Johnny apologized for his faith

As an army intelligence officer, an oxymoron I know, in Pleiku in 69/70 I went to my interpreter/agent Montagnard's house for a visit. I pointed to some bones tied with hair over his door of his front room and questioned them with raised eyebrows. He said it was something his mother believed in for protection---a silly belief of his people. I instantly chastized the teenager and told him to be proud of his heritage, to be proud of his mother and her faith. Almost thirty years later I wonder how Johnny's mother knew she needed protection from all of us-the VC, the NVA, the ARVNs, the Americans? Maybe she is like the old joke about hthe thermos i.e. it keeps things hot in the winter and cold in the summer---how do it know? OUTposepop