The Special Forces camp of Ben Het in South Vietnam.

At noontime on a Saturday in the small town of Cedar Creek, TX, you can smell the meats grilling, you can see the kids playing and you can hear old friends conversing.

"I'm very very blessed right now," Jesse Rodriguez said. "Lot of years, a lot of struggles."

Jesse hadn't seen Jim Vialard and Jack Kelly since they served together in Vietnam 40 years ago. The weekend served as the homecoming they never got.

As much as their reunion brought out the laughter, it also brought back the pain.

	For More Information:
• The Siege of Ben Het presented in scrapbook format online. • “Tank v. Tank” article from Armor Magazine in 1970. The article provides a description and history of the battle.

"Really intense feelings," Jesse said as he showed off his 'comfort room.'

His comfort room is his own space at a home in Cedar Creek where he lives with his wife after having raised four children. It serves as a homage to the time he spent in Vietnam, where he and the other two served the country in the Battle of Ben Het.

"We were artillery people. Our job was to deliver ammo. We got beat up. We did our job. We're proud of what we did," Jim said.

	Jack Kelly during his term as an artillery man at Ben Het.

Ben Het was a CIDG camp, which stands for Civilian Irregular Defense Group. It was basically a counter insurgency compound under siege by the North Vietnamese.

"For almost 60 days it was almost constant bombardment from artillery, rockets, mortars, gas, and in that time period, most of the guys were permanently medevaced out of our station," he said.

"You’re doing your job every day," Jack said. "We'd take ammo in, couldn't get our trucks back out. Every truck, the one in the picture there, mortar rounds took it out."

		WATCH THE VIDEO
	The Reunion News 8's Crestina Chavez delves into the event that gave birth to this brotherhood.

Jack said those 60 days of brutality took its toll.

"Scared, stressed, all of that," he said.

They explained their feelings in one word: terrified, never knowing when death would come for them.

"Hell" was the word Jim used to describe what it was like. "You couldn't move around, the minute you started moving... We had kids; one kid was dying of thirst, stopped to get a drink, and had a mortar round go off in his back pocket."

	Jesse Rodriguez describes his experiences as a soldier during The Battle of Ben Het.

>Jesse's close call came in the middle of the night. Asleep in a bunker, he and a buddy were hit with a mortar round, hitting the other soldier in the feet.

"I had shrapnel all in my face, in my chest, and in my legs, but I couldn't feel nothing because of all the vibration, of all this going on," Jesse said.

Despite his injuries, Jesse carried his buddy to an underground medic. Then, despite his injuries, he went back to get his gun and fight.

"I couldn't leave my weapon there, I had to go back and I had to shoot. I couldn't just go hide. The adrenaline was taking over. It was something I couldn't control," he said.

	Recommended Reading:
• A Young Man’s Journey to Manhood During the Vietnam War by E. Franklin Evans.

Wounded, beaten, outnumbered, they claimed victory.

"We broke their backs between airstrikes and our artillery," Jim said, though they were hardly championed.

"There were no, no heroes at that time, just men who served their country and proud of it," Jesse said.

	Jim Vialard describes coming back into the U.S. after the battle.

"It was nice being a third-class citizen," Jim said. "Even the VA didn't want to take care of us. You did a great job, got an honorable discharge in your hand, and you might as well have been the worst person in the neighborhood."

The U.S. soldier became the punching bag in a movement for peace. That's why they say this moment, this weekend has meant so much; to help the loneliness fade.

"There's a peace [and] a happiness. Look at the comfort that we have. We're not like stranger fumbling our way, trying to have a conversation," Jack said.

	The reunion in Cedar Creek allowed the brothers to come back together after 40 years of being in war together.

"Nobody understands what we went through, what we would do for these guys. If I had to give my life for him to live, there is no question, my life would have been given up, for either one of these two guys," Jim said.

"40 years, very emotional for me, because they did exactly what I did, the scars are nothing compared to the scars we got on our hearts," Jesse said.

Jesse was actually wounded two more times, and of his three injuries, two are noted on his purple heart. Jim mentioned Jesse never said anything about the third injury because he would have been sent home.

	Information for Veterans Day activities around Central Texas
• Information for Veterans Day activities in Travis County and the City of Austin. • Information for Veterans Day activities in Hutto. • Information for Veterans Day activities in Bastrop. • Information for Veterans Day activities in Lampasas. • Other Veterans Day activities around Central Texas (including Killeen) from Vetfriends.com.