Personal Narrative-My First Vietnam War

My hands were covered in blood.. It was only a matter of time till they caught me.. I could hear the roaring of the wind. The heavy breathing coming from my own chest.. My stomach ached in pain. I could feel the tears beginning to escape from my eyes...

As a child of a Vietnam Veteran, I have witnessed my father and go through many things to receive adequate support. My father suffers from progressive prostate cancer, Post-traumatic stress disorder, and a depraved back. These chronic illnesses have forced him to retire early and seek help from the government for financial support. He has repeatedly seek help for the Veteran Affairs applying for unemployment disability and have been turn down several times because his illnesses are considered to be common for Vietnam Vets. This has been hard on my family caring for him and finding an extra source of income to sustain living. Living in a rural area there are no Veteran Affair offices, therefore, we have to travel two and a half hours and

This is the end, i’m sorry I have to leave you. You have grown so much since the first time I had seen you. I will miss you. At that moment, I realized that I won’t get to see America grow even more than it already has... Ok, before I give away anything else, let’s go to this morning, before all of this happened. It was Friday, April 14, 1865, 7:08am when my wife Mary came into my bedroom and made me the usual breakfast in bed. She got me 1 egg and a cup of coffee. After I got out of bed I went to my office and worked for a while.

When I first got put in the challenge program I was very scared. I only knew a handful of people and I didn’t know if it was the best fit for me. However, the past 4 years have proven me wrong. I would have been bored and in challenge when you have teachers like Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Hill, you wonder why you questioned yourself.

I was running around from tent to tent and it was chaos I was scared, but I needed to help the people that were hurt it was my job. As a German plane buzzed overhead I, nurse Helen Doyal dropped face down in the mud. As an American nurse serving at a British Army base hospital near the Western Front in 1918, it's my job to help the wounded people and soldiers who fight.

I am so sorry that you have to go through all this. As I was reading your letter I saw that you did not want to show any of your “pain” and or shout to Margot, Van Daan, Dussel and dad, I do not think that is the best of your ideas I feel that they should know how you feel. And tell them everything that they caused for you. Even if they do scream all the more. You shouldn't just go by how they feel about you when your quiet or when you talk. Honestly, I think they are just jealous of you. But there's something I have never told anyone but since I feel all of your pain.I haven't told anyone Ever. I feel that I can finally tell you what happened when I “disappeared” last year. Well, I never disappeared I was on a trip to California, well I had just gotten a job at a

I see a small sedan driving into this old school that looks recently abandoned. “The suspect seems suspicious by staying in the vehicle after it has been turned off”, I write in my small booklet. I hope this isn’t just an affair, if this is I’m going to punch that mother… The suspect has gotten out of the car he appears to be a white male, no women got out of the car, he then walks inside. I leave my car and follow behind him.

In May of 2007 I was a recently promoted Specialist with 20 months in the Army and 11 months in Iraq. I was assigned to B Company, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment; a member of the 2nd Infantry Divisions 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. As part of President George W. Bush’s “Surge” our 12 month deployment was extended to 15 months. We had spent the previous months moving around Iraq to support multiple areas of operation (AO), but in March of 2007 had moved to the volatile city of Baqubah, where we had begun the long and arduous task of clearing the city of insurgent forces.

Currently I am the acting Section Sergeant in Bravo Troop 1-73 Cav, 2nd BCT, 82nd ABN DIV. I began my career October 2009 and was stationed at Ft Richardson AK, with 3rd Battalion 509th Infantry. In my tenure there I served in positions spanning from the assistant gunner to squad leader, and also the Fire Direction Center (FDC) check and chief. While serving as a gunner/ team leader we deployed to Eastern Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. I was attached to Chosen Company 3-509 and in December 2011 we landed in Bagram, the following week I was slowly pushed out to Combat Outpost (COP) Herrera. COP Herrera was a small outpost located in the Jaji District, East Paktia, and the surrounding villages were known Taliban strongholds.

All of my problems began and ended with a book and a statue. I was currently surrounded by dozens of giant carnivorous lizards. This explanation may be slightly confusing for you, so please allow me to tell my story.

I sat in my room bored out of my mind. My last mission was a few days ago and since I’ve only flown once. I was getting the itch. I needed to fly. To kill. To do something other than sit here on my ass and deal with drunk French and American soldiers every night. Being the first woman to fly and the only woman soldier in this war, I had a hard enough time dealing with their horny, egotistical men comments. I don’t need them drunk too. I got up and walked to my brothers room.

It was 5 am in the morning and I was flying over the Persian Gulf, I was exhausted from the 18 hour flight from Virginia. All I wanted to do was sleep, but the vast amount of emotions I had swirling around in my body kept me in a trance state. Scared because this was my first time in the Middle East and excited to finally see something new, it was a bittersweet moment for me. Finally we landed, Excited to feel my legs again, I rushed towards the front of the plane, only to feel like someone was holding a perpetual blow dryer and LED light to my face. And at that moment, I knew I had arrived in Qatar --- what has the military gotten me into?

I wandered across the street, the gravel crunched under my feet. I hear my dad yell my name “Amira.” I run toward my house. My dad tells me to lock the door as soon as I am in. Click, goes the lock. But, something’s not right, my dad is still outside. I look through the peephole in my door. I see 5 men in camo uniform with guns charging at my dad. They stop one meter away from him. The soliders raise thier guns. Aim. Fire. Bang, Crash. I can’t see anything except bright red blood. I scream. I hear the soldier’s feet crumble on gravel and the sound becomes more and more faint. I open my door and there in front of my eyes, my dad covered in thick blood. I roll up into a ball and start shaking. My throat starts closing up. Suddenly I hear a soft,

Something strange happens to me whenever I fly into Beirut airport, which I have done several times in the past twenty years. My heart beats faster and I get butterflies in my stomach. I begin to recall Lebanon’s history and the horrific events that took place. Lebanon, a country that has suffered from civil wars as well as invasional wars, continues to overcome and recover from all the past scars left behind. One particular war in which Beirut and several other cities were affected is the 1982 war with Israel, also known as Operation Peace for Galilee. This war has been of interest to me since I was young because my mother would not stop talking about it every now and then. She describes her startled feelings as a young girl experiencing a violent and disastrous war.

One day a boy name Matt got a game called Fortnite, but he fought it the ground and the front of the box destroy this at all cost, so he brought it home being stupid and start and second he start it play a light, and he disappeared. When Matt woke he was in a strange land where everything look weird, and Matt realizes he in the game. Matt knew how to play a bit he thought so he got on the bus a went to Tilted Towers, and fought a pump and bandages. Then the run from his life.