Author Archives: Stephen Nielsen

Originally posted on Stephen Nielsen:
https://studyingprayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/050-2.jpg This is me writing a letter. “Dear mom, I’m getting ready to go out on patrol. Please pray.” Contrary to what some people probably think about the Vietnam war, we weren’t always in battles,…

Originally posted on Stephen Nielsen:
https://studyingprayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/048-2.jpg Me and this Marine made the most of the day under this sun shelter. In addition to weekly platoon patrols, we almost daily went on squad patrols, mainly just for security around our location—hill…

Originally posted on Stephen Nielsen:
https://studyingprayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/049-2.jpg Here our entire platoon was getting ready for a major patrol. I arrived in Vietnam in February of 1970. I had just missed most of the fighting, which mainly occurred during the Tet Offensive…

Originally posted on Stephen Nielsen:
https://studyingprayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/053-2.jpg This is a good shot of the bunkers. I don’t remember the names of these two guys, but they were good guys. https://studyingprayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/059-2.jpg An open bunker on the right and our stylish, Marine-made toilet…

Originally posted on Stephen Nielsen:
https://studyingprayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/img_2611.jpg Lean into your screen. Now inhale. Can you smell it? I really wish you could right now. Imagine sitting on my patio together as the sweet aroma of jasmine gently drifts past us. This…

Originally posted on Stephen Nielsen:
https://studyingprayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/heli-ch46.jpg This is a CH46 Marine helicopter, used to transport Marines and cargo. After my combat training in San Diego and my week off at home, my first stop on the way to Vietnam was…

Originally posted on Stephen Nielsen:
https://studyingprayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/marine-training.jpg I hope to conclude this boot camp segment with this blog. Then I will begin writing about my tour in Vietnam. About halfway through boot camp they (my drill instructors, I think) decided that…

Originally posted on Stephen Nielsen:
https://studyingprayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/036-2.jpg Fish practicing social distancing. I’ve gotten in the practice now of picking up my breakfast and coffee at some fast food place, getting a newspaper, and then parking at this place near a walking…

Originally posted on Stephen Nielsen:
https://studyingprayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/boot-camp-rifle-range.jpg At the rifle-range. There were some things in boot camp that weren’t on a daily basis. Here are eight of those events. 1. The three-mile run. This was a regular exercise, but not daily;…