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Personal Narrative Essay: The War On Terror

380 Words2 Pages

I remember that terrifying me at the time. We had been warned about the shock we would feel at seeing military soldiers around most of the larger cities in their uniforms and armed with guns. When we had first arrived at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, we saw guards carrying submachine guns. I think this was the first time I had seen a gun in person and the sight of them made my blood run cold. The fact that the group I was with was also full of stupid teenage boys who started pointing and yelling about them also didn’t help my fears. Mr Phillips seemed calm and explained the need military security in international airports, but this didn’t help much. Instead I clung to Holly and prayed we’d never see guns again.
Of course, we did. Like I said, most of the big cities had military soldiers and I was surprised to find I got used to it. I even took some photos as a couple of soldiers passed us …show more content…

I believed that they would be similar to those in Hue and since they would see tourists constantly I thought they’d even be friendly. Though we had been warned to be careful for this visit, Holly and I were not very concerned. We just threw on our loose-fitting pants and shirts and went to join the others for our outing.
“Okay, everyone!” Mr. Phillips called across the small dining area of A25 Hotel. “Today we’re going to the Ho Chi Minh Museum before seeing the big guy himself. Make sure you’ve got your legs covered today.”
This earned a few laughs from the students, myself included. It was hard to understand why we had been anxious before. I remember everyone looking through their planners for this trip and gushing in excitement at everything aside from the mausoleum since we kept being reminded about how serious and formal it would be. At this point, however, hearing our teacher refer to the president of the Communist Party of Vietnam as ‘big guy’ dispelled any

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