Well good to hear, in that if he was throwing me bull. But he was a scary dude, no mistaking that fact. He had a demeanor that he was dangerous.
And he may well have saved my life. I came down with pneumonia while I was in Louisiana. I wasted away in a hotel room, eating only a few soda crackers. I could not look at food without feeling nauseous. I dropped 25 pounds. He came along one day at lunch time, knocked on the door. I answered in my skives. He said, 'get dressed, we are going to eat lunch.' I said, just leave me alone, I cannot even look at food, to which he responded, 'either get dressed and come with me, or I am dragging you from the room and taking you to the restaurant dressed as you are and shoving food down your throat. Your choice'. I got dressed, and we went to this restaurant where everything they give you is in a separate bowl. The table top was covered with bowls of food. Just looking at the food was torture. I ate about half my food, forcing every bite. Next morning, I woke up and felt so good, I went to work. I was very weak, but I was anxious to get back.
His stories go back to 1976 through 78, and his comment was 'these young guys right out of college would come to Nam, and want to go out into the jungle to kill g(*&s'. I assumed he was talking about 90 day wonders, and not guys from the academy.