"For my part, I hope ... to be on a picnic with my family in the park, kicking a soccer ball with my daughter, enjoying my freedom as an American, bought and paid for by men better than I, some of whom I once had the privilege to know."
Burkett destroys the myth of the shattered veteran, the haunted loner, the hair-trigger tortured soul, as well as the "traumatic stress" pretenders and Special Ops wannabes. He does it with a righteous anger, but also a sense of pity in his voice. And in the end, he portrays the Viet Nam veteran as he really is: an American who answered a call, then came home and picked up his life where it left off.
There was a man named Arthur John Rambo who did die in Vietnam. He was a married twenty-four year old soldier who was killed in combat on November 26, 1969 in Tay Ninh Province. His name is listed on the Wall, 16W, 126.