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2 2 • GCU MAGAZ I NE
On
line
R
alph Morgan was 19 years old when he was
drafted to serve in the U.S. Army during
the Vietnam War — an era when the
country was deeply divided about the military and
war veterans often were treated with disdain.
The Saline, Mich., resident, now a doctoral
student at Grand Canyon University, had just
graduated from high school and was starting a life
for himself in Albuquerque, N.M. He was a college
student and engaged to be married. Being called to
serve meant leaving all of that behind.
“It was absolute fear,” remembered Dan Carroll,
a childhood pal of Morgan. “A number of our friends
had been killed while we were still in school and
before we even graduated. We were just kids, and
that was part of growing up at the time.”
During Morgan’s yearlong tour of Vietnam as a
VietnamWar and
PTSD have left scars,
but Morgan is more
than just a survivor
B Y J E A N N E T T E C R U Z
“Oftentimes, I fear going to sleep because of
my flashback nightmares. Other times, I feel
like I have a fairly normal life. But, of course,
normal for me is a couple standard deviations
away from the norm.”
— Ralph Morgan
He
fights
on