Why Vietnam?

I often get asked the question, "Why did you choose Vietnam?" That's a tough question to answer but I'm pretty sure it's because as a little kid I was abnormally obsessed with The Wonder Years. The Wonder Years -- which was set in America during the '60s -- premiered in 1988 when I was nine years old. In the pilot episode Winnie Cooper's brother is killed in the Vietnam War. That episode has always stuck with me.

As I got older I started to read both fictional and non-fictional books about the Vietnam war. In high school I took an elective class specifically about Vietnam. It's always just been something I think about. In fact, while I was cleaning my room on Tuesday I found an "Extra Cedit" essay I had written on the Vietnam War. Unfortunately there is no date on the essay but I'm pretty sure it was from 5th grade because it was written on perforated paper. Yes, perforated paper. The last time we had perforated paper in my house was when we had an Apple 2E....which was a long long time ago.

(PICTURE: The essay I found. Unfortunately I can't figure out how to make it big enough to read.)