THE TET OFFENSIVE OF 1968 — SURVIVAL & SACRIFICE IN THE JUNGLE

1968 would bring division, and change in the U.S. The country was caught in the current of a cultural revolution, one that questioned everything — the old truths of race, of gender, of politics. The Vietnam War raged on. The cities burned in riots. Assassins took the lives of those who had once led the charge for justice. The hope for social progress still whispered beneath the noise, but the noise was deafening.

As the year ended, America teetered on the edge of something worse. The election was uncertain, the protests louder. But Vietnam held us all, bound by its thick, wet jungle and the rumbling of distant gunfire.

The Tet Offensive came like a storm in the night. North Vietnam struck with everything they had. The cities of Saigon and Hue were under attack. We were behind enemy lines, caught in the chaos, and for all the talk of victory, the men who led us never saw it coming.

The war had grown long, and the truth was clear. More Americans died that year than any other. More than 16,000.
We fought against the elements. Against bugs that crawled under our skin, diseases that ate at our bodies, wounds that refused to heal. But we fought on. Not one of us ever thought of running. We were bound, in a way making departure impossible. Brotherhood was the chain holding us together, keeping us alive when everything else fell apart.

The mist rose from…