Shortly, a thirty-eight-year-old sergeant who had been listening outside broke into the tent. The man's dark, ruddy face, hardened by the war, looked older than his age. The man, of another generation, stated authoritatively to the young troops:
"No, the Americans are not fighting in Laos because of a small group of Americans who do not support the war in the United States. They don't understand. They want all the Americans to leave Indochina," the sergeant told his men.
THE OTHER soldiers remained quiet. The sergeant stood, helmeted, with a flak jacket buckled tightly, in marked contrast to the younger, more leisurely soldiers who wore only fatigues and carried no weapons.
One Saigon University student, drafted into the army four months ago, sat in the corner of the tent listening to the sergeant. After the older man had left, the boy, grinning, responded to the other soldiers.
"What does that man know about economics and sociology? Has he been to Saigon to see what the bars are doing to the morals of Vietnamese women and children? Will killing North Vietnamese really bring us any closer to peace?" the young man asked the troops in the tent with him.
"I saw what the rockets are doing to the paratroopers. I saw what the American airplanes are doing to the North Vietnamese. It is the American economic empire that is perpetuating this war," the boy said bitterly, his eyes squinting behind black-framed glasses. Again, the other soldiers listened, saying nothing while the boy spoke.
Moments later a corporal said in a lower voice, contrasting the student who spoke before him. "Maybe if the communists would be given a small part in the government then the war would end," the twenty-three-year-old from Hue said. "The fighting has continued so long and there are so many poor," he added.
Though different opinions emerged in the conversation, a friendly atmosphere continued as the soldiers spoke in the tent. All of the soldiers were bound together by having to fight in an operation for which none felt directly responsible.
As life on these green hills, cut up by red clay roads, becomes routine for the support troops, the combat soldiers return from Laos with stories of horror and death which are eagerly consumed by all troops here. Battles are discussed as they develop from day to day.
A wicker basket held by one soldier attested to the exploits in the neighboring country, a country most Vietnamese consider to be much more inferior and more backward than their own.
"Some Laotians have died," the lieutenant added. "They run. We don't kill them. They just get in the middle of the fighting," he said, holding up his hands to disavow any responsibility.
"Me? I have done my job. I just want to stay around here now where I can sleep at night-without the sounds of rockets and bombs."
However, South Vietnamese troops are finding no respite in Khe Sanh. Since the retreat began, Khe Sanh is being rocketed daily.
( Copyright 1971, Dispatch News Service International )