"FADING AWAY"

In the fall of 1961, upon entering Oklahoma State University's mandatory two-year basic ROTC program, eighteen-year-old Charles L. Schwabe encountered the U.S. Army for the first time. At a time when U.S. involvement in and public awareness of Vietnam was minimal, President Kennedy challenged the author's generation: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Soon convinced that assisting the new nation of South Vietnam to resist the spread of communism was an honorable, worthwhile national and personal goal, the author responded to the challenge by choosing military service.

With pride and enthusiasm, he completed studies at OSU and, accompanied by his bride, entered active duty in 1965, trained and served as an airborne infantry lieutenant, and then volunteered to serve in Vietnam. January 1967, marked the beginning of twenty months in that country as an infantry officer, first as an adviser to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, later as a staff officer and company commander with the 3rd Brigade, 82d Airborne Division. 

The sequence of helping Vietnam fight its war and thereafter participating in what became the American War gives this memoir a unique perspective of the armies of both nations and their soldiers.

From the 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution to the final flight of the last American from the embassy roof in Saigon in 1975, this unassuming personal memoir is the story of all Oklahomans and Americans who answered the call of duty, served faithfully if not heroically, and lived to see their service disrespected by some of their countrymen during frenzied protest against U.S. policy. Looking back after nearly half a century has removed some of the sharp edges of emotion gives a measure of clarity to the lasting effect war has on survivors.