Keep Going Forward

William W.; United States Army

I enlisted in 1968 After I got through my training, I was in South Korea Patrolling the border. South Korea, I had very good times there. I m from !ew "rleans, its flat, #lat as a $an%a&e I ve been fas%inated by mountains, hills, %limbing, All that &ind of stuff. I got to Korea and I was surrounded by mountains, 'he guys said I was nuts, (e re hum$ing u$ and down these mountains, (hen we get off of duty, I hum$ u$ and down the mountains. I thought it was a blast. A lot of terrain I saw there I thought was stunning, )eal $ity that this terrible fighting was going on. After 1* months, I reenlisted+ volunteered Into ,ietnam. I &new I was gonna go in -e%ause everyone one else had been in. (e were there to hel$ defeat the %ommunists. -ut when I got there I felt li&e I was intruding (e were su$$osed to be hel$ing them -ut we dro$$ed bombs on these $eo$le I don t want to get into %ombat Its not gonna do you any good /ou do what you do and you get out of there, /ou get the hell out of there, /ou get it done. /ou do things that are not ni%e, you 0ust feel guilty. I tal& to my friends be%ause we were there (e understand 1ivilians, it s aw&ward. It s hard to relate to you. /ou got these movies out, 'hey got good %omi% boo&s, 'hey got this, and they got that.

And then in s%hool and history boo&s, 2verything is glorious and3 /ou re not getting the full story. It wasn t always terrible, /ou see a lot of stu$idity in situations li&e that. 4a&es you wonder 0ust who the hell is leading this gang of idiots It s su%h a harsh environment It s an ugly thing, -ut it has to be done sometimes After my se%ond tour in the servi%e, se%ond tour overseas, I de%ided that this was not the %areer for me August 5*, 196*. !ow here s a funny story3 (hen you go through basi%7 -oot %am$, as these &nu%&le heads over here %all it. 'he 8I s do all &ind of horrible things to you 0ust to ma&e you miserable. 'here s things we do to irritate them too. "ne of them was. the 9duffle bag drag.: (hat that meant was, I m leaving, I m going out, I m leaving the army, I m done. ;ot my $a$ers, I got a dis%harge, I got everything. -ut I had to go out the gate in uniform3 And 0ust too& the bag7 I d 0ust dragged the thing and wal&7 And that was 0ust a way of saying. I m done, finished, I m done with you $eo$le. I hadn t yet de%om$ressed. I really didn t &now what the hell to do with myself. -ut in those days, you &now, it was "&ay you re done All that s behind you, ;o to s%hool and go to wor&, /ou had the ;I bill, It s time to rebuild your life. 'hey didn t understand about how $eo$le %ould be a little, you &now, s%rewy3 P'S8, 'hey<re trying to find what ma&es us %li%& I a$$re%iate that. It wasn t always terrible, /ou see a lot of stu$idity in situations li&e that. 4a&es you wonder 0ust who the hell is leading this gang of idiots It s su%h a harsh environment It s an ugly thing, -ut it has to be done sometimes =ust remember &ee$ going forward 8on t listen to the boneheads who will &ee$ trying to steer you in the wrong dire%tion.

(or& hard and try to a%hieve something -e%ause only you %an hel$ yourself

-- Molly D., Alicia V., & Teta C.