All the way

Flashbacks, they said we'd have em, when we signed up. We didn't believe them, we believed we were invincible. That's why we didn't need drafted. We were going all the way, with the 101st screaming eagles, we were airborne. Rangers, green berets, commandos. We could do anything, but have flashbacks. Just like they said, they're the same every time, just as real and vivid as when it happened. Some more horrifying than others, all scenes from hell. The rain, the tunnels, the VC, the red tape, rules of engagement, Geneva convention, court-martials, flashbacks. Hell. Charlie, he likes to dig his tunnels, hide in the rain, in them. Ambush your patrols, in them. When you found the openings, privates had to clear em, if not, they would come back, bite you in the ass. Had to clear them. If it wasn't that, the farmer seemingly in the rice field suddenly had an automatic shovel, red tracers and all, red tape, rules of engagement. It you get this bulshit, we're on patrol it's about dusk. We cleared a small village at the base of a small mountain. Behind it last a little larger village, a click or so down River. We burned everything on it way through the first, fuck em. Hooah. We entered the second, right before dark, still a little light left seeping through the jungle canopy, enough to still see without glow sticks it flashlights. I was in point and I just left the third hut, and was yelling into the fourth, when behind us I heard "GI, help me, GI, a kid, must been six or seven years old came running from somewhere, grenade in one if his outstretched hands. Training, instinct, bulshit. No pin, first thing I noticed,.4 seconds later, a three round burst made his torso disappear. The grenade, coming close, but only minor injuries to the platoon. We all agreed we would make it home, with today never happening, with as little help from our friends. We did. Hooah