Captured

I thought I'd been captured once in 'Nam. My truck stopped running one night on the highway about 10 miles from Cam Ranh Bay. I was half smashed which might have resulted in faulty judgement. I set out on foot determined to walk the rest of the way.

Very shortly a heavily armed chap came up from the roadside ditch. He was wearing black pajamas and was carrying an assault rifle, pointed at me, grenades, a cartridge belt and I'm sure much more.

I said, "Hi there. How ya doin'?" as if greeting an old friend. I still marvel at that and don't quite understand it. Probably I was just accepting my fate, which I no longer had any control over.

He marched me down the road to a little hut which contained others of his self defence platoon. Yeah, it turned they were on my side, I wasn't captured after all.

I went back to my truck in the morning, got it started and finished my trip to Cam Ranh Bay