Phred (Doonesbury)

Phred, also known as Nguyen Van Phred, Phredrick or Phreddy, is a character in the comic strip Doonesbury.

He first appeared during B.D.'s tour of Vietnam. Phred was a Viet-Cong guerilla (though he proudly referred to himself as a terrorist) who captured B.D., and attempted to take him to a POW camp, but they got lost on the way. After days of being lost together in the jungle they finally found a cache of supplies that had been captured and abandoned by Phred's fellow guerillas. It turned out to contain beer.

While drunk, Phred and B.D. put aside their differences and became friends. For the rest of B.D.'s tour of duty, they continually met to share stories and consume alcohol. Despite being on different sides of the war, they got along fine, particularly since Phred made it clear that he had no great devotion to his superiors, and was as cynical and jaded about the war as most American G.I.s.

In the process of "re-negotiating" his contract with the Viet Cong after a period of down-time, Phred unexpectedly found himself "traded" to the Pathet Lao in Laos. During his stint there, he took a vacation to Cambodia, where the devastation wrought by the "secret bombings" inspired him to organize the transportation of 300 refugees to Washington D.C. to testify before a senate subcommittee. After that, he somehow became the Vietnamese delegate to the United Nations (even he is not certain why) and served there for many years. Throughout this time, he and B.D. remained in correspondence.

When B.D. finally decided to revisit Vietnam, in order to "bury some ghosts", he found that Phred had become a "mover and shaker", setting up business plans with George, a former member of B.D.'s platoon. They intended to set up a Vietnam War-themed resort where Baby Boomers who were either veterans or guilty about avoiding the war could go to experience it.

It is unknown how this plan panned out, but Phred seems to have left it behind in order to run a Nike factory. One of his many underpaid, abused employees is a cousin of Kim Rosenthal, who has since declared a personal war on the company for the terrible standards that the workers endure. Phred remains as cynical as ever.