Author's Note The letters in this book are presented just as I wrote them nearly 50 years ago: from Basic training to Vietnam. At the heart of the book are my photographs. I took my camera with me everywhere, carefully composing the shot whenever possible. This is a portrait of a group of young men, kids, really, who bond deeply through the crucible of war. In our day-to-day life we laughed, we did a lot of posing to look tough and we counted the days until we would return to The World. We listened to Hendrix, drank stale beer and smoked the occasional joint. Not so different from our civilian peers. But, we pulled the triggers in this brutal war, and must live with our share of responsibility for that. I invite you to feel a little of what we felt and experience a little of what we experienced. This is history. It happened. Perhaps some day we will understand why.