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's destiny in life somehow is unpredictable, isn't it?

Our first meeting with Major General Lam Quang
Thi,Commander-in-chief for the VNMA, was an unforgett able
memory. The three of us,Bui Dinh Ri, Tu Vo Hao,and myself
presented to the Commander one morning in October 1968.
We came into the
General's office wearing our best suit and tie.More

impressive than the suit and tie I was wearing were the two

recommendation letters I brought: one from the Vice President
of the Senate, Hoang Xuan Tuu, to send to Major General Thi;
One from Congressman Nguyen Van Ngai (later Minister
of Rural Construction) to Colonel Nguyen Van, Director of

Cultural Service Department. Both of these letters I kept as a
souvenir to myself.

When the att ache’ officer introduced us to Major General

Thi, we were confronted with a face that was quite cold. With
a very distant look, he said "hello".Then he remained behind
his desk with a sign in scripted two silver stars next to his

name, and a bunting flag. He did not get up to shake our hands

but rather kept sitting on his arm chair talking about a few
things related to school discipline and the duties of professors
of Cultural Service Department... I saw fi rsthand that he had
the charisma of a commanding general. All three of us stood
still and listened to his instructions for nearly twenty minutes.
Abruptly I raised my hand up to say, "Major General, please
let us sit down. We have been standing for too long." General
Thi quickly said: "Ah, sorry, please sit down" and he left his
chair to sit with us on the sofa.
After the meeting, we returned to the Cultural Service
Department to prepare our teaching curriculum.
With such a reaction, I thought that General Thi would
resent me for this, but at that time I was young, unmarried,
and did not consider the consequences.
After a few months of preparation, I offi cially started
teaching Military History courses for class 22B, 23, 24, 25...
One morning at about 10 o'clock, a meeting of all
professors was held in the hall chaired by Major General Lam
Quang Thi. Up until this point,all of the professors had been

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