This article first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service. Subscribe to their newsletter . In April 1968, I was a 21-year-old Air Force sergeant in Vietnam, assigned to an Army base camp surrounding the village of Lai Khe, nearly 40 miles north of Saigon. As usual, it was sweltering, hot, and humid. I was part of a forward air control team helping direct air strikes. One day, someone suggested that we could bring a bit