"There was a lot of problems being in combat that you weren’t aware of, that you were going to have deal with when you came home." (Video Interview, 14:32)

Lawrence Saenz, Jr.

Lawrence Saenz, Jr.[2007] War: Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Branch: Army Unit: L Company Ranger, 75th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division Service Location: Camp Eagle, South Vietnam Rank: Sergeant Place of Birth: MI

In the face of being drafted in 1966, Lawrence Saenz, Jr. chose to enlist in the Army. Assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, he spent his first few months in Vietnam assigned to headquarters company. He found if he agreed to extend his tour, he could get what he really wanted: a chance to see combat. He joined a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) team of six men whose job was to scout the enemy. Once they made contact, however, it was usually with a much larger force and they had only minutes to call in reinforcements, covering artillery, or for extraction. The tension created by these patrols wore on Saenz, and in one chilling instance, when a soldier with only 30 days left in his tour, asked to go out “just to see what it was like,” that young man’s death proved to be truly shattering. Saenz suffered from PTSD symptoms after he returned to the States, though his disorder was not formally diagnosed for many years.