How do you pray in a time like this when your mind is gone so fast,
you can’t think? How do you pray in combat when your mind is
off? When we went to South Vietnam, I could go to the front line
to fight the enemy, but I couldn’t ride on the front of the bus, illegal
in south. Draftee were ordered to join the armed forces, most of
the men were from the south and southwest. President Kennedy
had asked fellow Americans,
asked not what your country
can do for you but asked what
you can do for your country.
We were all drafted by him.
No one knew for certain if
this was the start-up that
change the prejudiced of the
country. I believed that we
want to serve our country
and would overlook our
own prejudices in order to
serve. We were together
all of time in training and
fellowship, on and off duty.
We would overcome culture
and ethnic differences. The
army had a timetable set to
get this division in the war
in Vietnam (First Cavalry Airmobile). So the training was very
hard and fast. This was the first time helicopters would be used to
fight in a battle. The battalion commander Col. Moore had us well
train and disciplined. By the fellowship we had become brothers
before going to Vietnam. After fifty years, we still get together; we
meet once a year. We would need this brotherly love to fight for
each other in the bigger battle of the war. In combat, you don’t
have time to think about what you are doing; you just do it. Your
training takes over. How do you pray in a time like this when your
mind is gone so fast, you can’t think?
