Bryan Tate was drafted right after he graduated college in 1968. Not wanting to lengthen his service commitment, he declined OCS, and instead went to basic training at Fort Benning, AIT at Fort Polk, returned to Fort Benning for jump school, and then went to NCO School, from which he graduated first in his class of 300 and was rewarded with a promotion to staff sergeant. Freshly minted Staff Sergeant Tate arrived at Bien Hoa in 1969 and was assigned to Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. He was stationed at FSB Kien, designated “a model for Vietnamization,” and was given responsibility for a platoon. As he recalls it, “I spent the first night out in the bush. And it rained. And I've never been so miserable and scared in all my life….” He describes sleeping in a hammock at the firebase, but on the ground with a poncho when out on ambush patrol, which was most nights. After the 1st Infantry went home, he was reassigned to the headquarters company of the 173rd Airborne Brigade at Bong Son. He remembers "Eagle flights," Bob Hope and Connie Stevens, Donut Dollies, and the horrors of war. He describes losing close friends in battle, incoming 122mm rockets, a close call with a helicopter crash, losing a dog and his handler, F-4s with 500-pound bombs "coming right at you," and evacuating a Soldier who was compromising an ambush by screaming in pain because he had leeches growing in his stomach. Tate also describes the actions for which he was awarded the Bronze Star with V, the heroism of a conscientious objector medic, and his dislike of the draft dodgers he crossed paths with years later in Canada.