DETAILS ABOUT STONE'S VIETNAM EXPERIENCE:

Stone enlisted in the U.S. Army in April of 1967

He took basic and advanced infantry training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina

He landed in Vietnam on September 16, 1967

He was assigned to the 2nd Platoon of Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th infantry, stationed near the Cambodian border

He was part of the battle at Firebase Burt on the evening of January 1, 1968

Having been wounded twice, Stone was transferred out of the field to an MP Auxiliary Battalion whose main function was 

guarding the installation in Saigon shortly after the Tet Offensive in January of 1968

He was transferred to 1st Cavalry and assigned to a Long Range Reconnaissance Platoon in April of 1968 (incidentally, 

Stone met Juan Angel Elias there, the basis for the Elias character in Platoon)

Stone was awarded the Bronze Star for combat gallantry

He was eventually transferred to a motorized infantry 1st Cav unit, driving jeeps, APCS, and lots of helicopter work

Stone completed his tour of duty and was discharged in late November 1968 ... after his 15 months of service, he was 

awarded the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster

Stone arrived back in the States at the Army release station in Fort Lewis, Washington



   After nearly 40 years of trying to put the pieces together about My Lai and everything else
that happened during my tour in 1968 I conducted some research about Massacres. Here are
some of the things I found out.

  In terms of the number of people killed, raped and mutilated My Lai does not even make the
 top 50. Approx 30 days before My Lai the NVA filled a ditch in Hue with close to 3,000
bodies during the 1968 Tet offensive.

  During one of the Crusades the good Christians held siege on a city in Syria. By the time they
took the city they had killed, raped and mutilated 20,000 of Allah's finest. They also drank all
the wine. A little over 100 years later the good christens returned to that same city in Syria,
put on a siege, and took the city again. The Christians knew how to hold a siege. They
destroyed the food and water supply. They used chemical weapons in the form of  dead bodies
and human waist.

  When all was said and done the good Christians had killed, raped and mutilated 40,000 of
Allah's finest. They also drank all the wine. Problem was the siege took longer than expected.
In those days you bunkered up during winter time then went back to war in the summer. The
primary reason for this was the food supply. Can you see where this is going? You got it, the
good Christians were forced to spend the winter in that Syrian city.  They were also forced to
resort to cannibalism. The good Christians ate Allah's finest.

  I sometimes wonder, if you rape someone and then eat their body will you get pregnant?
The point I am making is that My Lai was a terrible and tragic event but at least we didn't
eat the bodies.
Tom Skiens