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by Michael Stuart Baskin (Photographer), Michael Stuart Baskin (Author)
THE UNTOLD WAR EXPERIENCE. Most of what the average person knows about the Vietnam War is gleaned from movies, TV dramas, documentaries and autobiographical memoirs. The vast majority of those revolve around the experiences of infantrymen and pilots. What everybody doesn't know is that Less than 20% of the guys in Vietnam were either an infantryman or a pilot. In a war without front lines, anyone with boots on the ground could and did find themselves in mortal danger in the blink of an eye. The forgotten 80% of Vietnam vets have ALL kinds of stories to tell even if they're not always 'war' stories, per se. We had different experiences and fascinating stories. I'm one of those vets.
When I considered writing my recollections of Vietnam, I launched into it and like a line of dominoes, one story after the other seemed to fall from my memory onto the page. I've tried to keep the prose real without being vulgar. Nevertheless, some events involve sex, drugs and gore. My story gets very personal, somewhat controversial and, at times, there's no way to avoid how gruesome it was. It's informative, entertaining and sometimes funny. This is what I experienced - it's true. Nothing is added, nothing is invented. It may seem unusual and probably will surprise you, but there were tens of thousands of non-infantry, Vietnam vets who would have confronted similar situations, challenges, screw-ups and disasters. When added to the existing narrative, these stories help to complete the big picture of what happened during the tragic conflict.
