He was doing  this because he had helped destroy the orphanage while in Vietnam by burning the buildings, crucifying the nuns and throwing the children into the bombfire he and his buddies had made.  He later claimed to have gone back to Vietnam with an organization Swords to Plowshares to rebuild the orphanage and he met a member of that Catholic Order and pledged his retirement money to them for all time as an amends for what he had done.

Rick claimed to have joined the Marine Corps under court order in 1967.  He says he served at Khe Sanh, served in the Nixon White House, went to China  with Nixon (that's my arm you see helping the President when he stumbled  coming out of Airforce One), served in El Salvador, and (this is where he  started to make mistakes) was there at the fall of Saigon.  He claims to have  won a Silver Star, a Purple Heart, and many other medals EXCEPT he claims to  have never won a good conduct medal because he was such a f**k up because of  his drinking and using.  

Rick told numerous heartrending tales of war attrocities, having people die  in his arms, torturing enemy etc.  One of his tales centers around forays  into Cambodia.  He claims that he trained the "Hmoung"  and that once, after a battle, he stopped some of the Hmoung (spelling?) children from playing  soccer with the severed heads of the VC.  While holding two of the heads and  walking to the trash bin with them, he stopped and chatted with some buddies.

A photographer snapped a picture that he claims was run on the front page of  the Modesto Bee with the caption "Our GI(s) at Play".  He says it is because  the Bee is such a left wing publication. ...  requested an archive search from  the Modesto Bee.  No such photo was found.