David Newhard is a veteran from the Vietnam War who served his country with bravery and excellence. His military career began right after he graduated high school when he decided to join the military. David chose to enlist so he could determine what area he wanted to serve in rather than being drafted to serve in an area that he did not prefer. David opted to join the army branch, and more specifically the military police. David’s expectation of the military police was a soldier who practiced law enforcement. Actually, the military police is a combat force, so his expectations did not meet reality. Newhard started his basic training in New Jersey, where he began learning the basic military skills. He learned how to survive …show more content…
He was assigned a mixture of duties each week including, law enforcement, tank operation, and outpost duty. David was surrounded by mostly men around the age of 18 or 19. Newhard expresses how difficult the fighting was because there were no distinct uniforms that the opposing side wore. This made it very hard to discern the enemy from the innocent. When it came time for Newhard to shoot, he had no hesitation to kill because the enemy was far away and he was fighting for his own life. David also recalls one of the scariest missions he had gone on. It was ten days until he left the country and his lieutenant ordered him to take some soldiers in the dark to look for the Viet Cong. Newhard felt that the mission was too scary, so he waited in a ditch for a while. When he came back, he reported that they did not spot any of the Viet Cong. David was also in a close call when someone threw a grenade underneath his vehicle, however, the grenade turned out to be a dud. Newhard was also injured in Vietnam. He cracked his head open on a doorway that was too short for him. Newhard was told at the beginning of his service that he would be in Vietnam for 365 days. When he had a month and a half left, he was allowed to go home. Two weeks later the man who replaced him was