twilight --
soldiers and the jungle wear
the same uniform


Soldiers dressed in jungle greens navigating through green foliage. From a distance, hard to spot. Soldiers on patrol depended on camouflage. They also depended on their ability to spot camouflaged Viet Cong, who were practiced masters . Vietnam had been at war off and on for a thousand years. The Viet Cong were fighting on their own turf. We were not. Soldiers on patrol in the jungle experienced something a non-soldier will never experience. You can't relax. You can't make noise. You constantly scan the perimeter for signs of the enemy. You are unfamiliar with the terrain.
Your heart is beating a million miles a minute. Booby traps wait for you to step on them. Highly poisonous snakes lurk in the foliage. You know you could be shot at at any moment. If you are attacked, bullets could come from every direction at once, leaving you nowhere to run or take cover. Bodies are falling. Your buddies and the enemy. Carnage that will haunt you forever in dreams and waking thoughts.





Vietnam Ruminations - Robert D. Wilson
Copyright Robert D. Wilson, 2003