None were inclined to talk about their battle experience but spoke freely about the drugs and their off duty experiences. The camaraderie was strong. The story I remember most is a friend who would get strong cravings for chicken feet when he was in Saigon.

As for the drugs, I had a close friend who went to VN as a clean cut preppy and returned as a hopeless heroin addict. He died from the addiction before he was 35.

I have read about atrocities committed by our troops but the only first hand story I have heard was from an Uncle who fought in WWII in the Pacific. He alluded to Japanese prisoners being executed frequently and he had no remorse. He never said that he participated personally and I got the impression it was mostly hearsay. No doubt it did happen often. This is not a good thing but quite different from atrocities involving civilians.