WHY I DO ITI sleep under my bed because I’m afraid. I know how it sounds, and I’m not proud or anything, but I thought I’d better be up front about it. Y’see, the first night I spent in Vietnam, lying awake in a barracks and hearing the distant pop of artillery fire, I decided to sleep underneath my mattress. No way was some stray grenade or mortar shell taking my ass out. I slept like a goddamn baby under that thing. I’m serious. I don’t think I’ve ever slept so well in my life.
The next morning, I couldn’t move my arms or legs, so some of the other guys in my platoon—I think it was Sampson and Evers—had to lift the mattress off me. I got a good ribbing for it, but I didn’t give a damn. I was alive, man. That’s what counted.
The next night, I started sleeping under my bed, the springs k
