Page 157 - Stand Down Vietnam

All through my enlisted time I never made close
friends. I had close associates and fellow soldiers I
trusted. I was careful not to call them friends. It’s
a difficult subject to discuss and tough to explain.

Of course, some of the guys going to Vietnam formed
stronger relationships. They often remained in contact
with each other after discharge. I knew some of the

people that were killed, several, maybe fifteen or
twenty.

With one exception, it never got to me to where I said:
“Oh my gosh my friend was killed”. There was a young
man, with whom I went to high school with. Randy took
on the John Wayne persona. If I recall right, he
served three combat tours in Vietnam. He was a risk-
taker. When he came home from his third tour he moved
into a shack of a house and became a dropout from
society. Extreme drug and alcohol abuse literally
killed him. So, yes, I’ll say I had “a” friend.

The question of soldiers being wounded or killed not in
combat – not in the line of duty is complex and remains
a conundrum for me. My opinion: a soldier killed
during a firefight or a soldier at a base camp
repairing a helicopter who has an accident and is
killed – they both died in the line of duty. A soldier
that went off base (compound) to frequent the bars,

gets in a fight and is killed, did not die in the line
of duty. The problem lies with who had the authority
to make the determination.

The real answer is this; being in the military is a
very tough business. People are getting hurt and
killed all the time, including, in training accidents.