In our time of need

"...Number 3: You swear to fight firmly for the people without complaint and without becoming
discouraged even if life is hard or dangerous. I will go forward in combat without fear, will
never retreat regardless of suffering involved. This was one of the verses your grandfather swore to the Vietnamese people, the Vietnamese Fatherland, and to Ho Chi Minh when he joined the People's Army of Vietnam," berated Vinh's commanding officer Lieutenant Tú Tuân. "We may not be at war with the Americans anymore, but this oath still stands even today. Desertion is a heavy crime, Vinh,"

Vinh is a soldier of the Vietnamese Army. His family has a strong military past, going right back from fighting with Ho Chi Minh during the closing of World War 2 against the Japanese imperialists in guerrilla warfare, to taking part of the all of the major offensives to the Fall of Saigon in the Vietnam War, and from ousting the Khmer Rouge in 1978 and hastily rushing back to North Vietnam to defend against the Chinese invasion. He doesn't wear the distinctive tan uniform like his forefathers did when they fought against the South and her allies, but despite the change of uniform, not much has changed since the 1980's. At first he is content to be serving, but he later has doubts on his role as a soldier. Restrictive and regimented life demoralises him , accompanied by weariness of work, and doubt upon some of his, and his comrades actions in Laos, Cambodia and Central Vietnam, but the shame of breaking his family's military traditions makes him reluctant to return back home...