When Can I Stop Running? by John Podlaski

The year is 1970, and the story follows the two soldiers – impressionable Detroit teenagers – during their long night in a Listening Post (‘LP’), some 400 meters beyond the bunker line of the new firebase. Their assignment as a “human early warning system” is to listen for enemy activity and forewarn the base of any potential dangers. As they were new to the “Iron Triangle” and its reputation, little did they know that units before them lost dozens of soldiers in this nightly high-risk task and referred to those assigned as “bait for the enemy” and “sacrificial lambs.” Sitting in the pitch-black tropical jungle – with visibility at less than two feet – John’s imagination takes hold throughout the agonizing night and, at times, transports him back to some of his most vivid childhood memories – innocent but equally terrifying at the time. As kids, we instinctively run as fast as we can to escape imaginary or perceived danger, but as soldiers, men are trained to conquer their fears and develop the confidence to stand their ground and fight. Running is not an option. Additional Info

Review by Gary F Jones: This is a long short story or novella about a young man’s response to fear from when he was 7 years old until he was in Vietnam in the late 1960s. The story alternates back and forth between things that scared him as he grew up in Detroit and the things that terrify him in the jungle of the Iron Triangle in Vietnam. The tales are engaging and pleasant to read, although I have to say that he got into more frightening situations as he was growing up than I even came close to.