To All the Wars I’ve Loved Before

Thoughts on a Career of Running Toward the Guns

The author and fellow journalists prepare to flee Saigon as the city falls

When I first stepped onto the tarmac in Saigon in August of 1970, I was a 27-year-old correspondent for NBC News with no training in how to operate in a war zone. My editors had sent me to be screened by a psychologist to determine if I was likely to crack under combat pressure, as my predecessor had abruptly told the bosses “I can’t take it!” and packed his bags. But the psychologist said he couldn’t really determine …