JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — From the hat he wears to his bedroom, M.B. “Boyd” Pruitt is proud to be a veteran.

“Well. I’m patriotic. I love my country. I was proud to serve it,” Pruitt said.

“We worked in the base camp for about a month and a half, filling sandbags and building hoochies and stuff, and then, they needed me in the field, so they shipped me out to the field,” Pruitt said. “It’s an infrared light. It’s mounted on the back of a Jeep, and you look through infrared field glasses in the night because you can’t see the light, but you have to have the field glasses to see the light.”

Pruitt relied on his faith to get him through the battles. He often guarded positions to keep the enemy back after other soldiers had secured them.

“I wasn’t scared, hardly at all, because I had a friend that is with me. His name is Jesus. He stayed with me and watched over me,” Pruitt said. “I often questioned why they sent me to so many places over there. But he said he spoke to me through my spirit. He said I always sent you where it’s [safe], where the safety was.”

There was one close call during the TET Offensive, when American soldiers were attacked.

“They said 600 North Vietnamese soldiers were headed our way, and I got out everything I had. I was ready for them,” Pruitt said. “About 20 minutes later, they called back down. They said, ‘Stand at ease, they’re going another way.’ I thought, “thank the Lord.'”

When Pruitt returned, his faith was even stronger. He and his wife, Charlotte, traveled from church to church singing gospel music.

To this day, his time in the Army continues to shape him.

“You go in, they learn you discipline and how to respect people and how to do your job right. That taught me a lot,” he said. “If you’ve never been in a combat zone, you don’t know how it really is. But it straightened you up.”

Pruitt is one of 12 children. Five of the seven boys served in the military. In addition to serving in Vietnam, two of his brothers served in World War II, one in Korea and the other in Germany.