Teenagers War Quotes

“I’m a young man, trained to do what is necessary, but all the training in the world can’t prepare you for the first time you have to kill another human being or see a buddy get blown apart. No, I’m not tough… I’m scared.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“When you have so much to live for, fear is more predominant than ever.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“The only thing war will ever do (and do well), is decrease the world’s population of young men.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“Now, you’ve never seen a rat, until you’ve seen a Vietnamese rat. That’s unless you include some o the politicians who push to keep this war going at the same time they are helping their own sons escape the draft.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“What could it be in this country that transforms young, vibrant, innocent guys like me into steely-eyed, sharp-tongued, single -minded killers with “the thousand yard stare?”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“I want to forget this awful place. Yet, at the same time, I never want to forget the many lessons that enabled me to mature quickly from just a skinny kid with a scraggly mustache, into a young man working so hard to seem older than his few years, as he evolves into early manhood.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“The war draws you into it and changes you forever. That’s what war does best.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“The talking works most of the time. Sometimes though, it isn’t enough. Then, many turn to drugs. It’s widespread in Vietnam. Pot is the drug of choice for most casual users. Only the hardcore users step up to the harder drugs like cocaine, opium or heroin.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“The side of the base, that only hours before had been the site of a company of artillery pieces, is now gone. All of the men, the machines and even the very earth they stood on – are gone.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“Trouble! Now that’s one commodity we never run short of in Vietnam.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“You don’t know LONELY till you’re in a war zone and cut off from everything and everyone you know and love.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“The one certain thing In the Army is – nothing is ever certain.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“The radio is playing Blood, Sweat and Tears’ “And When I Die” as I drift off to sleep listening to the artillery fire in the distance.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“You come from a nice home and family and had a comfortable life. You had a nice warm, dry bed to crawl into every night and the last thing on your mind was being bombed, rocketed, mortared or generally physically endangered.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“I’m only “in-country” for minutes when the rocket attack that kept the plane from landing resumes with a vengeance.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“There are hundreds – no thousands of guys waiting to get on that magic flight back to the world. I’m just a grain of sand in the desert of people with a single thought: home!”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“As we all know, everyone feels fear. How it’s handled is what’s different between people. You look into the eyes of anyone on board the plane and see it. It’s ever-present.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“When you’re in the boonies and fighting for your own life, you can’t stop and have a good cry because the best friend in your life just checked out of the war and left nothing but emptiness in his place.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“The reason for the shaved heads and plain olive drab uniforms when you are recruited into the military is to immediately begin training “you”, the individual, to think as “us” the team.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“The only thing worse than fighting in a war, is fighting in a war within a war.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“It’s the moment I’ve waited for, for an entire year. My feelings are welling up inside of me as I bounce up the stairs and into the plane. As I look back I see a solid line of green uniforms going from the gate to the plane. 400+ individuals with a single thought-HOME! I’m actually going back home.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“I’ve been raised by a father who is the consummate macho man. He has a face carved of stone and wouldn’t give anyone the chance to believe that he might have any feelings of pain or sadness. He brought me and my there brothers up not to cry.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“Sorrow is also a terrible weapon of destruction, one that kills from the inside out.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“I’m young, strong, healthy meat for the “little conflict” that got out of hand.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“Then you fall into this area of numbness I call “I don’t care about all this stuff, I’m going to live or die, but not in fear.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“Friendship here is like a flower that blooms in the desert; it blossoms from the harshest environment to add something special to the lives it touches.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“Something people don’t think much about when they write a soldier in a war zone is how much diversion can refresh the soul.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“In Vietnam, particularly in the boonies, you are your brother’s keeper – and he yours.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“After all, how many people can understand what it’s like to be a young male in the 60’s and being scared to death, without showing it? I taste it, I cry about it, but the only way I find to handle it-is to face it. FEAR!”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969

“That shot helped to fracture the chain of command within the enemy ranks and signaled the beginning of the end for the ambush. He gave his life to help others live…. that’s a hero.”
― Michael Zboray, Teenagers War: Vietnam 1969