Vietnam Redux

 From a N.Y. Times story about something that gives me mixed feelings: Groups who reenact scenes from The Vietnam War.

"This small group of young, conservative men was dedicated to recreating key U.S. military operations and battles from the war in Vietnam on one member’s 100-acre wooded property. Among them were a product manager at Thomson Financial, a former National Guard driver, a mortician and a carpenter. Too young to have served in the conflict, none of these men had ever experienced real combat. Yet they were obsessively committed to the authenticity of their “impressions” — meticulous in their attention to equipment, clothing, food and supplies, whether portraying the Vietcong, the North Vietnamese Army or American soldiers. Participation was by invitation only." 

Here is the full NY Times story.

1970. My arrival in Quang Tri, Vietnam, boots still relatively clean. I was 19. 

The buildings that made up Detachment 5 of the Armed Forces Vietnam Network. The sandbags were there to prevent the roof from blowing off during monsoon season.
 

 

A Huey chopper evacuates an injured soldier near the DMZ in 'Nam in 1970.