The Hueys carrying C4 and their gear took turns dropping down in the clearing and offloading. Seeing the men standing around waiting for instructions made Psycho realize the first of two problems. Before leaving, he had not given the men specific instructions as to what he wanted them to do after the Hueys dropped them off. The second problem showed itself when Psycho did a 360-degree scan of the clearing they were to secure. The size of the clearing far exceeded what Capt. Phillips had led him to believe.
The clearing they were charged with securing measured at least a hundred yards by two hundred yards. Capt. Phillips expected Psycho with seven soldiers to secure a small valley’s perimeter along with a buffer zone around it.
Psycho pointed to a place where the clearing was its narrowest. “We’ll set up camp over there. Mick, you and Leroy take a walk around the clearing. Check at least ten yards into the jungle for any traps or signs of VC. The rest of you, after you lighten your packs, take a sweep of the clearing for traps or tripwires.”
It took a couple of hours for the men to conduct a detailed sweep of the clearing and for Mick and Leroy to do their sweep of the perimeter. Periodic thunder from the big guns from Fire Base Alpha would shake the men’s nerves.
It was late afternoon when the men regrouped at the narrowest part of the clearing, where they had planned to camp for the night. The men broke out their C Rations pack. Sparky calmly began cutting up a brick of C4 explosive with his knife.
Psycho screamed, “What are you doing?”
“Relax, Sarge, I’m cutting up some C4 so we can heat up our rations. The smoke from a campfire could attract some unwanted attention.
Mick interjected. “Since we don’t know who is out there. We can’t take the risk of smoke from a campfire attracting those we don’t want to know that we are here. Actually, C4 gives is a heat without all the smoke.”
Sparky went on to put Psycho’s mind at ease by explaining that the explosive C4 without a blasting cap made a great way for heating their food. It’s better than any other heat source provided by the military.
Psycho nodded. He had to accept the wisdom of his more experienced soldiers.
Watches were assigned for the night, with Psycho taking the last one right before first light.
***
The night and on to the morning went about uneventful. Everyone was finishing up their morning meal of ham and eggs heated with plastic explosive.
Dave was the first to ask; everyone waited for the answer. “What time are we to expect these mucky-mucks to fly in?”
“All I know is that we are to secure this clearing for their arrival at zero-one-zero-zero hours. We are to get a confirmation of an ‘all clean shortly before.’”
“What are we to do in the meantime?” Ruben asked.
Psycho’s eyes narrowed as he scanned the perimeter of the little valley. “We have another hour and a half before we need to do a perimeter check. This would be a good time for us to break out those new rifles and test them.”
“What do you want us to shoot at?” Mick asked.
“You and Sparky pick a couple of targets at a couple of distances. Let’s not waste too much ammunition.
Until it’s my turn for target practice, I’ll listen to the radio. Make sure that if we miss the target, we won’t hit anything important.”
***
Sharply at zero – one – zero – zero hundred hours Mick heard a squawk on the radio. Psycho was busy, test-firing a few rounds from his CAR 15.
Mick then heard, “This is BBQ 1 to Psych Ward. Are we clear for phase one?”
In a state of shock from the radio message. Mick ran and grabbed Psycho. “I’m getting a strange request on the radio.”
Psycho took the mic and keyed it, “This is Psych Ward. Come again.”
“BBQ 1. Are we clear for phase one?”
Psycho motion for the men to place themselves around the perimeter of the clearing like they discussed earlier. He then spoke into the radio, “Psych Ward here. Give us fifteen for a quick recheck.”
A displeased Capt. Phillip’s voice came over the radio, “I gave you all morning for that check. Why now?”
“Sorry sir. The men are doing a last-minute check.”
“Be ready, the first Huey will be arriving in fifteen minutes. Make sure there is no outside interference.”
Fifteen minutes later, the first Huey touched down in the center of the clearing. Two soldiers jumped out and began to pull off a large tarp and several folding tables. Once unloaded, the Huey lifted off and out of sight. Moments later, a second Huey showed up where two more soldiers pulled off several large coolers. The four men in olive green proceed to set up a sideless tent along with the table and chairs.
They just barely finished their work when a third Huey showed up. It stayed long enough to offload Capt. Phillips, a one-star general, along with two elderly Vietnamese whose pictures Psycho had seen in Stars and Stripes.
C4 held their position while those four were served beer and deli-style sandwiches. When they were finished Capt. Phillips walked over to Psycho and said, “We’re finished now. Call BBQ 3 for pickup.”
Psycho restrained himself from saying anything; he just followed orders. As Phillips wallked back to the others, he asked, “Will a chopper be coming to take us back?”
“No, the Hueys will take the tent and other stuff. You can walk back.” Phillips turned and walked back to his guests.
So pissed at those words, Psycho raised his rifle, ready to use the Captain for target practice with his new rifle. He didn’t
The soldiers boarded Huey BBQ 1 and 2 with what they brought. However, they did leave behind two six-packs of Pabst beer.
“Did the Captain really say we had to walk all the way back to base?” Shadow asked.
Mick shook his head in disgust at what he had heard from the Captain as well.
A couple more booms could be heard in the background.
“Fire Base Alpha is close. We could walk there?” Dave said.
“That would make us further from Da Nang,” Mick said.
Looking around at each member of the squad. “How much rations do we have?” Psycho asked
“We’ve got enough for another day. Maybe two.” Mick said.
“Which direction to home?” Psycho asked.
Mick pulled out a map and pointed out the route they would have to take.
Pham pointed to the north side of the mountain. “I know of a village around that mountain. It would be less than a day.” He gave Dave a glance. “I believe they will feed us if Dave helps with their sick.”
“Can we do that?” Psycho asked.
“They call it Civil Action. The brass sees helping the Vietnamese people more important than killing the VC,” Sparky said.
“Well, the Captain didn’t say we had to make a beeline back to base.” Psycho threw his pack on his back. “Let’s move out, we’ve got some walking to do.”
