ant received a Dear John letter. The sergeant was obviously upset and waded out into the lake, with the intention to commit suicide. He walked in up to his knees and decided that if the sergeant would not come to his senses and come out he would hit him over the head with the butt of his gun and drag him out. Fortunately, for the both of them, Garey was able to reason with the sergeant and he came out of the water (Guarisco interview). Mortar attacks occurred quite often, mostly at night. Crimes were not only committed by the enemy, but also by fight. ellow American soldiers. Garey witnessed no injured being brought into his base camp, but being transferred out. When Garey first arrived at his base camp, in Quang Tri, there was a first sergeant that had had two claymore mines placed under his bed. The first had been faulty and had not exploded. The second had nothing wrong with it and it succeeded in blowing off both of his legs (Guarisco interview). A significant contributor to the amount of crimes committed by American soldiers in Vietnam was drugs (Charasteristics). The young men were sick of the war, so in between battles they used their extra money for drugs (Consequences). Garey estimated that seventy-five percent of the men in Vietnam used drugs. Heroin was cheap, only five dollars a vial and because of its purity, the effects of heroin lasted much longer (Appendix C2). The job guarding an ammo dump in Long Bien proved to be secure because after roughly eight months of serving for his country, Garey received his orders to return home at the conclusion of February 1972. Walking down the street, going home, he met his brother who was on his way to work (Guarisco interview). Garey was finally home, far away from the horrors of a war that was not going to be won. Americans felt the need to intervene in South Vietnam in 1965, aiming to prevent Communist rule in the country (Chandler). As a consequence Vi...
