The Vietnam War was, is still is, and will always be the worst thing that ever happened to me. It would remain forever as my most terrifying and traumatic experience ever. I’ll never forget it, for it was the worst thing that ever happened to me. It will be seared into my memory forever. Whenever I tell myself how lucky I was to survive it, I inevitably remember the situation I was in, and the traumatic experience starts to play in my head like an old movie…
“Boom!! Boom Bam bam bam!!! Rata-ta-ta-ta” Bullets zipped across the battlefield, leaving a trail of yellow smoke, and bombs detonated everywhere, as if trying to claim as many victims as possible. Soldiers who were unfortunate enough to step on land mines disappeared into a ball of flame for a fraction of a second, before emerging out of black smoke, flying upwards, then crashing into the muddy ground, motionless. Soldiers everywhere were either taking cover or lying prone, trying to hit as many enemy soldiers as possible while hoping not to get shot dead.
Above, Fighter Jets and helicopters had a war of their own, blasting missiles at their enemy with deadly accuracy. It was hard to differentiate the sides with all the warfare, the sky a patch of messy warfare, explosions and pitch-black smoke everywhere. Fighter Jets shot down other Fighter Jets before getting taken down, most Fighter Jets lasting not more than 5 minutes.
I was a soldier on the ground, fighting for the American army, against the opposing Vietnam force. I had to fight the enemy, as well as my fear of getting killed brutally.
I never really thought I would have to be in a war, until this day, where I had to fight my first ever war. I was actually in a real war, and there was a real chance that I could be shot down, or worse, captured and tortured. There were real enemy tanks, helicopters and soldiers, who would kill me easily if I weren’t alert.
I was nervous, heart pumping rapidly and palms all sweaty, but I had been trained well. Whenever I spotted an enemy soldier, I would take cover, and then try to take him out without being noticed. Many times I failed when facing a larger group of three to four hostiles and ended up having to flee to another area, before returning with a larger group of allies. We started off strong, united, as one.
But just half an hour into the war and many of us got separated, and had to fight alone. Those who fought alone were very vulnerable, and the larger groups of enemy forces killed most of them easily. The Vietnam soldiers were cunning and cruel. They set up brutal death traps in pits and tunnels that we were trapped and killed inside mercilessly. Some brave American soldiers tried to enter the tunnel carefully and destroy the traps using “C4” bombs, but were killed by other traps before they even started. Slowly but steadily, the Vietnamese army were taking out large portions of the American army using the hidden deathtraps.
Those who survived the deathtraps or did not enter the tunnel were traumatized after seeing the fate of those who entered the tunnel, and were too frightened to carry on fighting the war. I was not an exception, and at that time, my mind was only filled with images of my allies who were tortured and killed, and the only thing I could do was run and shoot and run and shoot and run and shoot, not even knowing what I was doing or where I was heading…
Whenever remember this part, where several brave American soldiers are killed brutally or tortured to death by these cursed deathtraps, I would feel sad but very fortunate at the same time, a bitter mix of feelings, feeling how fortunate I was to have been spotted by friendly reinforcements and rescued, surviving the horrible war, but sorry for my less fortunate allies who lost their lives in the war.
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