Killing Peace II

By Sam Tabalno

In his mind Pineapple Sam clings to the rhetoric that it is necessary to stop the spread of Russian communism. While the more emotional, human side of him is horrified at the actions he sees take place on his fellow man.

It is a revelation of how a youth of the mid-19th century faced the inevitable life as US Marine where valor is the only food on the table. It is the hippie age where the popular slogans “Make Love Not War” and “Hippie Flower Child” penetrated the airwaves. It allows each reader to take a closer look at the past generation and how the events in the past affected the current setting.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sam Tabalno
• Release date: Jul 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301540075

Sam Tabalno

Pineapple Sam is the character that embodies the life and stories of Sam Tabalno, who grew up on the shores of the Hawaiian Islands and later ventured outward in the world to embark on many fascinating adventures. Pineapple Sam loved to “talk story” as they say on the islands and decided to write his stories. Now many of his friends, family, and readers like you, can share in his adventures.

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The Life and Adventures of Pineapple Sam

Killing Peace II

by Pineapple Sam

Copyright © 2011 Pineapple Sam

Smashwords Edition

License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my faithful readers and listeners. Without you, my stories would be nothing but jumbled letters, tossed together with no meaning. Thank you for giving me a purpose, a reason to continue telling my stories with passion and enjoyment. If you are not a reader or a listener at heart, please pass this work on so the adventures of Pineapple Sam can be discovered and enjoyed by others who are.

Disclaimer

The following memoirs are constructed from what I (and others with whom I conferred) can remember of the times depicted. While each and every event may not be true in every detail, the events described herein contain a larger truth that I refer to as emotional truth. These are the ways the memories have presented themselves to me and have grown in my mind as I have made a concerted effort to recall and reflect on the gifts of the past. I look forward to hearing from others who may remember things differently so that we may all learn from each other in our shared recollections.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Tour of Duty

Morality and Survival

Medals and Rewards

Homecoming

PTSD Dilemma

About the Author

Other books by Pineapple Sam

Killing Peace II

Introduction

In Kauai, a Hawaiian Island, I am known as Pineapple Sam. I have always enjoyed telling stories about my life experiences. Many tell me they enjoy my stories, so I am glad to share chapters of my life journey as long as I can. Writing has turned out to be harder than I thought, but I promised myself I would leave stories behind so my loved ones will have some idea of what Pineapple Sam was all about.

More often than not, the stories involve something that happened to me personally. This allows me to express the true sentiment and feeling behind the stories so that you, as a reader or listener, can experience each moment in a way that cannot be found in a fictional story. I have found that stories are more compelling if they come straight from the horse’s mouth, as they say.

My adolescent and teenage years were exciting times in my life, as were the years that followed. I am sure your own life has been just as exciting and unique, and I hope your future years will be just as colorful.

My older brother, Hank, was already in country in ‘Nam while I was undergoing advanced military training in the United States Marine Corps. I could have easily sat that war out; however, I felt a personal need and patriotic duty to serve alongside Hank and so many others in defending our country against all enemies, foreign or domestic.

This book is a brief glimpse of events that occurred during my tour of duty in South Vietnam, as well as a recollection of my personal aftermath, when I returned home to our beautiful garden island, Kauai. Perhaps these pages will speak to you because you’ve known someone who has gone through similar experiences. Or, if you are one of the select few who have experienced similar teenage dilemmas and adult stigma, this book may serve as a reminder of both tough and triumphant times in life. While some might call this a work of fiction, others may consider it creative nonfiction, but each of the stories you are about to read is based on actual events as I remember them. Like we say in the islands, "Go figa!

Killing Peace II

Tour of Duty

After a few months patrolling the jungles and rice paddies of South Vietnam, I did not feel we were making any positive difference in the war effort. We were not winning any major battles or hearing any good news on the radio or rare television reports. I was growing weary of the same old propaganda, claiming we were winning, so when that began to get stale, we searched for music stations or played music cassettes. The bullcrap about antiwar demonstrations throughout the U.S. confused a lot of us who were over there, knee-deep in grime and gore, fighting for what we thought our country wanted. I grew numb and insensitive in the jungles of Vietnam, merely existing day by day, trying to survive and with little tolerance for empathy. Of course, it probably had a lot to do with being buzzed on weed or booze; then again, it was difficult to tell if those were the symptom or the problem.

When I saw my first dead body, an enemy, it frightened and stunned me. I was overcome with deep regret, recalling that the corpse before me was once a real, living, breathing human being, a real person, someone’s brother or son or friend. While it was shocking, I quickly got over that phase of combat indoctrination. I was gaining combat bush smarts and earning my dues in our own personal version of hell.

It wasn’t long before I became desensitized about death. The mutilated, grotesque, smashed, punctured, bleeding, amputated, and dismembered bodies were merely a natural part of war, no big deal. This was hard enough to swallow, but when it was a close friend, a companion, or someone I was associated with in some way, it was a whole different story. ‘Nam was a bonding experience, and we shared memories and a history in the short time we were thrown together by war, so those deaths were something far more personal than a standard body count.

Besides the personal and human tragedies, the economical cost of things didn’t factor in our moral conscience. Waste abounded. I called in artillery strikes in areas where we suspected enemy movements. Sometimes it was like a game, and we joked around after the strikes about how much of Uncle Sam’s money we’d spent on bombs, rockets, and other