VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Walter J. Irwin
Army
Stars and Stripes
Published: August 20, 2015
The heat, the rain, the mud, the dust and the first time I was shot at.
Readers' stories
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The worst night of my life! In May 67 I went to work with LSI and ended up at Phu Loi as a chopper mechanic.
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Learning from the New York Times newspaper of the attack on Song Be where my husband, Capt. Austin Miller, was. It took four days before he could make a call transferred from the Philippines to tell me he was alive and not wounded.
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I can still smell the air, the stench, the heat and mainly the smell of death.
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After discharge and attending the University of Kansas on the GI Bill, the girls would answer, "Oh, I don't date veterans. I can't be seen on campus with a killer
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Survival guilt, loss of innocence, remembering our brothers and trying to get together with those who shared the pain and suffering of combat!
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My best feel-good memory of the Vietnam War was whenever we had to go from Cu Chi base camp to a forward area, we would load up on C Rations so we could toss the food to village children as we passed through in the convoy.
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Flying at night in a C-130 over the central highlands while under attack by the NVA anti-aircraft batteries and being at Camp Alpha at the start of the NVA-Viet Cong 1968 Tet Offensive.
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A Christmas respite before all hell broke loose.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Tet offensive at Tan Son Nhut Air Base.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
The heat, the rain and smell. Also I was scared as hell.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I was an MP out on patrol in the Delta. We were stopped by two NVA soldiers. One pointed his M16 at me, and he shot at me and missed.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I was more devastated coming home than my time in 'Nam — the outrage we received, the betrayal.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
The alienation I felt and still feel from fellow Americans who never served.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Fear of the local people of what would happen to them when we left.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Giving up my youth for country.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
The heat, the rain, the mud, the dust and the first time I was shot at.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I remember being very glad I was stationed at Marble Mountain instead of a rice paddy.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
The constant feeling that you might get hit at any moment.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
The recovery of CH47A on May 21, 1968.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Troops' continued devotion to duty when abandoned by politicians and public in general.
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I was a supporter of containment until it all unraveled into a political lie.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
The heat and voracious bugs.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I was fighting for my country but mostly trying to get home in one piece.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
The damage to my husband, who is deceased now. His suffering, and mine, began in 1970 when he came home from Vietnam.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
All the hair on my arm stood straight up, so I knew something was wrong.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Four months, 24/7 bombing with no letup.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Did not care for the bullets and explosions.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
On Jan. 30, 1968, the eve of the Vietnamese New Year, we heard there would be a two-day cease fire. The Vietnamese would celebrate with family, feasting, fireworks, and were very careful about what they did on the first day. That day, all hell broke loose
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
When I found the ID card and dog tags of one of my buddies who had been killed.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Being a medic and cutting off arms and legs of a lot of young men.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
As an Army brat, I recall waiting for letters and hoping not to see a notification team.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Airlifting out our battle dead, some in body bags and ponchos and some not covered at all. The finality of life so young, gone.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I still can see him in my mind, 40 years later.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
He was only 20, with his whole life ahead of him.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Our platoon was brought ashore by the old green grasshopper choppers and dropped off on a ridge inland of the beach.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
"How can we lose a war we're not allowed to win?"
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Only two of us from our M60 Machine Gun Squad of nine came home alive.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
The loss of my Company Commander - killed in action.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Concern for the safety of the troops under my command.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I came to the terrifying conclusion that there were people all around us that really, really wanted to kill me.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
The sunken, shallow look in the eyes of my brothers.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I will never forget the terror of the moment my oldest brother was drafted.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Walking through the Seattle airport to catch a flight home.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Death of your best friend, all the bodies pieces and parts, getting shelled and shot at, seeing Bob Hope, racial tensions, friendly fire incidents.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
The damage done to the 71st Evac hospital during the rocket and mortar attacks of Tet '68.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
The time a little rest and recreation became a lot of escape and evasion.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Hearing Marine radio man telling of being overrun during Tet Offensive.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Scorching heat followed by cold monsoon rains.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
It took me almost 40 years before I would tell someone I was there. Now I wear it proudly.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I served off the coast of Vietnam on a Navy destroyer. We were either on Yankee Station plane guarding or on the gun line firing support fire.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Strongest memories? My brothers, and the fact that I came back literally unscathed and so many far better than I did not!
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I can't forget the many enemy deaths I saw caused by all of the artillery I was responsible for firing
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
We were fighting all night long under heavy enemy small arms, machine gun and RPG fire.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Part of the in-processing was to prepare a will.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
My last mission as an Army combat helicopter pilot on Nov 28, 1966.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
My first strong memory was the horror of battle during an early-morning rocket attack. My second was at LAX.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Sometimes it all seems a dream or maybe a nightmare to have my 20th and 21st birthdays so far away with a brotherhood of pilots, crew chiefs, and the infantry that we carried or supported in our combat roles protecting other ground troops that came under fire.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I was captured by the Viet Cong on Dec. 24, 1961, and held only six months until June 24,1962.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I like to think that what they did kept a lot of us alive.
Most read
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Death of your best friend, all the bodies pieces and parts, getting shelled and shot at, seeing Bob Hope, racial tensions, friendly fire incidents.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Part of the in-processing was to prepare a will.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Watching a B-52 strike just one hill away — shock and awe!
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I like to think that what they did kept a lot of us alive.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
We lost 37 guys that night.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
The time a little rest and recreation became a lot of escape and evasion.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
My first strong memory was the horror of battle during an early-morning rocket attack. My second was at LAX.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I was captured by the Viet Cong on Dec. 24, 1961, and held only six months until June 24,1962.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
To this day I feel very uncomfortable sitting in any public place with my back to the door or the outside windows.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I was lead man for a forward observer team and had to choose two men to accompany me on a mission near the Central Highlands.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Fear of the local people of what would happen to them when we left.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
The damage to my husband, who is deceased now. His suffering, and mine, began in 1970 when he came home from Vietnam.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Editor's picks
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
The damage to my husband, who is deceased now. His suffering, and mine, began in 1970 when he came home from Vietnam.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I still can see him in my mind, 40 years later.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Our platoon was brought ashore by the old green grasshopper choppers and dropped off on a ridge inland of the beach.
-
VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I came to the terrifying conclusion that there were people all around us that really, really wanted to kill me.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
There was a hush on the aircraft; one could hear a pin drop.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
I was lead man for a forward observer team and had to choose two men to accompany me on a mission near the Central Highlands.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
We were fighting all night long under heavy enemy small arms, machine gun and RPG fire.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
A recipe. Thanksgiving Day soldiers' meal on the FEBA (front lines):
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
We lost 37 guys that night.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
To this day I feel very uncomfortable sitting in any public place with my back to the door or the outside windows.
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VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCE
Please note that Stars and Stripes could not verify every account. Reader submissions are presented as first-person stories.
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