by Saxon Andrew
“All of them?”
“No, just the ones that are not in my battalion.”
“Does that include the commander of the other battalion?”
“Yes, Sir, it does.”
“And who will that be?”
“Captain Dodd, Sir.”
“I’ve wondered about him. He was quite the troublemaker.”
“That was then; now he’s only trouble to the enemy, Sir.”
“I’ll sign the papers before you leave. I expect you to make a difference, Colonel. Don’t let me down.”
“We will make the difference, Sir.”
“See Colonel Jensen outside and tell him what you need. Good luck, Colonel and congratulations.”
Brian stood and saluted, “Thank you, Sir.”
• • •
“We’re due to move in to our new accommodations tomorrow gentlemen. Do you have any suggestions?”
AG looked at Jerry and said, “We’ve discussed the move and it’s our opinion there will be a reception committee waiting for us.”
“So how do we handle it?”
“We drop the demons in tonight five miles out and have them work their way in to the camp.”
“You both know that one shot will give you away.”
Jerry smiled, “We do, Sir; that’s why we’re only going in with only our knives.”
“Is that wise?”
AG shrugged, “If they encounter a group too large to handle they will call it in to the howitzers.”
“Where are you placing them?”
“There’s a clearing two miles out. We intend to clear any enemy forces from around that clearing and bring them in when the hundred Hueys fly in to strafe the jungle. They shouldn’t be heard coming in with all the firepower being used. Once they’re in place the scouts will move in and start mapping the area.”
“Where are the two of you going to be while this is going on?”
Jerry shrugged, “I need to be with my battalion as it’s lifted in. They will have the responsibility for camp security until they can be trained. The first hundred and fifty will come in with the Gunships and start manning the machine guns at the camp. The artillery company will also come in and assist the one at the camp with the targets the scouts uncover.”
“Aren’t you concerned your own warriors may be hit by the Hueys?”
“They won’t be moving past the clearing until after the Hueys attack. They’ll move on the clearing before the Hueys arrive and have it ready for the guns’ arrival. Once they’re in place they will move out to take out as many of the enemy as possible and record any pockets of large numbers they encounter.”
Col. Green thought about the plan and said, “You’ve got everything setup.”
“Omaha helped with the Hueys and guns. They will arrive on time, Sir.”
“You better hope your men have that clearing neutralized before the guns arrive.”
“That is understood, Sir.”
Brian looked at Jerry, “I’ll be going in with your initial landing.”
“I don’t know if that’s wise, Sir.”
“It’s not wise, but your battalion has been led by a commander that wouldn’t share their risks. That’s not going to happen under my command.”
Jerry looked at AG and he shrugged. “Get out fast, Sir. The troops there have reported massive fire anytime a Huey went to the camp.”
“Make sure they lay down a mortar barrage on our arrival. Maybe Charlie will keep his head down until we hit dirt.”
“We can only pray, Sir.”
“Well, get to it and make this work.”
AG and Jerry saluted and left the office.
Brian leaned back in his chair and thought about how easy it was to command when you never had to come up with a plan. Even if he didn’t survive, he knew the men would be in good hands. He shouted, “Bingham, get in here.”
Edward came in and Brian said, “What do you think about their plan?”
“Intel is rife with holes. I’m sure the enemy knows we’re arriving tomorrow and is making their plans accordingly. I wouldn’t want to show up without softening up the forces arrayed against us, Sir.”
“I plan to use you as my executive officer until you can be trained on the Demon tactics. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“It’s the only way I can regain my soul, Sir. Thank you for the opportunity.”
“What does your father say about this?”
“He’s not happy but he knows I’ve got to do it or I’ll never find peace. I will hold up my end, Sir.”
Brian stared at the former cadet and smiled, “I have no doubt you will. Go make sure everyone knows their responsibilities.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Brian leaned back in his chair and knew that Bingham was not supposed to be in a combat position with his missing little fingers and small toe. “Well, we’re a long way from the bright lights of Saigon and they probably couldn’t see this far anyway.”
• • •
The fifty Hueys came in low and dropped the ten Demons to the ground using climbing ropes. The Warriors were not carrying any weapons but their knives and canteens. Every squad had a radio man that would stay back and take the coordinates of targets from their squads. The five hundred soldiers dropped into the jungle and the Hueys pirouetted and flew back toward their airfield and waited. AG looked around and saw his men begin moving toward the clearing. They had three hours to clear the area and then the guns would be coming in. He didn’t expect many Vietcong. Five miles was just too far away from the basecamp to do the enemy any good. Still, he knew the commander of the enemy forces would want to keep an eye on the clearing. He moved forward and the warriors around him watched him disappear into the jungle. Charlie pointed left and right and the men knew that the Major would handle the route in directly in front of them.
• • •
AG was moving fast and he sensed there were more troops than should be here. Someone had leaked information to the enemy on what was being planned. Fortunately, they were expecting the Americans to arrive the next day. He moved in on a machine gun and killed the three Vietcong manning it. They never heard him coming and three knife throws killed them. He had taught his men to aim for the throats so that the enemy could not scream. The expansion of the knife would also sever the carotid artery, causing instant unconsciousness. He retrieved his knives and continued moving forward. He saw a sniper in a tree aiming his rifle and threw a knife into the sniper’s ear. He didn’t have time to retrieve it and he continued forward. Someone had been seen and that was unacceptable. He looked over at what the sniper was aiming at and saw a large pig. Well, if he had shot it he would have announced his kill to his fellow ambushers. AG smiled and figured that was one lucky pig. He continued forward and took out three more machine gun nests before he reached the edge of the clearing. He stopped and thought about continuing around the edge but knew that he would only weaken his men if he deprived them of the learning experience. He stayed low and waited. An hour later his men began arriving and he let out a deep breath he had been holding. He closed his eyes and looked across the clearing. One sniper had been missed. He stood and rushed across the clearing and threw a knife from two hundred yards away. The knife followed the black line he saw and it hit the sniper in the neck severing his spinal cord. He had been focused on Private Lee and was about to pull the trigger when the knife ended his life. The rifle fell to the ground from his lifeless hands.
AG arrived at the base of the tree and found Corporal Polumau staring at the rifle at his feet. He looked up and said, “I messed up, Sir. I didn’t see him.”
“You still can’t see him, Corporal. He’s above the lower branches so he can’t be seen from the ground.”
“How do I avoid this in the future, Sir?”
“Pick the tree you would set up in if you were a sniper and make sure you look close. This tree is the only one in this area that could effectively hide a sniper. The tree will tell you where t
hey are.”
“Thank you, Sir. I won’t let it happen again.”
AG turned and smiled, “The Corporal was learning how to learn.”
AG held up his arm and his men moved into the clearing. “The guns will be arriving in thirty minutes. Move out and form a perimeter. Take the machine guns the enemy planned to use on us and set up to defend the site. As soon as the replacements arrive with the Howitzers turn the machine guns over to them and move out. We need you back here an hour before sunrise with your targets.”
AG waited and then he heard the Attack Copters coming in. The gunships roared overhead as the artillery at the basecamp fired huge flares into the sky, illuminating the jungle for miles around the camp. The Hueys were firing at the area surrounding the camp and AG could only hear the C-54 Chinooks as they arrived overhead and began lowering the 155 howitzers. The guns were lowered to the ground and the huge helicopters then lowered the rounds. The Artillery crew rushed out to their guns and began setting them up. AG went over and directed the officers on where to aim them initially. He gave them the elevation coordinates and then looked over the trees as the huge helicopters lifted and flew away. The attacking Hueys were right behind the heavy lifters and covered their distinctive rotor sound. Fifty soldiers from the second battalion moved out and replaced the scouts at the machine guns and the scouts disappeared into the jungle.
The Lieutenant commanding the troops came over and saluted AG and asked, “How do we know if someone approaching our positions is the enemy and not your men?”
“If you can see them, they’re not mine.”
The Lieutenant stared at AG for a moment and then smiled, “That makes it easier.”
AG laughed, “Shoot it if you see it.”
AG sat down with his back against a tree and looked at the black lines disappearing overhead. He had one Howitzer locked in on the thickest black lines and watched as some of the smaller lines moved. Jerry would have to target those. The enemy was shifting the location of his mortars. It’s the big guns and rockets we need to take out first. He knew where the enemy’s guns were located but his men needed to learn how to find them. He’d see if they were making progress when they returned with their targets. He knew he might not always be around for them to depend on and he was going to make sure they were ready to take care of themselves. He closed his eyes and went to sleep. The Lieutenant from the second battalion was amazed that he was able to do it. His nerves were so tight he didn’t know if he would ever sleep again. This new battalion commander was different. He was out in the middle of the fighting. Perhaps his men had been placed in an organization that didn’t throw away lives like his last unit. He turned and went to inspect the machine guns. Perhaps there was some validity to the tales being told about the White Demons. He knew that if his men couldn’t see the Major’s men; neither could the enemy.
• • •
Private Madeen moved silently through the jungle and avoided the Vietcong and NVA regulars. He had to back out several times and come in from another direction to avoid being seen. He had not killed any of those he encountered, knowing that the discovery of dead Vietcong would lead to a warning. The killing would start when he exited. He moved forward and heard conversation directly in front of him. He had tracked his location on his map and when he moved a small frond he saw a tube rocket unit in front of him. He looked around and saw the river to the north and he marked the location on his map. Now he would have to leave and not stop to dispose of any of the enemy. His orders were clear. If a major target was discovered, no chances would be taken to prevent that information from being brought back. He silently backed out and began moving back the way he arrived.
He finally reached the back edge of the troops arranged against the basecamp and paused to take out a mortar detail. There really wasn’t a chance of his discovery this far back. He retrieved his knives and crawled away. Suddenly he heard a loud crack several hundred yards away and knew that someone had been seen. That was the cue for everyone to exit killing as many as possible. Soon small arms could be heard throughout the valley and Madeen knew he had lost some of his brothers. He continued forward and headed toward the clearing. He made it through the friendly machine guns and reported to the Captain commanding the artillery. The Captain looked at the location of the rocket battery on his map and saw that one of his guns was targeted on it. As the other soldiers arrived, every one of the major targets already had a 155 targeted on its location. He looked over at the sleeping Major and wondered how that was possible. He looked at his watch and said, “Load the guns. We’ll start firing in ten minutes.”
• • •
The NVA Colonel looked at the body that was drug into his headquarters and saw the small ghost on the shoulder. The Major that had brought the body in said, “The Demons are here.”
“What have you seen?”
“We’ve only managed to kill ten of them.”
“And?”
• • •
“They have killed more than two hundred of our men.”
The Colonel’s face showed his shock, “How many were here?”
“How would I know? We were lucky to get these ten. We lost sixty of our men taking these.”
Suddenly the air was split by the roar of helicopters passing overhead. The Americans were landing at the camp. “Notify the guns to open fire.”
That was the last order the Colonel gave as a 155 millimeter round hit ten feet from him and blew his headquarters away. The surviving NVA major that was out with the troops watched as his rockets and large guns were all hit simultaneously. The explosions that were set off when the Howitzer rounds hit their stacked rounds could be seen from the camp. Jerry looked out the door and said, “It appears Major Gardner is busy. We need to get out and get the mortars firing, Sir.”
“Lead the way, Major.”
Jerry sprinted to the mortars and began adjusting their settings. “Fire it now,” and then he’d run to the next mortar. Enemy mortar rounds began arriving and Jerry ignored them as he ran to each of the mortar crews, adjusting their tubes and hitting the loader on the helmet as he ran away. After fifteen minutes, the mortar rounds coming in from the jungle stopped. Jerry continued to adjust the settings until an hour later when he stood and said, “Cease fire.”
The artillery crews waited and nothing could be heard from the jungle below. Jerry looked at Col. Green and said, “You can bring in the other soldiers now, Sir.”
“What about Gardner?”
“He’s going to have the guns moved back before he comes in. His troops should arrive in a few hours.”
“Get it done, Major. Set up the defense of the camp before you do anything else.”
“Yes, Sir.”
• • •
The soldiers that had come in with their new CO looked at each other. None of them had been killed. Two were wounded by shrapnel from the mortar rounds that hit the camp but none had died. They watched the Colonel go to his bunker and the Major start organizing the camp. Sargent Idaho looked at his men and said, “Things change.” He paused and then said, “Sometimes for the better. You heard the Major, Get moving.”
The rest of the Regiment was airlifted in and not one shot was fired from the jungle at their helicopters. The survivors in the second battalion began talking with their comrades and there was a sense that things were going to be different. They waited to hear what their new commanders had to say.
Three hours later the Demons emerged from the jungle and moved into camp. The second battalion watched and later learned that more than eight hundred enemy troops had been killed before their arrival. Many of them started wanting to wear the ghost on their shoulders. The regiment was starting to come together. They were going to need each other soon. Danger was coming and the magnitude of it was more than anyone could anticipate.
Chapter Fifteen
The year went by quickly and supplies moving down the trail had been redirected around their firebase. The North Vietnamese had lear
ned that to venture across the border from the Demon firebase was tantamount to suicide. Things had slowed down and the Regiment continued to train. It had become a deadly force.
Col. Green walked over to AG’s bunker and said, “I’ve just received word that Col. Van Bao has just massacred a village thirty miles north of here.”
AG looked up from his desk and said, “Why would he be doing that?”
“Intel seems to think he is scaring the locals into sending more volunteers to the Vietcong.”
“That wouldn’t make sense. He could just go into An Loc or Tay Ninh and kidnap all he needed.” AG paused, “He might be eliminating anyone that can warn us of an impending attack.”
“What do you mean?”
“Those villages have let us know if any sizable units have moved into the territory. If they’re planning a major offensive, they may want the early warning removed. I think the Vietcong Commanders know we go to those villages in helicopters on a regular basis.” AG pulled out a map and spread it out on his desk. He yelled, “Corporal Stevenson, get Major Dodd in here.”
AG pointed at the location of the attacked village and then looked south of its location. Jerry stepped into the bunker as AG said, “If they are removing the villages, this one will be the next one hit. Do we know how many are in Van Bao’s unit?”
“The survivors that made it into the jungle before the slaughter said he has about sixty heavily armed troops; half of them are NVA regulars.” Brian paused and said, “They killed all the old people and threw the babies in the air and shot them before they hit the ground. The children that were too large to throw were gutted with a bayonet and thrown into a ravine on top of the bodies of the elders.”
“What about the women, Brian?”
“They took turns assaulting them. When they finished they stabbed them in the stomach and cut the tendons in their legs so they couldn’t run away. They then threw them in the ravine and took bets on how long it was going to take for the last one to die.”
Jerry looked at AG, “How many do you think I need to take?”
“This is my party, Jerry. I owe the Colonel.”