Sorry if this is controversial, but I couldn't get it out of my mind after thinking about friendly fire. Pleased to see George's report of some legitimate friendly fire casualties receiving their Purple Hearts. I agree. Did any of you experience a suicide while over there? We lost one in Dak To through suicide. Sad case of course. He was in company admin I think. I didn't know him well, but he was always around. Always sort of wandering, talking to himself. The talk was that he had been "Dear Johned" and was taking it hard. Then one day he was found in his tent, fully dressed, blown away. He had simply sat on his cot, leaned his chest on his M-16 and pulled the trigger. Spooky.

In the field, everyone was armed all the time, not locked and loaded usually, but close to it. You didn't feel safe without a weapon, but on the other hand there is a certain amount of unsafety when everyone is packing. It wasn't often an issue really, but clearly it was always possible for something bad to happen.

Oh, BTW: I was "Dear Johned" the same week I got my orders for 'Nam. At least I had a few weeks unarmed to work it out of my head... sort of.