BEFORE (1969)
AFTER (2009)
As I looked out on the bleak January winter in Iowa, it occurred to me that 40 years ago I was drafted and sent to Viet Nam in January 1969. I had spent 5 months at Fort Polk, Louisiana for basic training and advanced infantry training and then given a 30 day leave until having to report to the Oakland Army Base on January 9th for processing to the Nam.
I'm retired with no financial encumbrances, why not revisit Viet Nam and see what has changed in 40 years? With the wonders of the internet, arranging travel is easy as a few keystroke. I have a flight to Tokyo Japan and then Ho Chi Minh City on January 29th. For the next few weeks I will be making preparations for the trip. Today, for example, I purchased an electronic adapter with 4 different mini-adapters for any country in the world for recharging various batteries @ $29.
I will also review some of the history and causes of our involvement in a country whose very name has become fixed in our national psyche as a concept with a rucksack full of controversial associations. Perhaps with light being shed on a tumultuous time, emotionally wrought judgments may be replaced with more knowledge. I look forward to hiking around areas where I once patroled with an M-16 and had fire missions with an 81mm mortar.
Good luck with your new blog. I invite you to stop by troutbirder as several posts ago I did a review of Hal Moores story of his return to Vietnam in We Are Soldiers Still.
ReplyDeletetroutbirder