Losing It in Vietnam chronicles nineteen-year-old Jason Cord's loss of humanity, and perhaps his soul. He arrives in Vietnam with pictures of his ex-girlfriend Kim stuffed in the bottom of his duffle bag. He sees himself as a Hemingway hero: courageous, confident and introspective. Secure in his belief he'll come home the hero, he fantasizes reunited with Kim, being together forever the way they were. The first week in-country Jason and his best friend, Carlos, visit the whores of Nha Trang. Jason remains faithful to his fantasy. Carlos plays musical beds. Bored pulling guard duty, Carlos trades Sergeant Major Peoletty's wife's roses for the use of a gunboat to go water skiing. The Sergeant Major goes ballistic. Threaten with a court martial for the missing roses, Jason and Carlos spend two weeks with the Ninth Infantry in the Mekong Delta. Jason wastes his first gook. The experience fills him with awe, pride and nagging doubt. I'm still the same person aren't I? Attached to an ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) training center in Nha Trang as advisers, Carlos spends his evenings servicing the whores of Nha Trang. Jason meets Jewel, a fifteen year old prostitute, and becomes her regular. The first village sweep with a company of ARVNs turns into a rout, half the ARVNs sky out in the middle of a firefight. A month later, during a sweep and block joint operation with the U.S. Marines, Carlos is wounded and sent back to the World. Jason is left on his own. During Jason's third ARVN operation, he refuses to execute three VC and is put up for a court martial. Colonel Palmer sends Jason to the deep boonies. Assigned to a Sergeant Sozniack, a soldier's soldier, Sozniack, Jason, a Mike Force, and two Yard guides are sent into Laos to conduct a BDA, Bomb Damage Assessment. Jason befriends one of the Yard guides, a twelve-year-old kid who's named himself "Cowboy" after seeing his first western movie. In the middle of a firefight, Cowboy takes two bullets to the chest. Jas
About the Author: Kirk Stapp: 1965, I dropped out of junior college because of failing grades. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I was going to be drafted. Standing in front of a recruiters' office, looking at a poster of a paratrooper, I enlisted to jump out of perfectly good airplanes. I served in Vietnam, was awarded a Bronze Star with a "V" (for valor) and a Purple Heart. After Vietnam, I went back to school under the GI bill, graduated Cum Laude and became a high school teacher. During the last fifteen years of my teaching career I taught American Lit and Advanced Placement Political Science. I retired in 2008 to become a struggling writer.