Gaining his verbal stride, Captain Swain said, “Charlie is moving massive amounts of supplies through somewhere. S2 thinks this remote feeder to the Ho Chi Min trail might be the leak. The area to be scrutinized is a minor off-shoot of the trail. Just because it’s small doesn’t mean it can’t he a major leak. It is up to you men to set the record straight.” Everyone nodded their understanding.
“Due to the sensitive area you are to work,” he continued, “the team will to be inserted about ten kilometers from your final destination and hike, unseen, to your observation point.
“It’s very mountainous terrain, known to be heavily booby- trapped. At best, a very difficult mission,” Swain said as he pointed to the location on the map in front of the small group. “Heavy NVA activity has been spotted in the area–so extreme care must be taken. This next news won’t make you feel any better, but we figure you need to know: The last Recon team sent in has never been heard from since. We believe them to be dead or captured.”
Luke knew several of the men now missing. They were some of the first Recons he had met when he arrived; now they were gone. Hearing the news, Luke felt his stomach tighten further, felt an urgent need to pee, which he held in check. He fought to regain control. Inwardly he was all shook up, but he knew on the outside he looked calm. Noticing the impact of the news on everyone, Swain added, “With any luck you’ll be in and out of there before they catch wind of you.” More nods of agreement.
“Regardless, we have to know what is going on,” said the S2 officer briskly in summation. “It’s up to your team, Mad Dogs, to find out. If you’re careful, everything should work out just fine.” The captain spoke, Luke thought briefly, as though he was addressing a group for a training mission back at Camp Del Mar. After another pause and a look around the room, Swain said, “That will be all, men. Good luck and good hunting.” Luke knew a condescending tone when he heard it. It also said that no questions were permitted. Luke sat quietly and waited to see what would happen next.
He had watched Sikes very closely during the whole briefing. He figured if Sikes had looked upset, or especially concerned, then he’d know what to expect. Sikes took the briefing, Luke saw, without emotion or expression showing on his face.
What surprised Luke most was that Lt. Macky didn’t say a word during the entire briefing. He sat silently in the hack, drinking coffee.
As the men filed out of the hot, stuffy tent, Luke gave Macky a questioning look as he walked past him; it failed to get a response and Luke continued outside, following his excited team mates.
Preparation for the mission began immediately. Not wanting to screw up, Luke watched Jarvis to see how an experienced Recon got ready. He mirrored Jarvis’s moves. Supplies were checked, intelligence data was studied by Sikes, and their radio was tested by Hardy; communication protocol was rehearsed and everyone cleaned and checked their weapons for the hundredth time.
The next morning at 0530 the team had already been up an hour. They were ready; their last hot meal for several days was over, and they had just finished their final briefing, a recap performed by Sikes.
The team’s timing was perfect. By the time they straggled slowly to the helo pad, the chopper was making its final approach. Even at this early hour it was hot and humid, sticky.
The men climbed expertly into the Huey gunship, their uniforms already drenched with sweat. Luke realized nervously that only three of the team had done this before–under combat conditions. Luke, Schmidt and Waldo were all cherries, virgins. Only Sgt. Sikes, Hardy and Jarvis were seasoned veterans on missions like this. It surprised Luke that it hadn’t occurred to him before now. It made no difference really, he thought, but it was something to consider. He blamed the excitement and his nerves for not thinking about it before now,
All Luke could think of was that he didn’t want to screw up and let the team down. Looking into his friends faces, beneath the grease paint they wore, he saw fear. He swallowed hard. He pretended to concern himself with the sweat that now stung his eyes. Then the thought hit him. Painfully he realized that he, too, was afraid– terrified to be exact. Then another thought assailed him as forcefully as if someone had hit him with a strong right fist: “Will I kill someone today or will they kill me?”
The whining noise of the gunship’s turbine increased at that instant, telling Luke that lift-off was eminent. In tandem with his escalating fears, reaching a peak just as he felt the chopper jerk forward and up, clouds of dust began swirling madly around them. It was too much for Luke; in one forceful motion he quickly undid his seat belt, leaned out the door, and vomited his breakfast onto the ground. He sat in the darkness, embarrassed by what he had just done. Kindly, everyone looked away, pretending not to witness.
Within seconds of take-off, the sleek chopper zeroed in on a heading of due north. The plan, Luke remembered as he felt the jarring vibrations of the accelerating chopper, called for them to head north then dogleg west just before the DMZ. That way Charlie would think it was just another chopper patrolling the Demilitarized Zone, a daily occurrence they were used to.
It was imperative, Luke remembered the Captain saying, that they not make contact with the enemy on the way in. Orders were to break contact immediately with any enemy force, if discovered. With conscious effort, Luke loosened his death grip on his weapon.
“This is bound to get hairy,” he breathed aloud as he re-checked his gear. The noise of the chopper drowned out his words. Luke glanced at his teammates; everyone seemed to be lost in thought. The three seasoned Recons all had the same blank stare on their faces. Luke couldn’t read them. He looked at Waldo and Johan and saw a reflection of his own feelings–they looked scared shitless too. He cursed as he felt the familiar rash forming on his stomach.
Staying just above tree top level, the chopper raced onward through the night on its predetermined course. To Luke’s eyes it seemed as if they were flying into a void, as if heading into the abyss of hell. He looked into the darkness and nothing came back to him. He shivered involuntarily. Finally Luke’s senses had something real to process; he felt the chopper turning in a wide, gentle arc. Then off to the right, the Cua Viet River faintly showed itself, reflecting the minute amount of light present at this ungodly hour. Luke welcomed the sight. He watched the narrow river shimmer below as they flew westward. Every once in a while, Luke noted, the pilot zigzagged as the tiny ship continued to head due west. Luke guessed that he did it to make them less of a target, but really didn’t know the purpose.
Further west it became mountainous, Luke noted. The jutting points of land were shrouded in a lush, dense green covering, but for the most part they too were hidden on this moonless night. Straining hard to pierce the deathly blackness beneath them, he saw shapeless scenery emerge from the blur just before the darkness again reclaimed it. It all looked the same. Anxious, Luke turned his gaze inside the aircraft. Everyone appeared to be lost in thought, Luke decided. Looking at Hardy, Luke corrected himself. Hardy was sleeping peacefully, swaying noticeably with the aircraft’s movement.
Luke was so keyed up that he couldn’t sit still, having long forgotten his fears. Now he was excited about the mission. He used the time to double-check his equipment and to put on the heavy repelling gloves he brought with him. He looked down at his feet. Coiled neatly there was a single hundred-foot nylon rope, about an inch in diameter, to be used to Rapidrope “insert” them in the jungle. He nodded as he checked it off his mental check list. Because of the dense vegetation, he knew, it was the fastest way, and perhaps the only way, for them to get to the ground. No clearings existed in the jungle where they were headed. If one was cleared, he knew, it would be covered over in a few days with new growth, not to mention that it would draw attention.
When the time came, he would grab the nylon rope with his gloved hands and slide silently into the darkness and ground below. Luke knew it was the fastest, most effective way to unload from the chopper in enemy territory and not be seen doing it. Movement within
the cabin attracted Luke’s attention.
He watched as the crew chief held up one finger in front of Sikes’s face. It told the team to get ready; one minute to the debarkation point. Everyone, Luke realized as he looked around, had somehow seen the gesture, even Hardy. All eyes were now riveted on Sikes as he nodded and gave a thumbs-up sign to the airman.
Pointing their weapons out the side of the chopper, each man chambered a round. Then he made sure the safety was on; and then they waited.
Luke’s pulse quickened as he felt the chopper rapidly slow down. It carne to a halt seconds later, just above tree level; as if on spoken command Sikes silently threw the rope out, leaving one end connected to the ceiling of the passenger compartment.
The loose end disappeared down into the triple canopy of trees towards the ground over a hundred feet below.
Sikes tapped Luke on the shoulder. Luke tensed, then nodded slightly. Speaking was not necessary. In a single, smooth motion, Luke grabbed the rope, and quickly slid down into the near darkness, disappearing into the trees below. As soon as he was well on his way, the rest of the team followed, quickly, one at a time.
Luke didn’t linger when he touched the ground; he knew the rest of the team was right behind him. Straightening, Luke looked up and saw two of his team appear, only feet separated them on the rope. Seconds later the whole team was on the ground, kneeling as they waited.
As Luke watched, the rope whipped the trees guarding the perimeter as it disappeared up through the canopy; the sound of the chopper quickly faded, telling them they were alone, alone in this remote valley. Luke glanced over at Hardy, who quickly did a radio check with the chopper to insure that the radio hadn’t been damaged during the insertion. Completing it, Hardy gave Sikes a thumbs-up sign; the mission was on.
It was then that Luke noticed how quiet it was. Listening closely he heard water dripping from the canopy above; rain was working its way to the jungle floor from a rainstorm that passed through the area days earlier.
On the jungle floor darkness still prevailed. Luke could see around him, but just barely. Dark silhouettes of his team members hung in the near darkness like ghosts awaiting revenge. As hard as Luke tried, he could not tell one man from another. Several minutes passed as the team listened to the world around them.
Through a break in the forest to the east, Luke saw a faint glow now. Dawn was breaking. A slight smile crossed his lips. Then it faded. Even in mid-day, Luke thought silently as he looked around, this area will remain in heavy shadows. He shook his head. It was still nighttime quiet meaning the monkeys and birds were relatively quiet, only occasionally piercing the silence with a scream or squawk. Listening intensely, Luke now heard other animal and insect sounds; he heard a mouse rummaging at the base of a nearby huge teak tree. And he heard a large beetle scraping the bark of another large tree behind him. Luke quickly glanced at the others; they seemed to pay little attention to the rustles in the bushes. Luke wiped his forehead with his right sleeve in futile attempt to keep the sweat from dripping into his eyes.
Hardy noticed Luke’s movement. “Hey, boot,” he whispered into Luke’s ear, only inches separating them. “When it gets real quiet, that’s when you’ve got to be worried.” Luke couldn’t read the expression on Hardy’s face. He guessed it contained Hardy’s usual blank stare. Without further comment Hardy turned his head toward Sikes and waited for the signal to move out.
In preparing for the mission, Sikes had Luke and the other new men turn their wristwatches inward, with the dial on the inside of their wrist, facing the skin. He told them that he didn’t want to get blown away because Charlie had seen light reflecting off the face of their watches. Luke smiled as he remembered that he and the others had been quick to make the correction. Sikes kept his own watch in his pocket. It didn’t have any band; it rotted away months ago.
The team found themselves standing in a small, remote valley, between two steep hills. Selected because no villages were near enough to notice their arrival, the valley was still a good distance from their destination, slightly more than the ten kilometers they had planned. The chopper had dropped them somewhat south of where they wanted to be, but at least they were in the right valley. At night sometimes landmarks got confused; it wasn’t unusual for insertions to be even greater distances afield.
Surprising to Luke, the vegetation was not dense beneath the thick canopy of trees. He had expected to see massive growth. It would be fairly easy to walk around the clumps of bushes they found, Luke noted happily. The spongy ground he stood on was covered with low-lying plants, mostly ferns and broad leaf plants. The daytime hum of insects had already started and was gaining intensity minute by minute.
Remembering the briefing, Luke went over the main details as he stood waiting for Sikes’s signal to move-out. Luke knew it would take the better part of the day to hike to their destination; he itched to get started.
In the excitement of the mission, he had completely forgotten about the sapping heat and humidity; already his uniform was soaked and he hadn’t done anything yet. Even a hike on level ground was a torture under these conditions, but their planned route was anything but level. Luke knew they would be going up and down steep hills most of the way. He hoped he was up to it.
Sikes hastily, with two quick movements of his hand, assigned Jarvis as point man, and Schmidt as tail-end Charlie. Tail-end Charlie, Luke found out the night before, was the in-country name of the man assigned to watch the rear of the team as it moved forward on patrol. After one last quick check of the map by Sikes, the team headed north at a brisk pace. Luke felt the excitement escalating within him with each step he took. Just over the first rise, his enthusiasm quickly faded as sweat poured massively from him; all of the muscles in his legs fatigued, nearly refusing to carry him onward. It took every ounce of strength Luke had to keep up the pounding pace set by Jarvis as the team made its own trail through the jungle. Luke finally understood why Hardy wore his sweatband; his eyes stung constantly from sweat pouring into them.
The better part of an hour passed before Jarvis found a trail safe enough to use. Not much of a trail, Luke judged for himself. It looked to be one used by animals, probably the large, reddish-brown deer found in the area. No signs of people using it made the team relax slightly.
The team’s mood picked up considerably; using the trail, they no longer had to chop through the periodic patches of dense growth they encountered. Everyone put their heavy machetes away and tried to ignore the heat as they cautiously trekked their way northward.
As he walked, Luke found himself staring down at his darkened dog tags. Last night Sikes had him put shoe polish on them and thread them into the laces of his boots. Sikes’s words kept replaying in his mind. “Hey boot, we want to be able to ID you if you get blown away. Even if you step on a claymore, your boots usually stay intact. If you lose your head, the tags usually get lost. We don’t need any more John Does around here. Dig it.” Luke remembered the lost feeling had he felt at that moment; he still felt it.
“Reality check,” he said to himself harshly, just above a whisper. He kept moving, fifteen paces ahead of Johan as they moved up the trail. He shook his head, forcing the thoughts from his mind. He again began to study the terrain. Luke found himself scrutinizing the shadows, looking for pith helmets and glaring faces. He saw none.
Using the trail, the biggest problem the team faced was booby traps. It made the going much slower. In Luke’s training he had been taught how to ID booby traps, to spot trip wires and vines used as trips, and to spot other common traps like spike pits and so on. He was glad he was not point today. A couple of times Jarvis found trip wires he would have missed. Each time they found one, the new men were briefly and quietly enlightened on how to handle them. Because of the nature of their assignment, they left the traps set and skirted around them, careful not to leave tell-tell signs of their presence.
The hike took a lot out of Luke. He found himself sweating more than he had ever though
t possible. During one of their rest stops, he noticed everyone’s soaked uniforms–just like his. It didn’t make him feeling any better, but at least he wasn’t alone.
During a rest break Hardy sat next to him. Hardy stared at him with his blank face for a long time. Luke could tell he was deciding whether he should speak or not. Finally, in his twangy drawl, Hardy spoke softly: “You ain’t taking no fuckin’ salt tablets are you?” There was no rancor in his voice as he continued. “You best start takin ’em. Fuckin’ heat exhaustion sneaks up on you out here. You look about half fuckin’ gone already.” Luke saw real concern creep into Hardy’s eyes. Luke smiled slightly.
“Thanks,” said Luke as he dug into his gear and quickly consumed two of the large white tablets. He felt exhausted.
Hardy got up and walked a few yards to Sikes and sat down. Luke watched as Sikes nodded to something Hardy said.
“Okay, saddle up,” came the hushed order a few minutes later. Sikes had the men move out, again at a quick pace.
In the middle of the jungle, the team came across a Buddhist temple. The pagoda consisted of a single room structure, eight by ten feet in size, with varnished teak beams and a large likeness of Buddha centered in it. It amazed Luke at how well kept the small shrine was to be out in the middle of nowhere. The dark green jungle seemed to open up grudgingly around the structure. The trail simply passed by in front of it, widening only slightly at its entrance. Judging from the incense smell still in the air, people had been there that morning. The team slowed their advance, being extra cautious. No one entered the structure; they skirted it instead, and quickly continued on their way. Within moments they were gone.
As the trek progressed, the team went through different vegetation zones. Near their starting point, they passed through a forest of teak and mahogany trees. Later in the day they cut their way through dense thickets of huge bamboo stalks. What Luke disliked most was the elephant grass–even being careful it seemed to cut him like a knife.
By What is Sure to Follow Page 16