[ Contents | Search | Post | Reply | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Francis Hamit
Date: 2/27/2006
Time: 2:10:26 PM
Remote Name: 209.178.163.9
Paul: I had cataract sugery last week on the right eye, which should take care of the problem for a few years. I'm wearing my old prescription. I'm 61 years old now and was 24 when that attack went downn, one of the "old men" among the first term enlisted guys. Older than some of the officers. When I was your age, the problem had not begun and my vision, which had always been bad since age 13, corrected just fine. So onset is fairly quick, two or three years. I had the new lens corrected to work with the left eye's vision rather than 20/20. Otherwise, if you read a lot as I do, you'll get headaches. The eye surgeon was not happy with that decision, but my old glasses now work just fine, thank you.
About that night. I recall that we never got out of the barracks and that a certain SFC who had never been in a combat zone either was so scared and shakey that we took his M-16 away, so he didn't shoot anyone. Nothing was said, then or later, but he was pale as a ghost and we knew what he was made of. We were on full alert, suited up and Bill Kistner had his usual six weapons on. But he was an MP and they were all out on the line. The rest of us clerks and jerks were waiting as a reserve force; at least in my barracks. Whole thing lasted about three hours and then the all clear sounded and we went back to bed. The next day we heard about the three newbies in that bunker who got their throats slit by the VC sappers and the pilots who got killed trying to get to the Cobras. It was as close as any of us, except the guys in that convoy ambush, got to what most people think as "combat", and it wasn't all that close, was it?
I had PTSD in the early 80's for about three years. A civilian doctor put me on Valium.
At the time of that attack I was anxious and we were all a little scared, but the training held up and I think we were all, except as noted above, ready for whatever was coming.
Why do you ask?