Billion Dollar Bullet

This was a time when young men were being drafted into the army and dying at an alarming rate. The estimated life expectancy of a new lieutenant in the field was sixteen minutes. The worst years of the war were from 1968 to 1969. A total of 16,899 men died. It is easy to see why young men tried to stay out of the fighting, including me. In spite of that, I ended up very much in the fighting, earning two Bronze Star Medals, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Combat Infantry Badge and going from