Ghosts and Shadows

<p> The author arrived at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego ill-prepared for the training and abuse that awaited him in boot camp. At the time he would have done anything to escape; only upon reflection years later did he realize that the self-confidence instilled in him by his drill instructors had probably saved his life in Vietnam. A few months after boot camp Private Ball was shipped out to Vietnam joining F Company 2nd Battalion 3rd Marines near Khe Sanh. As a grunt in the vernacular of the Corps Ball like the other youths of F Company did a difficult and deadly job in such places as the A Shau Valley Leatherneck Square the DMZ and other obscure but critical I Corps locales. His--their--fear of death mingled with homesickness. Little did they realize that the horrors of the Vietnam War--horrors that while in-country they often claimed did not even exist--would haunt them for the rest of their lives.</p>