Richard returned to Dong Ha a couple of days after his date with Laura. He spent the following day with Jake and Cindy, and the next day in the skies flying halfway back around the planet. In essence, the four-day furlough was actually half travel, half R&R.
He knew what overseas relationships were like as evidenced by his brothers in arms. There was the new romance, the recruits who carried the pics of their sweethearts as holy relics in their wallets and waited for incoming mail as dogs wishing for a bone. The husbands and dads became pious, praying to God to watch over their families and that they would return home in one piece. Those whose families could not endure were the most wretched, degenerate alcoholics whose death wish made them the most dangerous of all.
He met Fritz for cof
