I was lucky enough to get to know and become friends with a soldier who had join the Army with his best friend in high school and both volunteer to become a Paratrooper at the beginning of the Vietnam build up,( you had to want to become a paratrooper and volunteer for that training, no one was ever forced into airborne, volunteers only) he was sent to the 173rd Airborne in late 1965 in Vietnam and serve his full year their and then was assign to Fort Ord as a drill sargent (SP?) in the advance training company that I was in, I was held in that company and became a training clerk for 8 months before being sent to Germany in late 1967.
I got to know him casually and later learned that his buddy was killed while on patrol right beside him by friendly fire from another paratrooper using a M79 grenade launcher that ended up hitting his buddy in the face, they were both 18 yrs old at that time. He told me that really tore him up inside for around 45 minutes and then he had to return to duty to finish that patrol.
He was fairly small and skinny so they used him as a tunnel rat a lot when on patrol when they found a tunnel that the enemy was using, that is something I wouldn't wish on any one I know and like. He did it and survived
The 173rd had the highest wounded and kill rate % in Vietnam from 1965 to 1967 that I knew of
My message is that war was hell on almost every one that serve over their, especially those wounded physically and mentally
Probably the worst part of serving over their was returning home and being booed and spit on by the hippy haters and war protesters