As I've said earlier, I don't support this war, but try sayin' that in front of the ignorant recruits and you could find yourself in a world of pain. Speakin' your mind isn't exactly appreciated when it concerns how operations are dealt with here in 'Nam, especially around the commanding officers. Those pigs are completely blind to the death and destruction they cause in their wake, and the only thing they see is the enemy. I know, I've witnessed it.
My first mission was simple; stay on guard and make sure no Charlies cross our path. We were stationed just outside a small village, that maybe had five families in total, and the people were very kind. Staying there for a month garunteed we'd get close to the kids, what with them reminding us all of our siblings and kids. These twins, a boy and girl, took a real shine to me and my friend Marcus. They called us "
khá bé trai". I didn't really know what it meant, but the girl would always blush, and the boy would full out laugh.
It was about another month when it happened. Late one night, during Lex and Ben's shift for watch duty, gunshots rang out. Marcus and I woke up instantly (we were trained for that) and ran to the village to see what was going on, but were too late. Inside the canter hut, my friends were standing over a previously hidden hatch and a bloody stump of a hand was outstrecthed from inside. Beside the manhole, lay an unrecognizable face, bullet holes completely disfiguring it. I could only tell who it was after noticing the crying twins curled in the corner. Their mother was dead.
Before Lex could even speak, I knealt down to see how far the secret tunnel go, but was shocked to find it wasn't an escape route at all. The manhole was a storage area for rice. Looking back at the mangled body resting on the side, I didn't have to guess he was the kid's father. Lex and Ben tried to say how they thought it was a passageway for Viet Cong; that it was a mistake. I couldn't look at them after that. The twins cried louder when I got close. The next morning, they left with the remaining four families, never looking back.
Once we informed our commanding officer that two villagers were gunned down, he came as quickly as possible. But when he arrived at the hut, he wasn't asking the right questions. "Where does that tunnel lead?" "How many Cong attacked?" When we informed him of the real situtaion, the fight in his eye's instantly deflated. His exact words were, "Wake me up when there's actually a problem. Don't go wasting the ammo so willy-nilly." Then he left.
My friend's and teachers all shared and taught me what the real reason was we went to war. Some Republicans defend our part by saying our ships were attacked, or they killed our French allies; but the most popular reason for them seems to be that if communism rules Southeast Asia, it'll spread everywhere. I'm tired of this reason. Communism this, communism that-everyone of those pigs seem to forget about McCarthy! He blamed all those people, and not a single one of them was a spy! If everyone would stop thinking the worst of people, or trying to find a scape-goat, the world would be a better place. Killing innocents, blaming the whole instead of the one, will just make more enemies.
