After I returned from Nam in the late 1960's I walked the streets of Fayetteville, North Carolina where I had been assigned to the 6th Special Forces Unit. One of my saddest memories from Fort Bragg was the way I heard of an airborne brigade being sent to Nam. The CO called every man of his brigade to go on a weekend exercise. When they were assembled he had the doors locked and then told them they were really off to Viet Nam for a year. They were allowed to phone their families to say good-by. It seems he was afraid if he had told them the truth of their departure for Viet Nam, while they still had the time and ability to say good-by in person to their families, some would not have returned in time to be shipped out with the brigade. He did not want his record stained with such possible behaviour. So he took preemptive measures to safeguard the brigade’s (or his) record.
Fort Bragg’s Lesser Hero
Finally to war they would go
Each was an airborne volunteer
To fight hard against uncle Ho
Some before they drank a beer
Why did their boss not trust them
Were they of the great unwashed
In my eyes each was a precious gem
If their young lives were to be lost
Let not their special valor be clouded
By a poor CO's unwarranted suspicion
When their bodies come back shrouded
Due to a mutilated and deadly condition
We know that they went due to their free will
In the face of the boss’ pathetic effort to so kill
