You know, when you get over here all you think about is getting back to the World. But when your time gets near, it sort of scares you because you know in your heart that you're not like the people back home. It's a funny feeling to be afraid to go home, but everyone here feels the same... There are a lot of mixed emotions- worrying about hurting the people close to you, or maybe your dreams about the States will shatter when you get home. And then there's always the way you regret leaving your buddies in this hell hole. We all joke about 'Put your time in,' but in our hearts we wish we could all go home together... -Sgt John "Butch" Hagman
Mom,
A while, I told you that two guys are short. Well, Jordan McArthur left today. He was happy to be going home to his wife. It was almost a bittersweet departure, because now we're going to get a new guy who probably knows about as much as when I first came. Personally, I don't know if I rather say goodbye to Jordan and welcome a new guy to this war, or hang on to Jordan. To be honest, I don't think I'll ever know if either is better or if they rank about the same. Clark Johnson is going to be leaving in a few days too, so technically we'll be getting two new guys.
A helicopter extracting some men from an LZ was shot down the other day. Amazingly, the one guy made it, but he's still pretty messed up. Of course, the remaining guys on the ground went scouting the jungle again and I think they even brought some artillery in, just to see if maybe they could kill the VC responsible. Yesterday, we were sent out to an LZ not far from there to scout out to area. We made contact, but it was brief. We wounded one guy and Billy Johnson went out and dragged him back. We took him as a prisoner and made our way back to the LZ, where the choppers flew us back to camp and we handed our prisoner off to the proper authorities.
David's just come into the tent. Says we've got another patrol, so I'll write later.
Your loving son,
John