posted on Dec, 5 2010 @ 09:57 AM
The title made me think of a buddy that I had a long time ago.
He had done a couple of tours in Vietnam while in the marine corp, and said unconditionally that those were the best days of his life.
This was about the time that 'Platoon' had been released, so I was amazed that he would say this. I asked him to explain.
He said that it was like a summer camp for teenagers, with no adult supervision. "We hiked all around the jungle, camped out, had cook outs, shot
machine guns, threw grenades...everything that a teenaged boy would love."
He also mentioned that when they were not on "patrol", they could jump in a helicopter and go to the coast to fish or surf, go to saigon for hookers
and booze, go back to the supply depot and get beer and steaks and then chopper them back for a big cookout and party.
I asked him about the shooting and the killing and the bodies and landmines and stuff, and he said "sure...those things happened, but if you are a
kid and it is going on all around you, you can adapt to almost anything." He even claimed to have been cut up pretty badly after their base had been
mortared, but he seemed not to be that bothered by it.
And the odd thing about it was that this dude wasn't some kind of nut or a social failure or anything. He was actually a pretty high ranking
administrator for a regional railroad system, with a family.
Kinda weird. i hadn't thought about that guy in years until today.