Not long after we had finished with the soup, the town generator was turned off for the night and the lights dimmed.  Lighting a kerosene lamp, we finished eating, cleaned up, and went to bed quickly running out of conversation. Laying there I could barely believe my luck, an actual mattress, the first comfortable night in weeks.  Dozing off, I flashed back on my year in Viet Nam, as a combat field medic with the 1st Cav, using my boots as a pillow every night.  And I thought about how the survival techniques and tactics learned there got me this far.  The years of fighting sleep for fear that my nightmares might come true were long over.  Even though Viet Nam proved to be a senseless war, I was now able to use that experience in positive ways in my life.  Also, men all over the world loved to talk about warfare, so when in a pinch, tell a war story.