- Aug 14, 2002
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Overcoming Fear
I remember my first day in Da Nang after flying in from Camron Bay AFB exhausted to the bone from three days without sleep. I arrived in one of those noisy old propjob troop carriers, which should have been retired from service back in the 50's. My entire body was numb from the continual shaking of the aircraft and I thought I might be deaf, at least for a few days.
I climbed in a truck near the air base thinking I was going to my new assignment, but instead I ended up, after about 30 miles, on the outskirts of the jungle in an area called Monkey Mountain...notorious for VC sniper attacks. It seems there was a heavy equipment supply depot that needed a guard for the night and I was conveniently available.
There was one tower in the middle of the depot and I was the sole guard on duty to watch over some worn-out bulldozers and road equipment. I put on my flack jacket, shouldered an M-16 and started climbing up the tower. I heard the corporal for the depot tell me that in 12 hours he would be back to relieve me.
As I sat in the tower watching the darkening jungle, I wondered if I would even survive my first day out here. I had no radio to call for help so if anything happened I was on my own. And it seemed that with the thought still fresh in my mind several rifle shots passed over my head...very close. I hit the floor of the tower and the shots continued some pounding the sandbags above my head.
Now I was getting nervous, maybe even a bit worried. I wondered if the sniper would move in closer; what if he could shoot through the floor boards into me? The rifle shots continued intermittently all night and I stayed on the floor of the guard tower thinking I didn't really need to see what was out there.
Eventually the morning came and the corporal returned to his post. I climbed down the tower and told him about the sniper. The corporal glibly said, "Oh we get snipers every night out here. Just keep your head down cause they don't come any closer than the jungle perimeter." I replied, "It would have been nice if someone had told me that", but he only shrugged and walked nonchalantly away.
As I sat in the truck heading back to Da Nang I thought about my first day and first assignment and how fear had not defeated me despite some preliminary doubts on my part. The reality of the situation was not nearly as terrifying as my dismal expectations had been.
"I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." (Psalm 34:4-5)
"Courage is the mastery of fear...not the absence of fear." (Mark Twain
I remember my first day in Da Nang after flying in from Camron Bay AFB exhausted to the bone from three days without sleep. I arrived in one of those noisy old propjob troop carriers, which should have been retired from service back in the 50's. My entire body was numb from the continual shaking of the aircraft and I thought I might be deaf, at least for a few days.
I climbed in a truck near the air base thinking I was going to my new assignment, but instead I ended up, after about 30 miles, on the outskirts of the jungle in an area called Monkey Mountain...notorious for VC sniper attacks. It seems there was a heavy equipment supply depot that needed a guard for the night and I was conveniently available.
There was one tower in the middle of the depot and I was the sole guard on duty to watch over some worn-out bulldozers and road equipment. I put on my flack jacket, shouldered an M-16 and started climbing up the tower. I heard the corporal for the depot tell me that in 12 hours he would be back to relieve me.
As I sat in the tower watching the darkening jungle, I wondered if I would even survive my first day out here. I had no radio to call for help so if anything happened I was on my own. And it seemed that with the thought still fresh in my mind several rifle shots passed over my head...very close. I hit the floor of the tower and the shots continued some pounding the sandbags above my head.
Now I was getting nervous, maybe even a bit worried. I wondered if the sniper would move in closer; what if he could shoot through the floor boards into me? The rifle shots continued intermittently all night and I stayed on the floor of the guard tower thinking I didn't really need to see what was out there.
Eventually the morning came and the corporal returned to his post. I climbed down the tower and told him about the sniper. The corporal glibly said, "Oh we get snipers every night out here. Just keep your head down cause they don't come any closer than the jungle perimeter." I replied, "It would have been nice if someone had told me that", but he only shrugged and walked nonchalantly away.
As I sat in the truck heading back to Da Nang I thought about my first day and first assignment and how fear had not defeated me despite some preliminary doubts on my part. The reality of the situation was not nearly as terrifying as my dismal expectations had been.
"I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." (Psalm 34:4-5)
"Courage is the mastery of fear...not the absence of fear." (Mark Twain
