Everything began with the “big bang;” so they say. My Vietnam odyssey heated up when a 57mm anti-aircraft shell exploded, ripping the rotor blades of my Navy A-4 Skyhawk engine to shreds. A smaller bang? Relatively. But the effect rippled forward like the big bang and rolls on 50 years later.
Okay, dropping into enemy territory by parachute significantly changes your life, but make no mistake, just because it happened to you, you’re not so special.
Family mourns, Vietnamese artillery celebrates, shipmates regroup and bureaucrats notate. The rippling effect begins. Good, bad and indifferent events happen, or not, are shaped, torn apart and interwoven over the years. Although not so special, here I am all these years later trying to make sense of all that’s happened and perhaps discovera few lessons of life. That’s what the Odyssey’s about and even if I don’t figure it out, I’ll let you know how it’s going.
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