Blood, gore, and death: all I have been met with since first landing at the port in Saigon and being taken to fight in the jungles of North Vietnam.  We have recently been ordered to head down and take out a small Vietcong Garrison at the village of Dong Hoi. I lay down in the Huey transport copter and lay my head against the wall of the craft, until what seemed as a good 5 hours of a trip was abruptly interrupted by the deafening sound of gunfire. I cover in the copter as our left gunner fires back at the enemy troops at the ground, however the thick vegetation provides too well of cover for the same.
Our flight now begins its descent…”All right, touchdown – hit it!” the pilot shouts.
With my M-16 in hand, I head down with my squad, and immediately take cover in the same thick vegetation which defends the North Vietnamese - we have arrived at Dong Hoi. We endure several bloody hours of combat, with me scoring around three confirmed kills – not that it matters anyway. Eventually however, our force manages to take over the village center, and in time, the enemy receives orders to retreat. Dong Hoi is ours.
Sometime after the retreat, we are ordered to search the area, and make sure there are no hidden troops in the huts and small buildings. I jump into one – nothing, and another, nothing, and another, again – nothing. I then head out to begin patrols outside the village – might as well get it out of the way now. While on said patrol, I approach a shrub, and hear movement. Immediately, I clock my gun, a look round. I see a figure, and after it notices it has been spotted, it begins to run. An enemy scout surely!
“Hey!” I shout, hoping by any hopeless chance, it would stop.
The shout was fruitless of course. I chase it down, and hound it to a large rock, where it takes cover in a bush. I have him pinned – there is no hiding now, I saw which bush it entered. With my gun clocked and pointed, safeties off, I roll the bush open.
“Freeze!” I shout, as my eyes are met, not by those of an enemy scout, yet with the frightened ones of a woman.
We each stare into the eyes of the other, and I feel myself getting lost in hers’. I eventually snap out of it. She is obviously a civilian, most likely taken by the North Vietnamese for re-education. She is dressed is fatigues, as if she was working earlier.
I decide to try to persuade her to come with me to the garrison at the village, “It’s ok, I am not going to hurt you,” I say, as I lower my weapon, and draw empty hands up, “My names is Peter.”
I then shrug to the side, and point to the American flag on my left shoulder,” I am not with the men which took you.” I say, trying to communicate – trying to calm her down, yet then again, I am not fully sure as to what I should say.
“Y-yes, I know,” she says feebly,” I h-have – seen you men bef-fore.”
“You have, have you? Well then, you likely know what we are trying to do, right? We are trying to free people just like you,” I say reassuringly. I then look once more at the fatigues, and add, “say, you look like you’re a long way from home. How about you come with me, I can 
I grab my weapon and strap it to my back, and hold my hand out for her. Slowly, yet reassuringly, she grabs it, and I take her to the village, where am met by the tall figure which is Sergeant Higgins. He immediately asks what the hell I am doing out of patrol, to which I reply I have found a survivor – that she has been displaced. He examines the woman, and orders me to find her an accommodation, and then to get back on patrol.
I heed his orders, and lend her the area in which my bag is located. The town is desolate, and the huts are burnt, and I did not want her to have to sleep on the ground. In the few seconds that I have ‘fore the sergeant mauls me, I nervously speak with her some more – try to make her calm down a bit – get to know her a bit.
However, Higgins soon calls, and I…“Oh god, alright I better be going now, yet before, may you please tell me your name, strange lady?” I ask.
“Mai,” she says with a slight smile, as if giggling at Higgin’s threat. I then leave.
The days pass, and now, I at least have something to look forward to when heading back to the garrison. Most of my original squad mates are either dead, or scattered around this country, so this is nice for a bit of a change. The fighting eventually eased up, and one day, when I found myself without an assignment, we went out together, and camped out in a hill. We sat, and spoke there for a while. We went more into our backgrounds, and other such things.
“Well Mai, I have always wondered – this is a very strange and interesting region of our world, despite all which surrounds us, and I have always wondered at the backstory of these people. Now while I may not get to ask each and every one, I would love to hear yours,” I say nervously.
She giggles, “well now, I don’t know that much, yet it will do for this case. My family strands back several hundred years, to the old Dai Viet kingdom of North Vietnam, where we have lived in the village of Dong Hang for several generations, and in my lifetime, we were workers tending to fields loaned by several American investors. I was fascinated by their language, and eventually mastered it - yet then,” she looked down, and saddened, “this war began. They came from up North, and demanded we hand over our most able bodies, yet this was not enough, and the monsters,” a tear formed in her eye, “they killed my family and the others, and took me up North. Eventually, however, I found you,” and she lightened a bit, as she looked at me.
The hours go by, and we eventually decide to head back, and I ask, “Well Mai,” I say, “this is a rather dangerous world we live in, and you and I are caught right in the middle of the action. After this war, where, exactly, would you like to live – out of curiosity of course.”
She giggles, “Nowhere where you aren’t,” she says, and kisses me on the cheek.
Afterwards, we head back to town, and all went on as normal, for a soldier at least, until however, my group was ordered to move up, and take the city of Vinh, even deeper in North Vietnamese territory. Normally, I would despair at the thought of heading even deeper into enemy territory under such hellish conditions, especially after my first experience with actual combat, yet these thoughts are worsened, for not only must I further risk my life, yet now I must leave Mai. For despite these horrific conditions, I stumbled upon a love, a real one, a strong one.
Nevertheless, I have to leave, and on the 25th of March, 1963, the Hueys arrived once more. We said our goodbyes, kissed, and I boarded. She was left in tears, the same tears in which I found her – frightened, and lonely. I entered the chopper, and in time we took off.
Soon, O’Malley, a fresh private barged in, “Oh! Even in hell you don’t fail to still get the girl now do you eh?? Mm-phmmm,” with a smirk on his face.
I roll my eyes, and look the other way, trying not to think of what has just taken place.
“Well now, not exactly the girl I would get, and not exactly the place either, yet hey, at least she’s hot. You two done it yet?”
Angrily, I elbowed him in the gut.
“Oogh!!! Hey – what’ya do that for?!” he yelled.
“Shut up!”
“No, what was that?!” he retorted.
“Oh shut the hell up O’Malley!” cried Higgins from the other side of the copter.
Once again, more lifeless hours of chopper blade noise, and leaning and sleeping, or at least trying to. Trying to escape reality - back to her. We then arrive, and with much heavier resistance than what we have encountered at Dong Hoi, for here we have been met with the Chinese backed Communist North Vietnamese Army, and not a guerilla group. I hold fast against the copter, as we are pounded by thick armor-piercing bullets from all sides.  A few of the craft in our wing fall, and soon, ours ceases to function ‘fore we set on the foot of the soil. We crash, and I knocked unconscious, yet after a few minutes, I am shaken awake by the strong grip of the sergeant as he pulls me up.
“Hull! Get your ass up! There’s have a position we have to take!”
I then grab my weapon, and climb out of the copter, where we are surrounded from all sides, yet we manage to hold for several hours, until support arrives.
Reinforcements eventually arrive, and with them we are able to push the enemy back, yet here is where I have first witnessed the use of the horrendous napalm weapon everyone was speaking of. We needed to clear out the enemy infantry, and that was where it was used. However, we did not only kill enemy soldiers - inevitable as it was, we set a number of civilians on fire. I watch in shock and awe, yet am quickly re-awoken by the fact we have a mission. We continue the fight for several days, until as Dong Hoi, Vinh is now under our control. I have seen it all, and may say how heavily understated what soldiers really experience at war is by the media.
On the final day of fighting, where the enemy has been pushed out, I am sent a message from the US Army. From this message I find our forces have been able to pull civilians out of Dong Hoi, and other villages, ‘fore the enemy has been able to recapture the town, and drop them off at the Army station at Saigon. Then, with renewed hope and cheer, I think: not only are the civilians, yet so is Mai!
“She is at Saigon,” I say as I read the card,” alive and well!”
I rush to the barracks, with the second card in hand, stating my 2 days of leave are almost expired ‘fore they become mandatory. I then speak with Higgins, and after much talk, he agrees to let me go for the time being.
“To where exactly Peter, would you care to leave for 2 days? Remember it is for a limited time, and your ass better be back with us once it ends, or ill gut you!” he states sternly.
“To Saigon, sir,” I say quickly moving out, and ‘fore I head through the door, “there is someone there I’d love to see!”