Valiants Die Many Times...

Henry Torrès

Description

“It delivers a realistic view from one man’s eyes of the personal events of the Vietnam war and the effect it has on the mind.  It relates to his past and the corresponding existent present as we see his mind slowly develop into the present state.”

 

 

“It is a very strong mental view combat veterans from all wars experience.”

 

 

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“A very gripping story of how one’s past life can unexpectedly effect his future emotions”.

 

 

“Our present emotions and responses to our individual life’s situations are based on our past.  We are what life has evolved us into”.

 

 

Could it be nothing more than Mother Nature’s method of controlling over population?

Sujets

• Thrillers
• Suspense
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 02 mai 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781467867320
• Langue: English

Extrait

Valiants Die Many Times…
 
 
 
 
by
Henry Torres
 
 
 
 
 

 
AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive, Suite 200
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
© 2008 Henry Torres. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
First published by AuthorHouse 4/28/2008
 
ISBN: 978-1-4343-6469-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4678-6732-0 (eBook)
 
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008901327
 
Printed in the United States of America
Bloomington, Indiana
 
Contents
P – R – E – F – A – C – E  
One  
Two  
Three  
Four  
Five  
Six  
Seven  
Eight  
Nine  
Ten  
Eleven  
Twelve  
Thirteen  
Fourteen  
Fifteen  
Sixteen  
Seventeen  
Eighteen  
‘A Really Great Meeting’  
 
 

THE BIG RED ONE
This book is dedicated to the brave men who served with Alpha Company, 1 st battalion, 18 infantry brigade of the First Infantry Division during 1965 through 1970. We, who fought, served and died with Honor for our country.
also
To Jonathan Preston, a good friend. Thanks for encouraging me to write this book.
 
 
 
 
Cowards die many times before their deaths; The Valiant never taste of death but once……
 
 
William Shakesphere in
“Julius Ceasar”
Act II, Scene II
Line 32
 
 
P – R – E – F – A – C – E  
T he real challenge of life is within our inner selves. How we face or produce challenges is our own responsibility. Our mentality, or state of mind, is the basis on how we response to a particular challenge.
Or is it?
What are our responses actually based on? We all react from within ourselves. How is that reflective ‘within’ formed within our inner emotions?
Is it our past?
I think so.
We are a product of what our past has evolved us into.
Enjoy.
 
 
ONE  
W ar is hell. We have all seen it in the movies. We have all heard war stories at one time or another from a friend, a relative, or someone that is close to us.
War is combat.
War is an armed conflict in which people get hurt.
War is dying in combat.
War is being wounded.
Could it be nothing more than Mother Nature’s method of controlling over population?
This is the way we all have gotten to know war… Fierce human confrontations in which a lot of people either get killed or physically marred for the rest of their lives. These confrontations are just the physical aspects of war.
What about the mental aspects of war? Why is it that we don’t ever see or hear or understand the personal mental wounds of war. The personal mental torments suffered by those who didn’t get killed or wounded.
The type of torment a fighting combat soldier faces when he is not in combat. It is when the mind starts playing games with its owner. It is that one single time out of many that no one understands but the person who thinks it. For many generations the grunt had to live through it all without having any assurance that he would make it home or maybe, just maybe, making it home sooner than expected other than by being a casualty. Those mental obstacles too, are very serious wounds. Sometimes these mental casualties may be worse than actually dying or getting seriously wounded. It is an aspect of war that has always been neglected by the majority of the world’s population. There are men who suffered through those experiences and still continue to do so.
These are the unsung heroes.
Many of these men still suffer from the mental anguish of once having had to hunt each other down for the maximum kill… Man hunt man. The ultimate hunt.
The mental aspect of war we have always been exposed to is only that of the ones who were injured or killed in combat. We believe that these were the fighting men who actually lived through the real experience of war. Unlike the movies, war is not fighting twenty-four hours a day. There is a lot of time in between battles that also produce a devastating effect on the brave men who were there.
It is the ‘in between times’ combined with combat that devastated most of the men who pursued and came face to face with the enemy and the environment.
It was not only just the face to face combat. It is the constant realization that sooner or later they were going to die. At the very least, get wounded. They could consider themselves really lucky if they didn’t lose a limb or get shot in the crotch. After all, no man wants to lose his dick.
One of the greatest obstacles in war and also in life as we all know it, is the acceptance of dying. It lures over our heads all of the time. This by itself, is a lot of weight to carry on anybody’s shoulders. Sometimes, in war, a person hopes to get wounded or maybe even die just to get out of the misery of the life he has to go through in this war environment. Even though it may not all be combat. A person feels isolated and feels that no one knows what exists in this environment except those who are living through it. It is a miserable experience having to live in the environment of war with no way out. No way out, but to die or get wounded. A person can only take it in whatever manner the hand of God deals the outcome to you.
It is a lonely job understood only by those who perform it. It can be so lonely that sometimes there is nothing around you to hold on to for support.
Nothing… Absolutely nothing that can help support your lonely thoughts and encourage you to continue living.
What you are about to read is a story of one man who lived through such experiences. Even though it does not reflect the entire year he spent there in the war zone, you will still be able to see through his eyes what he saw and felt. It is the loneliness and the self-crying out from within one’s soul wanting to get out of the situation. But, he can’t get out. He is trapped inside his own body and trapped in a life that he must deal with. How will he survive? Will he survive?
He is there. Trapped in a miserable situation until his turn is up. But yet, he finds different objects to hold on to. The Little Dipper, the star constellation, just happened to be one of them. It was the reliable friend that was always there in the night sky when he wanted someone he could talk to. It was one of those things that could allow him an escape from reality. Even if was just for a few minutes or maybe a even couple of hours.
Our past life is something we resort to when we are in need of self-support. We remember the good times we had growing up with our friends and family and all of our loved ones. But, sometimes the bad times of the past surface. As we get older we learn how to use these bad experiences to our advantage.
Or, do we?
The real challenge is within our selves. We, the ones who remained to face all of the challenges that life and God has dealt. In war the lucky ones are the ones who get out with their million dollar wounds that are not serious enough to cause death, but are serious enough to allow them to be sent home. Then there are the ones who get to go home by getting killed… dead… a physical casualty of war.
The lucky ones in real life get a way out of the situation by either mentally falling out of reality or by dying. But, there are those who continue to live. Those are the ones who have no escape from the heavy burden placed on their shoulders. The ones that continue to live and face situations as they confront them. Life can deal us a lot of unbearable moments.
People find ways to help themselves continue on. Sometimes we reach a point in which we feel that we have totally run out of supportive options. The inner pain of our life grows larger and more painful as it reaches deeper into our soul. The weight placed on our shoulders can sometimes start to get heavier by the hour. It is then that we begin the search for the ultimate way to get out of our sufferings. It is during this ultimate challenge that the ‘valiant’ within ourselves surfaces. Or, does it? If so, is it for better or is it for worse?
Life is hell. Life is hell because it can be hard and can be real hell if one cannot overcome tragedy, sorrow or death.
What if you are unable to overcome these obstacles?
War is a part of life and ‘Life is hell’.
Enjoy.
 
 
TWO  
“ C owards die many times before their deaths: The Valiant never taste of death but only once.”
So did the great Julius Caesar in the work of William Shakespeare speak the words.
Despite the warnings of his faithful loving wife, Calpurnia, Julius Caesar elected to face the day and report to the Senate House where he was to face certain death at the hands of his fellow friends and Romans.
His disapproval of cowardice and his almighty will to face life as life is dealt was dealt to him eventually led to his death. He was truly a valiant human being. He confronted this challenge of life that had stood before him, and he did so very boldly.
It was during a face to face confrontation that his eyes and his best friend Brutus’s eyes met. And it was when he felt the point of Brutus’s knife enter deep into his body that he knew then that his life was over. It was then, as the long slender blade of Brutus’s knife slowly and painfully entered his body that for a little more than a mere second, his mind wandered and reached out. It reached out to once again relive the long faithful friendship that once tied him and Marcus Brutus together as best of friends