Free Fire Zone
A novel by John Henry Lee

Chapter 1; Beginnings, page 1

Beginnings

The plane leveled out at twenty-five thousand feet. The silence was thick, each lost to his own thoughts. In three hours these Vietnam bound GIs would touch down at Bien Hoa Air Base.

Most on flight 81 were newbies, but a few hearty veterans were easy to spot. Hanging down from their left pockets were the brightly colored unit badges: the four clovers of the 4th Infantry Division, the castle and sword of the Military Assistance Command, the Screaming Eagle of the 101st Airborne Division. All pointing poignantly to the 400,000 plus Americans in Vietnam.

Miles Jacobson Jr., was one of the newbies seated in row 9, seat F. As he gazed out the window, he thought to himself, I can hardly believe this. It seemed like yesterday when he came home from playing tennis to confront an all but hysterical mother.

"Mom, what's the trouble?"

Then Jake's dad walked from the kitchen into the hallway and without greeting him said, "Jake, your notice came today."

"What notice, Dad?"

"Your draft notice."

It was really no big thing, he knew his deferment was over when he graduated from college, but he never anticipated for a moment the reactions of his parents.

Miles Jacobson Sr., was county superintendent of schools, while Charleen Jacobson was about anything she desired to be. At varying times, she had been an interior decorator, consultant to a chain of women's' clothiers, active in Jacksonville County politics, and a past member of the school board and possessor of at least four to six different volunteer church jobs.

For Miles and Charleen, much of their lives revolved around their son. From the time he was a teenager, the Jacobsons were inseparable, and their relationship was as close as parents and child could be.

But it wasn't a stifling one and Jake rewarded them by being almost a model son: good student, athlete, kind, courteous-just about all the "Boy Scout" traits.

Beginnings, page 2 ->