The Storm

“What do you say, Gunny? No guts no glory, right?” Gunny just stared at me and then spoke up. “Okay, Kid. Are you up to this, Hot-Shot? They might come after you. You ready for that, Kid?” “I’m a reporter and we mig ht have never been in the soup like you guys have, but we have been at risk anytime we break a high-profile story. Civilians can be pretty nasty as well,” I responded. Gunny answered with a “Yeah, we had civilians shootin' at us on a regular basis in NAM.” “Okay, it’s a deal then?” I responded. “Can we get some coffee or something.” Gunny headed out of the room and disappeared to what I supposed was a kitchen somewhere. I turned to Henry and asked, “Where did you guys meet?” “Coronado Island just outside o f San Diego at the Naval Training center.” Henry went on, “We were recruits and joined the sea, air, and land special ops group. You've heard of the Navy SEALS, haven’t you, Zach?” “Yes Sir,” I responded. Henry went on, "It was 1962 and we were young, strong, and dumb concernin' what was ahead of us. We wanted to be the best, and the SEAL’s were the best of the best. UDT is an underwater demolition group, and we went through all of the training, finishin' Hell Week in Coronado. “What's Hell Week ?” I asked. Henry replied “It’s where they try to wash you out and make life hell for a solid week of submersion and sleep deprivation. You literally feel that you will die. The majority drop out during this time, but Gunny and I were determined to make it, and we did, with flyin' colors, and were downright proud of it, too. We were invincible, or so we thought. But Vietnam taught us differently. Our deployment there brought a whole different understandin' to warfare, but I’ll wait 'till Gunny gets back to go into it. "

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