Blog 32 Vietnam in Half Moon Bay (Gary)

            Well, we have to stop at the nurseries.  So here I sit.  Actually I am enjoying the spot in which I sit.  Cars are zooming by, but the air is clean.  Across the road is a thick forest of bushes.  I imagine trying to push my way into them and go anywhere.  It would be like hiding in the jungles of Vietnam.  Yes, I can still go there.  How would I hide from the enemy?  Thank God I enlisted in the Air Force instead of being drafted by the Army.  Good decision, Plep.  But what are you going to do when you have lost your driver's license?  I couldn't chase girls and I was tired of digging ditches.  Three years, eleven months, seventeen days, and a wake up (until discharge, but who was counting?).  I can't walk The Hill today but at least I am still here to walk it.  I am grateful for fate’s subtle shifts in direction. 

The Long Journey Home (Gary)

            No doubt my most direct contact with the ghosts of war happened to me while leading a Vision Quest wilderness experience.  We had a base camp at the top of a ridge in the Ventana Wilderness of Big Sur, California.  I picked this particular location to be removed from civilization.

            I was milling around camp with my co-leader on a damp and quiet morning.  I remember it as being slightly foggy and misty.  I looked down the mountain simply to take in the always-gorgeous view.  I was stunned and taken aback as I saw five Vietnamese carrying rifles on their shoulders and wearing the same garb as the Viet Cong, the traditional black pajamas and cone hats.  My immediate thoughts were dark, and I was suddenly caught between two worlds.  One I knew from being in a war in Vietnam, and the one in the present moment.  I had to keep asking myself the question, “Are they here to kill me, or are they just civilians hunting for food?”  Back and forth, back and forth, past to present, present to past.  I wanted my gun and I didn't have it. 

            I watched them walk through the back of our campsite, and felt myself between two worlds of anticipation, trying to sort out reality.  That was a scene I will never forget.  I kept thinking, “How many of them can I get before they get me?” 

            Big breath. 

            The darkness stayed for a long time.

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