Prologe My Life
1965, a tragic year, I thought it would be my last, but for some of my friends,
it was. But first let me take you back. You need to understand my life to understand my
decision.
I was 17 years old, living in a beat down old trailer in a little town outside of Casper Wyoming. I lived with my Father, my Step Mother, and my little sister. We had a small plot of land, we couldn▓t afford much as far as cloths. So as you could imagine I went to school being the butt of everyone▓s joke because I wasn▓t up on the newest style.
School never came easy for me, I was never to bright. So I really wasn▓t enjoying my high school years. My father always said ⌠ enjoy these years, they are the best of your life, trust me son■. Well if these are the best why do they suck so much. I had a close group of friends actually we are all outsiders. Which I think is why we are all such close friends.
My Decision
My decision was a hard one to make. I would have to finish school,or i could drop
out, join the marine corp, and fight over in vietnam. Damn it was harder than i thought.
i mean to choose to leave behind my little sister (who was like my best friend) or to defend
the freedom of our country, it was to hard to make on my own, i needed help to make the
biggest decision of my life. The decision that could very well be my last.
The next day i went to school to talk to my friends and maybe get some stright advice. I asked Dave (My best friend). His advice was "dan, do you really want to go and fight a pointless war. It wont do you any good". It was stright but not what i was looking for. Then i decided to ask someone special and near and dear to my heart. Someone who I frogot all about.Its sad but this person was my girlfriend Virginia. And although she didn't want me to go she said to follow my heart and if i did decide to join up she would be right here waiting for me when i get back. Virginia was a not like most of her friends. She was popular, but she was dating me. And thats not right. Thats not the way it works. But for me it did. And what could i say. I loved her.
The last two people I decided to ask were my friend Cody and Alex. Cody was a
hippie. a pot smokeing tree loving woodsman. He was very much into music and very much
into the 1965 pot somkeing scene. And Alex, well he was a mormon, and his parents were
strict but they were cool people. Nice people. The kind of people you would want around
you if you were stuck on a deserted island. When I asked them what they thought they both
had only one thing to say "WE"RE COMEING WITH YOU". It was settled. That day after school.
2:15 p.m. May 15, 1965 Cody Alex and I went down to the Marine Recruitment Center and joined
up. It was either the first day of the rest of our lives, or our last.
Boot Camp
So heres the deal. It was hot and muggy, and we did all of these physical training drills.
You can maybe guess that that wasn't so much fun. So we were all happy when we were told
we had the day off for rest. We worked hard but we played even harder. It Was a fun filled
night of drinking and smokeing. Cody had smuggled in some amazing purple haze. Cody and I
smoked while alex sat off to the side. See the thing was alex was a mormon. he was'nt really
into this kind of stuff. So we didn't pressure him into these things. Lord knows the only
thing a man has in battle is himself and his religon.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a some what average height man comeing towards us. He was a skinny fellow, He sat down next to cody and we just passed the joint around. We found out his name was ben. and he was in our platoon. I dont know how we missed him. But we got to talking and he told us he also had a girl back home. named lauren. But he didn't say much else. So Ben, Cody, Alex, and I continued to smoke, Drink and swap stories for the rest of the night.
I guess its good to make friends. Especially with your squad members. Because they have your back in battle. Its scary to think that we are all going to war soon. And that most of us wont come back home. Its a terrible war. Vietnam isn't a good place. We have already lost so many men. To many men. Good kids, Hot headed kids like me and my friends. But we are the ones who get the job done. we aren't the pussies that sit at home, and bitch and cry about the war and how much it sucks. But those people are pretty much promised tomarrow. And we are all starting to relize over here, that we aren't. We may not have tomarrow.