Another Day in the Life of a Soldier

By Ron Childs

This story is based on the life of Robert Cross. I met Mr. Cross in 1994 while traveling as an evangelist in Central Florida. I stopped by a fish camp to get off the road for a few days, and Robert was the owner of the camp. We became good friends at the first contact.

Mr. Cross was fighting postwar syndrome from the Vietnam War. He shared with me some of his past about how Jesus had converted him and called him to be a minister of the cross.

Mr. Cross’s past experience has inspired me to strive to be the best that I can be and use all the entire gifts and strength that God has given me. I told Mr. Cross that I enjoyed writing and asked him if I could use his story to write a book. He gladly said yes. Later, Mr. Cross introduced me to Carl, who was a board member of the church. Carl had worked with the church from the start in Titusville and was a board member until Robert passed. Carl provided me with most of the information for the book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984559753

Ron Childs

Ron Childs is Senior Pastor of the Worship Center Located in Lake City Florida. Mr. Childs has spent 40+ years in the Ministry. Ron and his Wife Geneva will celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary in December 2018. Ron and Geneva are still active in the Church and Community: They have no plans of retiring, and both look forward to continue their ministry.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Another Day In The Life Of A Soldier

Robert grew up in Virginia just a few miles from Washington DC, he was raised different than most boys; he grew up in a family where military type discipline was the order of the day. Though his dad was not present in Robert’s young life, his mom fulfilled her husband’s disciplining rules.

Robert was born into a Military family; he was the son of a General and grandson of a General. Robert’s family had served in the Army before the war of 1812, when his great-great-grandfather joined the U.S. Army and brought his British military skills to the U.S. Army. Robert’s Grandfather served in the 1st and 2nd World War, and His father served in the 2nd World War and in the Korean conflict. Robert’s Mom was a registered Army nurse, and she also was raised in a Military Family.

Robert was designated to be a soldier form birth, he was reared in a home where failure was not an option and crying was not permitted; one whimper and dessert was gone. When he had a problem, His Mom would say, Soldiers don’t cry. Robert was taught self-discipline and that all of your actions are accountable. Robert knew if a teacher sent a note home about bad behavior that there would be severe consequences for his behavior.

At Robert’s 5th birthday he received a gun and Camouflage uniform, his dad proudly commented, "Robert you look like a squared away soldier. When Robert was 12 yrs, he was sent to a military school, not as a delinquent; but to be taught Military discipline and learn how to be a soldier. Robert remembered well his first night away from home at the Military school; he was put on a private plane and flew to Athens Tennessee, where he would remain until he was 18 yrs old. Robert remembered wanting to cry, but he knew he would be in deep trouble at home for his disgrace. Robert’s Grandparents would always visit him on holidays and were present to bring him home at the closing of each school year.

At 16 Robert spent his summer vacation in cadet school and completed the regular army boot camp, he was now squared away and well self-disciplined. Robert was now beginning to prepare for a life in the U.S. Army and was in the process of getting ahead in the game of military. At his graduation from military school, his Grandfather stood up to receive his awards, his Dad was stationed over seas and felt it was more important to look after his command than attend a graduation ceremony for his son!

CHAPTER 2

At 18 Robert began his training at West Point Military Academy; the next 4 years would make him a commissioned officer and a gentleman with respect and regards. The daily grind of military life was nothing new for Robert; he had lived the life for 18 years and was well suited for the rigid training that awaited him. Robert met a Nurse student while in training at West Point and were married shortly after graduation with a military wedding: His family approved of Linda, she was also a military brat. Her Dad was a Cornel in the Army and was highly decorated for his service in South Korea: That won approval from Robert’s parents and grandparents; they felt like the Army tradition in the family was now secure for another generation and that Robert’s offspring would keep up the tradition.

After graduation, Robert’s first duty station was Ft. Binning GA. He loved the ridged training preparing him for jump school. After completing training, they boarded a C127 Fairchild and took to the air. Robert and his men were restless as the prepared themselves for their first jump; would it be successful? Would they die on impact or would they be crippled for life? Soon all thoughts would be answered. You could hear the engines slow as the door was opened and Robert stepped forward for his first jump, following the Jump Sergeant’s orders, Robert leaned forward, rolled out the door into open space, in a split second he felt a sharp jerk and heard the chute snap as it opened. In a few seconds he felt himself gliding on the wind, he looked down at the ground that was speeding upward to meet him and suddenly he got a thrill of parachuting! The next three months Robert and his unit trained in advanced tactics and practiced different jump movements.

After graduation he was transferred to Fort Poke for Recon and Delta training. He was introduced to jungle life and living in the swamps would help him adapt to Vietnam. The Recon training taught them hand-to-hand-combat regularly used by the South Viennese Army: Robert was trained by the South Vietnamese Army, so they would be equipped for any action with the Vietcong. Robert never spoke about his training and the Delta Unit: He must have been instructed to remain silent about his training and the purpose of the Special Unit he seldom mentioned them in his Journal.

After Fort Poke, Robert was transferred to Pensacola Florida for advanced Recon training. The crawling through Pensacola Bay at midnight added to the excitement and challenge of success. At the completion of his training, he was a combat ready soldier. Many times Robert remised about the jump training at FT. Binning, it was a great thrill for him, he loved the excitement from hanging from a parachute and shouting orders to his men. In his Military carrier Robert would log over 600 jumps, many into combat in Viet Nam.

CHAPTER 3

Wham-bam-Viet Nam

The first assignment for Robert and his men came in 1967, Vietnam: He was excited about the opportunity of serving in a war zone, he felt like he could conquer the world if only giving a chance. Linda was 5 months pregnant when Robert’s squadron pulled out for Nam: She watched as Robert’s unit boarded the jet heading for Saigon, she recognized that she was second in Robert’s love life, that being a soldier was his first love. Linda packed all her belongings into the car and returned to her parent’s home in VA, where Robert II would be born. After the birth of her son, Linda returned back to work as a nurse at the military hospital where she dedicated her time to raising her son and her carrier. With hard work and studying at night, Linda was soon promoted head nurse of her shift.

Linda spent most of her free time with Robert II, her social life was the hospital library, and she seldom spent an evening with the girls. She was devoted to Robert and her marriage and was determined to be a great wife to Robert.

In Vietnam, the first few weeks were mind bogging for Robert; he would follow a Gunny Sergeant through the Mekong Delta region as he and his men got their first taste of war. They were on a routine mission of gathering intelligence when out of the trees dropped a small band of VC. The battle only lasted a few minutes, but would change Robert and his men forever, they had reached the point of war and there was no return. By the first of the month, Robert was in full charge of his men and Gunny was just an adviser to him. Robert would lead his men by the direction of Command and take them into all the regions designated. Some days there was combat with the VC, but most time he was tracking the movement of the enemy.

Like most of West Point graduates, Robert vowed to his men that he would not leave his men on the battle field, if they were wounded or dead, he would personally see that they returned to the post, in just a few weeks Robert’s word was put to test; they were engaged in a battle that was overwhelming and had to pull back into defense mode and until help arrived. The VC were coming out of the woods, there was fighting on every side! A few moments before a regiment of Marines arrived, a F8 dropped maypom on the enemy. After the fighting Robert realized that one of his men was dead and three more were wounded and had to be air lifted from the field.

The war was just escalating and Robert and his men were pulled back to Saigon, waiting for orders: while in Saigon Robert, heard President Johnson promising the America people that we would soon have a complete victory in a few months, that the skill and combat readiness of the U.S. Military was superior to the North Vietnamese and the war was almost over, just more training of the South Vietnamese troops and we can pull out.

Robert saw a different war; The South Vietnamese were not interested in engaging in war with the North. Within the next 2 weeks Robert lost a man in a fire fight with the Vietcong VC The battle lasted less than 6 minutes and Robert’s point man was killed the first 2 seconds of combat! The VC was on both sides of the trail and struck with Gorilla combat: The battle netted 9 VC killed and 4 wounded and captured.

The next battle would be more severe; Robert and his men would fight for 3 days with finally calling in air support of maypom drop and finally an F8 with two 2000 lbs bombs; Robert’s men would survive with no causalities and only two wounded. Robert’s unit was air lifted from the Delta reign to be briefed on the new war strategy of the war by General Westmoreland; the briefing would introduce a chemical to remove the vegetation from the jungles, giving the men a better view of the enemy; the chemical was code named Agent Orange. Robert was informed that there was no known health hazards related with the Herbicide, and was not believed to harm humans, and would be sprayed from aircraft, which would put less personal in the presence of the VC. The news