Memory Moments

I find myself comparing life today with my past. Little things seem to trigger memories. Being on military bases again brings back memories.

I carry a backpack with me when we go outside to train on the equipment. It contains important notebooks full of information to assist me in teaching. It also contains a flashlight, a Leatherman tool, and a Buck knife in convenient pouches attached to the outside for easy access. Another pouch contains a spare pair of eyeglasses, my camera, and memory stick.

While getting my camera out of that pouch I noticed the tag inside, "Made in Vietnam." It is ironic that today I carry my training tools in a backpack with a pouch made in Vietnam attached to it.

I spent my youth watching neighbors and friends go to Vietnam and engage in combat. They risked, and some lost, their lives against the North Vietnamese Army. It was all in the fight against Communism. As youth we spent our young lives worrying about the time that we might have to go over and fight. Fortunately, before I could go the war ended.

Today we trade goods with the Vietnamese. Does that mean we were successful? I don't really know. What I do know is that that seeing that label inside my pack as it sat in the front seat of a military Humvee provided me one of those memory moments. Too often I wonder what I have accomplished on this earth. Memories give me feelings of having been somewhere. Memories make me think it has all been worth it.