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BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: With more and more American military men and women assembled to attack Iraq, if necessary, a story today of another war and one of its survivors.
He is the Episcopal Church's chief chaplain, Bishop George Packard, once a much decorated second lieutenant in Vietnam. Like so many combat veterans, the bishop remembers turning off his feelings in order to do his job. He called it being in a "bubble." But he told correspondent Phil Jones the feelings he stifled have never gone away.
PHIL JONES: George Packard is an Episcopal bishop today. But it's his service to his country three decades ago that continues to haunt him.
Rt. Reverend GEORGE PACKARD (Bishop, Episcopal Church, Armed Services): I believe in noble service, standing up for what is right. And I went to Vietnam sort of under that flag, thinking those things.
JONES (to Rev. Packard): These photographs were taken at a time that you say you were considered the golden boy for your accomplishments?
Rev. PACKARD: I had a high body count. Ambush was what we did at night -- what we call search and destroy.
JONES: Packard still remembers the horror of his very first ambush.
Rev. PACKARD: It was hell. It was just hell. I mean, it was -- the claymore created something like a football field, and arms, legs, just -- chaos. And that moment I thought to myself, "We survived!" and lots of glory came out of the fact that we had a big ambush, big body count.
JONES: By Packard's own account, his platoon may have killed nearly 500 enemy soldiers during his tour in Vietnam.
Rev. PACKARD: The first time, I was thinking that I should have some reaction, and I said a prayer. I could have been reading a laundry list. It was just -- it had no effect. You know, you surround yourself in this sort of bubble and so it just became sort of, after that, a task to be done, work to be done.
(to Jones): This is a good picture here. This is Dave Avasco. He's a mailman in Nebraska now.
JONES: David Evasco was Packard's platoon sergeant. Although Packard doesn't recall being especially religious in Vietnam, Evasco has a different memory. He says Packard would go off by himself to read a small book.
DAVID EVASCO (Former Platoon Sergeant, U.S. Army): The sunshine was shining on him and on that book, and it was the Bible, and that's when we knew there was a lot more to that man than a soldier.
JONES: Killing the enemy was never the end of it.
Rev. PACKARD: You want to go through their pockets for money and war trophies and see what you could get the next morning -- it was like Christmas morning. And it, it started to put me on edge, because we would take pictures and personal effects from those folks. And I would make some excuse and burn them. It felt to me that somehow we had taken something, this token of who these guys were.
JONES: Packard admits that at the time he liked what he was doing. He received a silver star and two bronze stars for valor. It was only when he returned home that he began to reflect.
Rev. PACKARD: I walk with a stick because it is a symbol of how I minister to God's flock.
JONES: After the war, Packard went to seminary. He was in parish ministry for more than 20 years. Three years ago he became the Episcopal Church's Bishop to the Armed Services.
(to Packard): Would you be a bishop today were it not for being a second lieutenant in Vietnam?
Rev. PACKARD: Probably not. I think that was a part of the reason I was chosen.
JONES: Packard has been a chaplain in the Army Reserves for more than 20 years. During the 1991 Gulf War, he was called to active duty and assigned to the Pentagon. Bishop Packard bristles at any suggestion that he's a pacifist or that serving in the military is a non-Christian act.
He is the Episcopal Church's chief chaplain, Bishop George Packard, once a much decorated second lieutenant in Vietnam. Like so many combat veterans, the bishop remembers turning off his feelings in order to do his job. He called it being in a "bubble." But he told correspondent Phil Jones the feelings he stifled have never gone away.
PHIL JONES: George Packard is an Episcopal bishop today. But it's his service to his country three decades ago that continues to haunt him.
Rt. Reverend GEORGE PACKARD (Bishop, Episcopal Church, Armed Services): I believe in noble service, standing up for what is right. And I went to Vietnam sort of under that flag, thinking those things.
JONES (to Rev. Packard): These photographs were taken at a time that you say you were considered the golden boy for your accomplishments?Rev. PACKARD: I had a high body count. Ambush was what we did at night -- what we call search and destroy.
JONES: Packard still remembers the horror of his very first ambush.
Rev. PACKARD: It was hell. It was just hell. I mean, it was -- the claymore created something like a football field, and arms, legs, just -- chaos. And that moment I thought to myself, "We survived!" and lots of glory came out of the fact that we had a big ambush, big body count.
JONES: By Packard's own account, his platoon may have killed nearly 500 enemy soldiers during his tour in Vietnam.
Rev. PACKARD: The first time, I was thinking that I should have some reaction, and I said a prayer. I could have been reading a laundry list. It was just -- it had no effect. You know, you surround yourself in this sort of bubble and so it just became sort of, after that, a task to be done, work to be done.
(to Jones): This is a good picture here. This is Dave Avasco. He's a mailman in Nebraska now.
JONES: David Evasco was Packard's platoon sergeant. Although Packard doesn't recall being especially religious in Vietnam, Evasco has a different memory. He says Packard would go off by himself to read a small book.
DAVID EVASCO (Former Platoon Sergeant, U.S. Army): The sunshine was shining on him and on that book, and it was the Bible, and that's when we knew there was a lot more to that man than a soldier.JONES: Killing the enemy was never the end of it.
Rev. PACKARD: You want to go through their pockets for money and war trophies and see what you could get the next morning -- it was like Christmas morning. And it, it started to put me on edge, because we would take pictures and personal effects from those folks. And I would make some excuse and burn them. It felt to me that somehow we had taken something, this token of who these guys were.
JONES: Packard admits that at the time he liked what he was doing. He received a silver star and two bronze stars for valor. It was only when he returned home that he began to reflect.
Rev. PACKARD: I walk with a stick because it is a symbol of how I minister to God's flock.
JONES: After the war, Packard went to seminary. He was in parish ministry for more than 20 years. Three years ago he became the Episcopal Church's Bishop to the Armed Services.
(to Packard): Would you be a bishop today were it not for being a second lieutenant in Vietnam?Rev. PACKARD: Probably not. I think that was a part of the reason I was chosen.
JONES: Packard has been a chaplain in the Army Reserves for more than 20 years. During the 1991 Gulf War, he was called to active duty and assigned to the Pentagon. Bishop Packard bristles at any suggestion that he's a pacifist or that serving in the military is a non-Christian act.
Rev. PACKARD: Something sort of locks in between the soldier and me because they sense, "This fellow knows where we come from, he must have been there too."
JONES: When George Packard was ordained a bishop three years ago, one of those he invited to attend the consecration in Washington was that platoon sergeant from Lincoln, Nebraska. They went to the Vietnam Memorial. 
Rev. PACKARD: I don't think it's a question of forgiving myself. It's a question of what work is there to do. I think you go through these days for some reason. And it's what you do with the days afterwards that makes a difference.
