2/4 on Patrol

		2/4 on Patrol
		Vietnam was really a beautiful place, as you can see here. Unfortunately, this patrol during Double Eagle was a little more exciting than necessary. If you look closely, you can see several Marines crouched in the brush. We were taking fire at the time as we crossed the stream. I'm just getting ready to run the gauntlet. I remember so often on operations idly thinking about what it would be like as we dropped into an LZ, as we advanced toward a fortified village, or, here, as we became vulnerable crossing a stream. What it was going to be like to get hit, that is. Would I feel it at all - just a smack to the head, perhaps, and it would be all over. Or maybe a round would rip through an artery. When it tore through my chest, would it burn a lot? I was convinced that I wouldn't make it back, and the only questions were when would it happen and how badly would it hurt. I never found out.