WEBVTT

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- Well, when I first
got drafted I hated it

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because I had my draft notice

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and my first physical before
I graduated from high school,

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even before I had my diploma.

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So by the time I did actually
go into the military,

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it was basically a few months

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and then I was at Fort Knox,
Kentucky pounding dirt.

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When I was there, my duty station

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and a couple of us guys were sitting out

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in the front of our bunker,

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and all of a sudden a chunk
of wood just flew everywhere

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and somebody yelled, "Sniper!"

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And we were out smoking

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and we didn't know that the
smoking lamp had been lit

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or canceled so, you know, we
damn near got shot by a sniper

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up in the woods 'cause we were at the base

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of the mountain range.

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It separated our base
camp from Laos and that.

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So after that the missions
became more complicated

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and more harried.

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If I had it to do it all over
again and everything I would.

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And everything.

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I went in as a green 18 year old student.

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Excuse me, not student,
a green 18 year old kid

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and came out a 20 year old vet

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that had a lotta combat
experience underneath him.

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And I grew up in those two
years, actually, 13 year,

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well, I take it back,
13 months and 27 days

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is how long I spent in Vietnam.

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'Cause we got shelled
and we got shelled bad

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on April Fool's Day, 1970.

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We were shelled like you wouldn't believe.

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And I lost a lotta good friends

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and lost a lot of,

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(background chattering)

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it's hard to say but
anyway, I lost what I lost

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and it was a hard road to recoup from,

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but I made it here I am.

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Happy.

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Can't complain.

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So.