"Reeves, James R & Taylor, James Carl - Vietnam 02 - Covert Actions" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reeves James R)

hole in my head where my left eardrum was supposed
to be. Things didn't go well for me, though.

First off, in the airport in San Diego a runty little
MP told me I had to take off my black beret, because
it wasn't recognized in the States. I guess it bothered

COVERT ACTIONS 7

the peaceniks and little old ladiesЧof both sexesЧ
who didn't like to be reminded about Vietnam.

Then the stateside doctors decided my woundЧthe
damaged eardrumЧwasn't severe enough to warrant
a discharge. If the entire eardrum had been missing it
would have been a total disability, but in the inter-
vening weeks some scar tissue had patched things to-
gether in there. I had partial hearing that would come
and go. It was bad enough I couldn't dive anymore.
Oh, ten or twelve feet in a swimming pool didn't
bother me, but the pain got pretty severe if I tried to
go deeper. So I lost my diver rating.

I still had two years of active duty to go before my
enlistment was up. The Navy would reassign me to
something for that time. They even tried to get me to
go back to 'Nam, in the riverboat Navy. They must
have thought that explosion scrambled my brains.

I'd brought some problems back with me. There
were things that bothered me that had happened over
there. There were times I fucked up. and got my men
killed because of it. There was one guy, named Billy,
whose death bothered me really bad. Some people
seem to think that to be in Special Forces you have
to be some sort of unfeeling superman. We're not.
We have feelings just like everybody else.

It had been months since Billy died, and I still
thought about it all the time. Billy had placed his trust
in me. He was forever telling his wife about me, and
how well we got along. I guess the reason I took him
under my wing was because he was one of the few
guys that really had a lot going for him. He loved his
family very much and they loved him a lot too. He
always got letters and tapes from home, telling him

8 James R. Reeves and James C. Taylor

how much they missed him and how proud they were