by Eric Helm
“Fetterman! The M-79! Blanket the whole area down there. Give them some help.”
The Tai machine gun crew was already raking the edge of the tree line. Firing rose to a crescendo as the others opened up with their M-16s. For two long minutes the battle raged. Finally they were close enough that Fetterman popped a smoke grenade and ran out to help the scout drag Washington into the safety of the rocks.
“How bad?” asked Gerber.
“Bad,” said Fetterman, stripping the cellophane from a pack of cigarettes and flattening it over the hole in Washington’s chest before tying a pressure dressing over it to hold it in place. “At least it didn’t go all the way through. In this case that’s an advantage, I think. Can you hear me, T.J.? Is there anything else I can do?”
“You’re doing fine,” said Washington weakly.
“Captain, would you get me a morphine styrette out of his kit?”
“No,” said Washington, shaking his head. “No morphine. Not yet. Want to stay alert. Don’t want those bastards to find me napping.”
“Okay. No morphine just yet. You take it easy and save your strength.”
“Never have made it without the girl,” said Washington.
Both Gerber and Fetterman looked at Kit, who was sitting very still and holding a hand to a blood-covered thigh. She looked very pale and was sweating profusely. She smiled at them weakly.
“Here, let me have a look at that,” said Fetterman.
“Now, Captain,” she said. “Now perhaps you will finally believe whose side I am on.” Then she fainted.
“Captain Gerber,” yelled Bocker from behind a pile of rocks. He snapped off three quick rounds at a VC who had been foolish enough to show himself and was apparently trying to get to Anderson’s body. “B-Team says evac and gunships are on the way. That Linebacker joker is a BUFF. Says they’re fixing to plaster the whole area.”
“Can you get that damned beeper working again?”
“Negative, sir. I rendered it permanently inop per your orders. If I leave the mike open, though, the B-52s can shoot a bearing on it.”
“Do that, and tell them to drop it anywhere but on us. But first call those choppers and tell them they’d better hurry.”
“Yes, sir.”
The hillside below them was exploding in flame as the last of the Huey slicks lifted off the hilltop.
CHAPTER 17
SAIGON, RVN
It had been nearly two weeks since the helicopters of the 187th Assault Helicopter Company had pulled them off the hilltop in Cambodia while the B-52s had turned the hill into a gully. Sam ‘the Cat’ Anderson was dead, officially missing in hostile action, his body buried beneath the rubble of a Cambodian hillside, along with the bodies of an undetermined number of Viet Cong. T.J. Washington was in a Saigon military hospital recovering from a sucking chest wound. Brouchard Bien Soo Ta Emilie was there as well.
The doctors thought they’d saved her leg, but no one was saying how much use it would be, yet. Corporal Bhat hadn’t made it, after all. He’d survived the trip out but had succumbed to infection eight days later. Strikers Mung and Krak were rotting on another Cambodian hillside somewhere. All in all, it seemed to Gerber to be a less than spectacular ending to a mission that had only accomplished the precedent of mass bombing in Cambodia.
Bocker and Kepler had already returned to Camp A-555, and Justin Tyme had been DEROSed back to the States a month early, having picked up his third Purple Heart. Gerber and Fetterman were both still in Saigon, having picked up minor wounds in the last moments of the battle. Gerber now walked with a cane and a slight limp, which was daily getting better. Fetterman’s left arm was in a sling, which he insisted was unnecessary.
Fetterman had persuaded Gerber after supper that the biggest recuperative medicine they needed was a good stiff drink, and the two men had slipped out of the hospital complex by hiding in the back of a deuce-and-a-half truck. Now they were sitting in a smoked-filled tavern, drinking whiskey and Ba Muoi Ba and watching a nearly naked half-French, half-Vietnamese dancer who looked painfully like Kit do everything but fuck herself on top of the bar while a stereo somewhere blared out Manfred Mann’s ‘Doo Wah Diddy Diddy.’
“Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea coming here after all,” said Fetterman. “You don’t seem to be enjoying yourself much, and while the atmosphere isn’t much, you got to admit the scenery is fairly breathtaking.”
“Sorry, Tony.” Gerber had to practically shout to make himself heard. “Guess I just got a lot to think about, things going bad with the mission and all.”
“And with Miss Morrow, sir?”
Gerber felt like asking which one, but just smiled, shook his head and went back to watching the dancer, who was picking money up off the bar in a truly astounding fashion. He felt a bump against his elbow and turned.
“I might have known I’d find you in some sleazoid joint like this,” shouted Robin Morrow.
Gerber could see instantly that she was more than a little drunk.
“Robin. Good to see you. I was wondering why you hadn’t dropped by the hospital.”
“Liar. You probably hoped you’d never see me again. Besides, I was waiting for you to make up your mind.”
“About what?”
“About me. About you. About Karen. About everything. I know about the letter, Gerber. Did you write her back and say you were going to come running home to her? She’ll fuck you, you know. And I don’t mean like I will. She’s done it before and she’ll do it again, but I guess maybe all you men ever want is sex. You don’t care about love, do you? Somebody loves you, goes through hell for you, and you just don’t give a shit. All you want is my sister’s ass and her kinky little perversions. You want sex? All right, goddamn it, I’ll give you sex.”
Before Gerber could stop her, Morrow leaped onto the bar and proceeded to rip off her clothes to the thunderous applause of the many GIs crowding around and the considerable consternation of the dancer at being upstaged by a Western girl. She strutted up and down the bar a couple of times, amid much cheering and hooting, then walked over and stuck her behind almost in Gerber’s beer.
“You see those marks, Gerber,” she shouted at him, pointing at the thin scars covering her posterior. “That’s what it’s really all about. I go through this because of you, and I still want you. I helped Maxwell get you off that damned hilltop even after I knew about Kari’s letter. If it wasn’t for me, you’d still be in Cambodia. Forever.”
“Robin, please. Not so loud. Come on down off there, will you?”
She ignored him.
“But that’s all right, Gerber. Don’t think about all the pain and suffering you’ve caused me. You just go ahead and run back to Seattle and look up my big sister for some fun and games, ’cause that’s all you’ll ever get from her. That and heartache, because she doesn’t know the meaning of the word commitment. And while you’re doing that, just you think about what you could have had instead.”
Morrow stepped off the bar, stumbled unsteadily and marched out the door, leaving her clothes behind. The GIs gave her a standing ovation.
“Quite a performance, I’d say,” observed Fetterman in the silence that followed.
“You can say that again,” said Gerber uneasily. He cleared his throat and took a sip of beer.
“Captain,” said Fetterman sternly. “You’re not going to be a complete jerk and let her go like that, are you? She’ll catch her death or the MPs will pick her up. You don’t take that lady home, I don’t think I’ll ever drink with you again, sir.”
Gerber smiled and pushed back from the bar. “You know, Master Sergeant, I believe that once again you’re right as usual. Dealing with drunks is a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it. Tell the night nurse I won’t be in for breakfast, will you? And when you get back to camp, look in my locker. You’ll find a letter in the drawer where I usually keep the Beam’s.
“Burn it.”
“Yes, sir,” said Fetterman. “With pleasure, sir
.”
***
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ALSO BY ERIC HELM
THE SCORPION SQUAD SERIES:
Body Count
The Nhu Ky Sting
Chopper Command
River Raid
THE VIETNAM GROUND ZERO SERIES:
Vietnam: Ground Zero
P.O.W.
Unconfirmed Kill
Fall of Camp A555
Soldier’s Medal
The Hobo Woods
Guidelines
The Ville
Incident at Plei Soi
Tet
The Iron Triangle
Red Dust
Hamlet
Moon Cusser
Dragon’s Jaw
Cambodian Sanctuary
Payback
MACV
Tan Son Nhut
Puppet Soldiers
Gunfighter
Warrior
Target
Warlord
Spike
Recon
GLOSSARY
AC — Aircraft Commander.
AFVN — Armed Forces radio and television network in Vietnam. Army PFC Pat Saják was probably the most memorable of AFVN’s DJs with his loud and long “GOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, Vietnam!”
AK-47 — Selective fire assault rifle used by the NVA and the VC. It fired the same ammunition as the SKS carbine, which was used early in the war. The AK-47 replaced it.
AN/PRC-10 — Portable radio. Also called Prick-10.
AN/PRC-25 — Became the standard infantry radio used in Vietnam. Also called Prick-25.
AO — Area of Operation.
AP ROUNDS — Armor-piercing ammunition.
ARVN — Army of the Republic of Vietnam. South Vietnamese soldier.
ASH AND TRASH — Single ship flights by helicopters taking care of a variety of missions, such as flying cargo, supplies, mail and people among the various small camps in Vietnam, for anyone who needed aviation support.
BAR — .30-caliber Browning Automatic Rifle.
BEAUCOUP — Many. Term derived from the French presence in Vietnam prior to the war.
BISCUIT — C-rations or combat rations.
BLOWER — See Horn.
BODY COUNT — Number of enemy killed, wounded or captured during an operation. Used by Saigon and Washington as a means of measuring the progress of the war.
BOOM-BOOM — Term used by Vietnamese prostitutes to sell their product.
BOONDOGGLE — Any military operation that hasn’t been completely thought out. An operation that is ridiculous.
BOONIE HATS — Soft cap worn by the grunts in the field when not wearing a steel pot.
BUSHMASTER — Jungle warfare expert or soldier highly skilled in jungle navigation and combat. Also a large deadly snake not common to Vietnam but mighty tasty.
C AND C — Command and Control aircraft that circled overhead to direct the combined air and ground operations.
CARIBOU — Twin-engine cargo transport plane; C-123.
CHINOOK — Army Aviation twin-engine helicopter. CH-47. Also known to the troops as a shit hook.
CHURCH KEY — Beer can opener used in the days before pop tops.
CLAYMORE — Antipersonnel mine that fires 750 steel balls with a lethal range of 50 meters.
CLOSE AIR SUPPORT — The use of airplanes and helicopters to fire on enemy units near friendly troops.
CMH — Congressional Medal of Honor.
CO CONG — Female Viet Cong soldier.
COMSEC — Communications Security. The term refers to the need to be careful with useful information when using the radio so that the enemy doesn’t get it.
DAI UY — Vietnamese Army rank equivalent to U.S. Army Captain.
DCI — Director, Central Intelligence. Director of the CIA.
DEROS — Date of Estimated Return from Overseas Service.
DONG — Unit of North Vietnamese money about equal to a U.S. penny.
FIIGMO — Fuck It, I’ve Got My Orders.
FIVE — Radio call sign for the Executive Officer of a unit.
FNG — Fucking New Guy.
FRENCH FORT — Distinctive, triangular structure built by the hundreds throughout Vietnam by the French.
FUBAR — Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition.
GARAND — M-1 rifle, which was replaced by the M-14. Issued to the Vietnamese early in the war.
GO-TO-HELL RAG — Towel or any large cloth worn around the neck by grunts to absorb perspiration, clean their weapons and dry their hands.
GRUNT — Infantryman.
GUARD THE RADIO — To stand by in the communications bunker and listen for incoming messages.
GUNSHIP — Armed helicopter or cargo plane that carries weapons instead of cargo.
HE — High-explosive ammunition.
HOOTCH — Almost any shelter, from temporary to long-term.
HORN — Specific radio communications network in Vietnam that used satellites to rebroadcast messages.
HORSE — See Biscuit.
HOTEL THREE — Helicopter landing area at Saigon’s Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base.
HUEY — Bell Helicopter. Slick. Called a Huey because its original designation was HU, but it was later changed to UH.
IN-COUNTRY — American troops operating in South Vietnam were all in-country.
INTELLIGENCE — Any information about enemy operations, including troop movements, weapons capabilities, biographies of enemy commanders and general information about terrain features. It is any information that could be useful in planning a mission. Also refers to the branch of the military that specifically deals with the gathering of such information. Often abbreviated to Intel.
KA-BAR — Military combat knife.
KIA — Killed in Action. Since the U.S. was not engaged in a declared war, the use of KIA was not authorized. KIA came to mean enemy dead. Americans were KHA or Killed in Hostile Action.
KLICK — One thousand meters; a kilometer.
LEGS — Derogatory term for regular infantry used by airborne qualified troops.
LIMA LIMA — Land line. Telephone communications between two points on the ground.
LLDB — Luc Luong Dac Biet. South Vietnamese Special Forces.
LP — Listening Post. Position outside the perimeter manned by a couple of soldiers to warn of enemy activity.
LRRP — Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol. A small group that slipped into the jungle to search for the enemy. They stayed out for weeks at a time.
LZ — Landing Zone.
M-14 — Standard rifle of the U.S. Army, eventually replaced by the M-16. It fires the standard NATO 7.62mm round.
M-16 — Became the standard infantry weapon of the Vietnam War. It fires 5.56mm ammunition.
M-79 — Short-barreled, shoulder-fired weapon that fires a 40mm grenade, which can be high-explosive, white phosphorus or canister.
MACV — Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. Replaced MAAG — the Military Assistance Advisory Group — in 1964.
MEDEVAC — Medical Evacuation. Also called Dust-Off. A helicopter used to take the wounded to medical facilities.
MIA — Missing in Action.
MOST RICKY-TICK — At once. Immediately.
NCO — Noncommission Officer. Noncom. Sergeant.
NCOIC — NCO In Charge. Senior NCO in a unit, detachment or a patrol.
NEXT — The man who said he was the next to be rotated home. See Short-timer.
NINETEEN — Average age of the combat soldier in Vietnam, in contrast to twenty-six during the Second World War.
NUOC-MAM — Foul smelling fermented fish sauce used by the Vietnamese as a condiment.
NVA — North Vietnamese Army. Also used to designate a soldier from North Vietnam.
OD — Olive Drab, the standard military color.
P-38 — Military designation for the small one-piece can opener supplied with
C-rations.
PETA-PRIME — Black tar-like substance that melted in the heat of the day to become a sticky black nightmare that clung to boots, clothes and equipment. It was used to hold down the dust during the dry season.
PETER PILOT — Copilot of a helicopter.
POGUES — Derogatory term describing people who inhabited rear areas, taking all the best supplies for themselves and leaving the rest for the men in the field.
POW — Prisoner of War.
PSP — Perforated Steel Plate used instead of pavement for runways and roadways.
PULL PITCH — Term used by helicopter pilots that means they are going to take off.
PUNJI STAKE — Sharpened bamboo stake hidden to penetrate the foot, sometimes dipped in feces to increase the likelihood of infection.
QT — Quick Time. It came to mean talking to someone quietly on the side rather than operating in official channels.
R AND R — Rest and Relaxation. The term came to mean a trip outside Vietnam where the soldier could forget about the war.
RF STRIKERS — Local military forces recruited and employed inside a province. Known as Regional Forces.
RINGKNOCKER — Graduate of a military academy. The term refers to the ring worn by all graduates.
RPD — 7.62mm Soviet light machine gun.
RTO — Radio telephone operator. Radio man of a unit.
RULE OF ENGAGEMENT — Rules telling American troops when they could fire. Full Suppression meant they could fire all the way in on a landing. Normal Rules meant they could return fire for fire received. Negative Suppression meant they weren’t to shoot back.
SAPPER — Enemy soldier trained in use of demolitions. Used explosives during attacks.