Conneticut to Vietnam 1968

From his home in Conneticut Rob to arrived in I CORP, the military region nearest the demarcation line (or DMZ) between North and South Vietnam, some 9,000 miles away and half way around the planet.

Arriving in Vietnam Rob was one of the "green seeds" in his squad. The "old-timers", who had been in combat for some months were withdrawn and silent and did not talk to the newly arrived. In his book Rob referred to them as the "undead zombies". When he became an old-timer he better understood their silence.

Rob had reason for titling his book "Alone in Vietnam" as he explains in his Preface (because of the US Army's policy of 365-day tours of duty). But there were a half a million other men on their own tours of duty in Vietnam. Over 550,000 American troops were inside Vietnam in 1968, the most of any other year during the war. The same year saw the peak in American casualties: 16,592. Troops were being killed at a rate of aprox. 1382 per month. A total of 2,594,000 American troops (1,736,000 of which were in the Army) went to Vietnam during the war.

Rob's is one story among many.