semper fi,
Jim
Intense and worth the wait LT.
thanks a lot Staley, much appreciate the attaboy….
semper fi,
Jim
Damn…..damn, damn, damn.
Yes, Monty, it was all of that! Thanks for the rather offbeat compliment!
semper fi,
Jim
The loss of Sgt. Stevens really through me for a loop. Yes, your writing is that good! Unfortunately it also opened up what I call my ‘ghost locker’ so I had to finish reading the next day.
Thanks Monty, for that over the shoulder compliment and the direct one, as well.
I really appreciate ready such comments and smiling as I read…
Semper fi,
Jim
You know LT, they say that “God does provide”. It is just that I have lost a whole lot of faith in God, and what he provides. Kind of funny coming from a former altar boy. It is what it is. Then again f**k it, don’t mean nothin.
Please delete the above comment. Sorry for the remark. It was a bad day.
Mike. Feel free to be free on here. We don’t trash comments even when they may not be the most positive in the world.
We do trash racist or anti-semetic stuff, but in truth we’ve had very very few of those…Thanks for commenting at all!
Semper fi,
Jim
The comment does not reflect me 99.9% of the time. Sometimes I get mad and usually I have the good sense too get to myself. This time I didn’t, and this is the result. Once again sorry for the trash
There is no apology necessary Mike, I absorbed it, like one of those pesky little mosquito bites in the bush!
Semper fi, and keep on writing, mad or otherwise…
Semper fi,
Jim
The “God” think can be kind of hard unless you have been a follower for a long time
and have a lot of social support in believing.
And then there’s religion, the practice of interpreting God if you believe in Him.
Tough stuff, with religion being tougher than
God to believe in if you have come to doubt the word of your fellow man as much as I have.
Interesting contemplation though.
Thanks for the comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
One of the primary reasons I am able to bear my future demise in hospice, is because of the faith I have found in my God.
Dying slowly is worse then any stress you find on the battle field, where your life is brought to an end abruptly. One has often thought that those who died so quickly, were indeed blessed. I have believed that fact every since leaving Vietnam, especially with the way our troops were treated when they returned home. Those who died in NAM never had to come home to see how badly hero’s were treated by this country.
Yet, God does work in mysterious ways, as he has brought a whole nation to the realization of how important it is, to recognize our Vets and their sacrifices. For this we can be grateful as well as blessed.
Well, don’t die too soon, and that’s not my call or your own either, I know. But I am happy that you have found the writing and then
this site to write on where so many can read your words of wisdom. Your writing tempered with the bite of harsh reality in the ‘later on’ which is right
now. Thanks J for what you write, each and every time you put words one after another on this site…
Semper fi,
Jim
One educated guess by a very competent enemy and one very important part of you gets eliminated. Just one more heart wrenching loss for a newby Lt. that ain’t gonna get out anyway, don’t mean nuthin. I still cannot fathom the despair felt by so many of you for such a long time. Having been spared that learning experience, imagining and reading are all I have here. Not sure I appreciate all the lessons but I am sure that all of you have my gratitude for a miserable job well done. Thanks , Jim, for all of it.
Thanks Walt. Think about your and your engaging smile and help in Kansas.
You are a class act, sir, and I am proud to be your friend.
Semper fi,
Jim
Welcome back LT. Looks like we’re in for a long eventful night!
Thanks Jack. Good to be back. Got a few comments to answer as i get deeper into the valley and the next segment…
Semper fi,
Jim
Great to have you back. No doubt the shit’s about to get real deep. You and your motley group of Marines have certainly pissed off more NVA than one can imagine. They want you in the worst way. Hate to hear the loss of Stevens. No doubt hard to grasp in the situation you were in. Keep up the great report of what was that has been too long been pushed under the rug. Truth is a great liberator. Keep on bringing it on without the politics
Thanks Jack. Yes, I am back and I am working the words across the screen this very afternoon and night.
Thanks for the faith, support and care and, of course, for writing it to the world on here…
Semper fi,
Jim