I was on my annual US Army Reserve two week training mission. Our unit went to Gagetown, NB to do joint exercises with other US and Canadian troops. I was in college and needed the money, so I went up a week early to help prep the site.It was in the days before cell phones were ubiquitous. Al Gore spoke in press conferences about the rapidly developing ���Information Super-highway��� being built to connect all the world���s personal computers to each other. And Tom Cochran had a bit hit with ���Life is a Highway��� on both American and his native Canadian radio.On the night of this event, I was assigned to guard one of our ammunition depots. I was one of four people, each assigned to guard a different ammo dump. It was a two hour shift beginning at 11:00pm.We had field phones at each site, which we could use in case of emergency. Since we were in the woods, several miles from our main camp, another guard, Private Richards and I agreed to talk every half hour. I was furthest away at site 4 and he was at site 3.The field phones were all on the same line and if you ring one, they all ring, like a Party Line. But they are always live, so we both agreed to just pick up the phone every half hour on the half hour and begin talking.It was a clear night and the moon was very bright. This was comforting as I sat on a makeshift bench, alone in the woods, on the edge of a large clearing full of ammunition and explosives. I was a target to anyone that might want to get their hands on these items, so I sat perfectly still so I could hear and spot any unauthorized personnel before they spotted me.I held my M-16 at Order Arms, with my finger by the trigger, in case anyone (or anything) should come around. At about 11:15pm I got the feeling there was indeed something to worry about. Perhaps I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye because at that moment I turned my head 45 degrees to the right and saw a large object rising from beyond a tree line 200 yards away, possibly from beneath the waters of a large pond we had been bathing in that week. In the bright moonlight I could clearly see it was long, mostly flat, and cylindrical, and had three large lights on its right side which wrapped around the object like the windows on the bridge of a freighter ship.My first rational thought was that it must be a helicopter but I couldn't hear any rotors. As it began gliding in the direction of its lights, I tried to imagine it might be a Harrier Jump Jet, but it hardly made a sound. Plus, I had been there for over a week and had seen many helicopters but no jets ��� they weren���t part of that mission. (I was well trained at that time in identifying both allied and enemy aircraft.)I sat completely still as the object slowly flew away, afraid that if anyone inside spotted me witnessing this, they might come by for a closer look. Since I was holding a weapon, I thought something terrible might happen to me. I followed the ship with my eyes, turning my head only enough to keep it in sight until I was looking over my right shoulder and the ship had disappeared over the trees.It was the most terrifying experience of my life. When it was over, I was still alone in the woods, about 1/2 mile from the next guard, Private Richards. We did have the field phone though. I waited over ten excruciating minutes for 11:30 to arrive. When it did, I picked up the phone and said, "You there?"A voice answered, "Ya.""Did you see that?""Dude! I'm SO glad you said that!"We both described the same event to each other and agreed it was indeed a UFO. We talked for several minutes until we were both comfortable that everything was cool. If need be, we could always ring everyone on the field phone line.When we got picked up at 1:00am, we both told everyone in our transport truck about the event. Naturally, nobody believed us and everyone made jokes about it. The next day, Richards denied the entire event out of fear of further ridicule.A few people believed me, but I too played it down and stopped talking about it because I was losing credibility. If Richards had held to his claim I would have also. But I couldn���t do it with him denying it.But I do know what I saw. And so does Richards.

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