This North Vietnamese colonel had made his mark with me. I was at a loss to explain. Anything I have believed in the past I now called into question in light of our conversation. Right? Wrong? Yes? No? Who had the answers? I tried to get back to the object of the interrogation, but information about enemy troop strength and locations no long seemed as important as the relationship being forged between two men on opposite sides of an ideology.

I brazenly replied, "Colonel, any other words just won't do. You are not authorized to enter and I will use all means at my disposal to prevent your entry." All of a sudden a wave of calm washed over me. No matter what I did, I had fellow officers and the Army regulations behind me. I became resolute and authoritative. I was going to seize the situation and take whatever actions were necessary. I had had enough bullshit from every quarter. Now I decided to follow my intuition right or wrong! "Take one more step, Sir, and the guard will have to shoot you!"