VIETNAM is a lesson in telling time. It comes in a century of violent and permenant change in America. You can take a few of my stories and make them your own. In the meantime, I'll try to tell you something. Maybe, you can help keep the memories alive for the next generation. It's been 30 years since the War, not much has changed.

I came to 'Nam in 1967. We were young and gifted. There were a lot of us there. A place to be instead of being in any other place. So we were told. I ended up sharing the barraks with two of my best friends. Later, all of us, after having survived the war, would have trouble surviving the peace.

My friends and I enlisted in the U.S. Army. At the time, the Army had a program called the buddy system. In essence, if you enlist with a buddy the Army promised to assign the two of you together throughout the training period. Bolstered by the knowledge that we would enter the very trying and uncertain adult world and be able to hold each others hand, we were eager to do our part to make the world a safer place for democracy.

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