The drop off the cliff was only about 5 or 6 feet but I hit with a thud and lay momentarily on the ground. My mind was spinning over what had happened in the past few minutes. I had been shooting rather wildly in the dark, trying to stop the onslaught coming at us from the north. Just as I started to get up, someone kicked one of my feet, I heard a very loud explosion, very close to my ears, and some dirt splattered on the side of my head. There were a number of people around me speaking in what to me was completely unintelligible language. I felt no pain so I guessed that I was unhurt. I stayed still for a few moments as the people left the area I was in. I was suddenly alone in a small Korean farmyard that I had seen a number of times in the past two days. I tried to collect my thoughts since I needed to develop a plan if I were going to survive. I was somewhat stunned. My thoughts were a bit confused. I knew that there were many, many enemy soldiers all around me. And I knew that they would be trying to kill me. The war had become quite personal. I was sure that my team of forward air controllers had all been killed as we were run over by the apparently thousands of enemy soldiers attacking our front lines. My mind was now racing and I knew that I had to do something very soon or I would become a prisoner of war. That was something I had always told myself would never happen. I had never really been afraid of being shot. I figured whatever pain came would quickly go away.