My Life In Vietnam

I remember waking up that day and that feeling in my stomach, knowing what was about to happen. Growing up I knew about my father's sickness. My family, I recall, was always supportive. No one ever thinks about how one day, everyone you’re around for years, can just vanish. I cherished my friends as I was growing up. I lived there for a majority of my life, up until fourth grade. I remember sitting at a neighbor's house and having the mother come into the room and inform me that I need to be home swiftly. As I ran home, my head was crowded with thoughts to the point where I could not even think about why I was supposed to be home quickly. That day marked the transition of what would be the biggest change in my life. As by dad became sicker,

On a cold winter, rainy night while driving from one duty station to the next was where my vehicle spun around, flipping, tossing and causing my life to unfold and facing a loss like no other. The turmoil of life hit me hard just from this single tragedy alone. My vehicle was totaled, I loss conscious and was rushed to the hospital. Never expected such an incident to occur so abruptly and rob me of all my self-worth. I’ve became someone, someone incapacitated, not able to function like I normally should.

The Vietnam War was one of the longest wars that went on history. It lasted from November 1955- April 1975. According to Historynet, 58,200 members of the U.S. military were killed in the Vietnam War. All for what exactly? In my own opinion, I do not think the U.S. should have gotten involved. Our country is always concerned with being the “big brother” to all countries. When in all reality, this war was no concern of our own. It was between South Vietnam, and North Vietnam. This war goes down in history as the only war the U.S. has yet to lose. All of that could have been avoided, had we just stayed out of others controversy.

One day about two weeks before summer vacation at the time I was in fifth grade. My mom comes to me younger sister in our bedroom with her looks at us with her bright hazel eyes. She told us something “We are moving girls we got to start packing we are going to be living with your Uncle and aunt for a while”. That wisent the first time she’s said this to us new home new school but for some reason this one scared me a little more. A few days later we began to pack and within a week’s time we were done.

When I first got put in the challenge program I was very scared. I only knew a handful of people and I didn’t know if it was the best fit for me. However, the past 4 years have proven me wrong. I would have been bored and in challenge when you have teachers like Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Hill, you wonder why you questioned yourself.

Both women and men in Vietnam face a lot and have a difficult life. Personally, I think women suffer many things and more than men. First, leave her family and children for a long time. This can create problems for her children. Second, the women may have a hard job or work for a long time sometimes without rest. This can impact her health due to her body which is weaker than men. Third, all money she gets sent to her family and for her children. She has financed their children's education. On the other hand, men will work at home with his family. He has only household tasks and the normal jobs. Men’s body stronger than women’s body. So, I believe he can endure and faces

Started off with me having to move back to Indiana. First, my mom was nowhere to be found, so I wasn’t able to say good bye and that I loved her. I really wanted to be able to hug her one last time. She did the same thing when I was a kid. It made me feel unwanted all over again, so I got on the bus with nothing but 3 bags and no money.

In May of 2007 I was a recently promoted Specialist with 20 months in the Army and 11 months in Iraq. I was assigned to B Company, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment; a member of the 2nd Infantry Divisions 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. As part of President George W. Bush’s “Surge” our 12 month deployment was extended to 15 months. We had spent the previous months moving around Iraq to support multiple areas of operation (AO), but in March of 2007 had moved to the volatile city of Baqubah, where we had begun the long and arduous task of clearing the city of insurgent forces.

Currently I am the acting Section Sergeant in Bravo Troop 1-73 Cav, 2nd BCT, 82nd ABN DIV. I began my career October 2009 and was stationed at Ft Richardson AK, with 3rd Battalion 509th Infantry. In my tenure there I served in positions spanning from the assistant gunner to squad leader, and also the Fire Direction Center (FDC) check and chief. While serving as a gunner/ team leader we deployed to Eastern Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. I was attached to Chosen Company 3-509 and in December 2011 we landed in Bagram, the following week I was slowly pushed out to Combat Outpost (COP) Herrera. COP Herrera was a small outpost located in the Jaji District, East Paktia, and the surrounding villages were known Taliban strongholds.

All of my problems began and ended with a book and a statue. I was currently surrounded by dozens of giant carnivorous lizards. This explanation may be slightly confusing for you, so please allow me to tell my story.

It was May 1975. McCoy woke slowly. Heaven had a peculiar smell, sterile. In the following days, he learned that he was one of three survivors. The bright light was the Army dropping a load of Napalm into the area. An infantry unit diverted around a large NVA group heading south and retrieved him. Except for the lost month, everything else was intact and functioning properly. The physical scars would heal emotional scars were another matter. He was transferred out to Nuremberg Hospital in Germany. The war ended officially days latter. McCoy slept through the evacuation of Saigon, now Ho Chi Min city.

The life of an American soldier in Vietnam was a extremely difficult one. They had to deal with the terrible conditions of the jungle, a sneaky enemy, racism, and a lack of support from home. The rough terrain and conditions of the jungles in vietnam was rough. It was hot, and humid. There were wild animals most deadly, and it would rain a lot. The viet-cong were a very sneaky enemy. They mostly relied on guerrilla warfare and booby traps. The people of vietnam mostly out of fear would support them with food and housing, and there are even reported cases of the viet-cong convincing mothers to either use their babies or young children to act as a suicide bomber. This often lead to our soldiers mistakenly killing civilians because they did not

The Boat is a book released in 2008 by Nam Le. Nam was born in Vietnam but raised in Australia. The Boat has been critically acclaimed by many and depicts 7 different tales of homeland and themes of family. Hiroshima is a powerful insight into the life of a young girl, told from her point of view. Nam uses this particular story to evoke a strong sense of regret and sadness for the bombings, and to explicate and observe the “human experience”.

There are moments in life when important decisions are made which greatly impact and shape one’s life. I still remember mine as if it were yesterday. The day when my father decided to finally pay me a visit. It was just another hot and humid summer day in Vietnam. The day when my conversation with father got me leaving my past behind and came to the decision that I should start over again in America. On that day, I realized how proud my family was of me before the family crisis, how the crisis has haunted me, and how the conversation with my dad along with my family’s support got me back up to face the reality once again.

Being of pure Vietnamese descent, my family would fly every few years to Vietnam in order to visit my mother's side of the family. From my most recent trip, their household had moved into a new, more developed place, putting them above the poverty line. Their two story home was located in the moderately large city of Quy Nhon, housing my grandma, my mom's brother and her two sisters, along with several of my cousins. Nobody in that household, however, was working a job with a high paying salary. Financially successful citizens usually worked alongside the government or owned a popular business, but the whole family simply worked long hours of grueling jobs. Fortunately, my mother's earnings from working in the States allowed her to help fund