CPT An Bui

Captain An Bui sat down with me for Heroes I Know.

First name An. Like on and off. Last name Bui. Like buoy. We were paratroopers together in the 82nd. He started in 1995. Bragg in 1996. Left early 1999. Out in 2000. West Point. Air defense. Airborne school as a cadet. Four other lieutenants hit the division with him after the basic course.

War baby. Ethnically Vietnamese. Born 1973 in Vietnam. His dad went to the Vietnamese National Military Academy. Graduate work at the Naval Postgraduate School in the late sixties. His mom taught high school. After he was born his dad flew back and got the family out. Typical boat people. He was a year and a half. Guam first. Then Camp Pendleton. A sponsor family had volunteered for a young child. They got a family of four. They said yes anyway.

Bay Area by the late seventies. Two sisters. One a year older. She went to UC Santa Barbara. Paid her own way through ROTC. MI officer. They were rivals as kids. Close now. Both have two daughters. A younger sister came along about twelve years later. He was a troublemaker. Four years old he wanted the bed. Walked in the dark. Hit the metal frame. Busted his nose. The mark is still there.

They moved every two or three years. Latchkey. Walked everywhere. Home by sunset. He ran. He played tennis. Physical chess. Strategy is nothing until you execute. He still holds that.

His driver was PFC Andy Green. Stayed ADA. Made warrant. They broke bread in Huntsville a year and a half ago. Colonel Norm Spivey. Sergeant Beach. A one-star named Castello took over his platoon. Nielsen. Todd Schmidt. He wants those NCOs and those officers to know he is proud of them. ADA is in good hands.

I told him I am going to tell people I know a smart dude. HP. Apple. Amazon. Two daughters. A wife. He is not competing with anybody anymore. He is just glad when other people do well.

Platoon. Attention. All the way. That is why we hit record. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.