I appreciate the life that is mine to lead

The New Year of 1968 heralded the North Vietnamese offensive of Tet. We were behind enemy lines as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Viet Cong began synchronized attacks on the critical seaport cities. The significant areas of Saigon and Hue came under bold and fierce assaults. They caught the U.S. off guard. Yet, our leaders ignored all the signals the North was mounting an offensive. As a result, 1968 was the year more Americans died than at any other period of the war — more than 16,000.

We suffered insect bites, jungle rot, disease, cuts, wounds, and infections, but they did not stop us. Not one of the team would desert the chain of brotherhood that successfully kept us alive for all those months.

The morning mist rose from the mountains as a diaphanous robe displaying the mountain range in a foggy Ansel Adams photo. We dared not build a fire and began the plan to retrieve crucial information to relay to the base. The enemy was all around us, and there was no room for margin. Yet, of all that was unknown, one thing was sure; our lives depended on making the right choices.