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Acknowledgments When one steps back from a personal endeavor and attempts to sort through the results of whatever success has been achieved, there is often the realization that what has been accomplished came not only from the efforts of the individual but also from others who have in one way or another directly helped or in®uenced the outcome. Sometimes those forces are minimal, but an honest appraisal usually reveals that other people have more impact than meets the eye. As Tennyson so aptly pointed out in his Ulysses, “I am a part of all that I have met.” In my own case, I know that to be true, and for that reason I recognize that any attempt of mine to identify all the individuals who have brought me to the point of actually having a book published will be inadequate. Nevertheless, there are some who had such a distinct in®uence on me that I must speak of them. I will begin with my mother, Marion Park Brown, who with her English degree from Duke University imparted to me a love of literature that has continued as a profound part of my life. Complementing that, my father, James S. Brown, instilled in me a work ethic emphasizing persistence, a tendency that allowed me to actually complete this book, which was a much bigger undertaking than I ever imagined. Who would have ever dreamed at the time those seeds were being planted that they would ultimately be manifested in a book? For that I am eternally grateful to them. On the other hand, whatever technical literary abilities I acquired came from the excellence demanded by Frances Smith, my high school English teacher. She was a taskmaster who made all of her students more focused on the proper use of language, regardless of whether they appreciated it or not. For me and many others, however, she made us see and feel things that inspired us to reach for greater understanding and expression than we likely ever would have otherwise. As I hammered out the pages of this manuscript, Miss Smith was always there in the back of my mind, frequently prompting me to reconsider whether there might be a better way of saying something. Later, as the idea of this book began to form, other people encouraged me to pursue it, and so I want to give proper credit to them. Certainly , my aunt, Laverne Brown Barr, must be thanked because on hearing me speak of my experiences in Vietnam, she immediately began to encourage me to put the happenings down in writing, and this went on every time we had occasion to be together. An English teacher herself, she perhaps saw even better than I did the potential for a story that might be worth telling. Then there is Katherine Brown, my delightful daughter-in-law and also an English teacher, who proofed my early manuscripts and made invaluable suggestions as to better wording. Her encouragement and enthusiasm as I went through numerous drafts were continual sources of motivation. Later, Lieutenant Colonel Jody Trimble, my good friend, fraternity brother, and editor of the Sewanee Purple from our college days, was particularly helpful. Not only is he a scholar, he is also a highly decorated member of the Special Forces from the Vietnam War. His comments pertaining to military matters were extremely helpful as was his critical literary eye. Of course, special thanks must go to the staff at The University of Alabama Press for their professionalism and the way that they encourage writers. Without taking away from the essence of what the author is trying to get across, they unobtrusively point the writer in the right direction. Any would-be author can only grow and improve if he or she is fortunate enough to be invited to participate in their publishing program. I know that many others have contributed in one way or another. Thank you, everyone, and know that I am deeply grateful. Whether it x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS was a word of encouragement or actual suggestions to improve the manuscript, your efforts mean more to me than you can imagine. Finally, I must thank my wife, Jody McKnight Brown, who has had to put up with way too many evenings when I was glued to the word processor and, more important, who has had to endure the re-creation of the Vietnam experience. In many ways, the actual war was much harder on her than it was on me because...

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