By CRAIG CROSBY
Staff Writer Thursday, March 29, 2007

enlarge Staff photo by David Leaming

Vietnam War veteran Vince Gabriel of Warren shows Mount View High School students a folded American flag that was given to his family after his brother-in-law, veteran Robert Caplan, died. During a presentation at the Thorndike school on Wednesday, Gabriel showed video and still photos of the war and answered students' questions about his war experience.

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He walked across the tarmac and, looking over his shoulder, saw a line of soldiers waiting to board the plane he had just departed. The men had already been fighting for a year and were headed home. Gabriel longed to join them. It was January 1968, and Gabriel knew his former life, indeed possibly life itself, would soon end.

"We would all never be the same kids again," Gabriel told a group of rapt Mount View High School seniors Wednesday. "I was convinced death waited for me."

But Gabriel, who was a company point man during the Tet Offensive, did not die on the battlefields of Vietnam. He returned home and resumed chasing his dream to be a rock 'n' roll star.

Gabriel, a New Jersey native who now lives in Warren, has combined his talent for music and passion to share a soldier's story into a presentation geared primarily to high school students. He said he is not looking to make a political statement -- but not because he is devoid of politics. Gabriel's mission is to convey the fear and life-altering experiences of leaving home and facing death shared by soldiers of every war.

"This presentation isn't really about Vietnam; it's about the soldiers," Gabriel said. "I think every soldier has been through that. I'm trying to give people insight into what a soldier goes through."

Gabriel has molded the presentation into various formats. Last year he performed a live version for Mount View students that relied heavily on the war-inspired music he has written.

On Wednesday, however, the first 45 minutes were spent viewing a DVD that included Gabriel's narration. In between, his music blasted out of the speakers as photos of his company and those depicting the culture of the era flashed over the big screen.

When given a chance to ask questions, students were direct, even asking about the first time he killed someone. Gabriel recalled shooting a Viet Cong soldier standing just a few feet away.

"Because of your training, you immediately react," he said. "I didn't think twice about it. It didn't bother me at all because it was survival of the fittest."

Students wanted to know about the specifics of day-to-day life in Vietnam, from monsoons, to battle, to drugs.

"Time didn't mean anything there," Gabriel said. "Sunday was like a Monday. There were no days off."

Gabriel said he sees similarities between the war in Vietnam and the war in Iraq. The reasons for both wars are unclear and the U.S. now appears caught in a civil war, just as it was in Vietnam, he said.

Gabriel supports the war in Afghanistan, however. "I'm against war, but I'm all for defending the country," he said.

The question that haunts Gabriel to this day is why he lived when others, like Spitzer, did not.

"For years ... you try to figure that out," Gabriel said. "If I was looking for an answer, (this project) could be it. Of everything I've done in my life since I've been back, this is probably the most important."

Craig Crosby -- 861-9253

ccrosby@centralmaine.com