13th Valley (77 page)

Hold it together, he demanded of his mind. Hold it together. It hasn't all collapsed yet. It doesn't have to.

SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITIES

THE FOLLOWING RESULTS OF OPERATIONS IN THE O'REILLY/BARNETT/JEROME AREA WERE REPORTED FOR THE 24-HOUR PERIOD ENDING 2359 19 AUGUST 70:

AT 0310 HOURS COMPANY D, 7/402 RECEIVED A SAPPER ATTACK IN THEIR NDP IN THE VICINITY OF YD 143328 RESULTING IN SEVEN US KIA AND 17 US WIA OF WHICH 11 REQUIRED MEDICAL EVACUATION. ENEMY CASUALTIES WERE UNKNOWN.

FOUR SEPARATE ATROCITIES WERE PERPETRATED BY THE ENEMY AGAINST VILLAGE POPULACES OF THUA THIEN PROVINCE PRIOR TO DAYBREAK RESULTING IN NINE CIVILIAN CASUALTIES. DETACHMENT 4, 7TH PSYOPS BN IN COORDINATION WITH DISTRICT LEADERS AND THE VIETNAMESE INFORMATION SERVICE COLLECTED ANTI-GOVERNMENT AND ANTI-FREE WORLD MILITARY ASSISTANCE FORCE LEAFLETS WHICH THE ENEMY HAD DISTRIBUTED. GROUND LOUDSPEAKER TEAMS WERE DEPLOYED AND IMMEDIATELY BEGAN BROADCASTING PRO-GVN MESSAGES. THE EFFECT OF THE NVA PROPAGANDA WAS EFFECTIVELY NEGATED. PHOTOGRAPHS AND TAPE RECORDED INTERVIEWS WERE MADE FOR POSSIBLE FUTURE USE.

AT 0737 HOURS, COMPANY A, 7/402 SPOTTED TWO NVA SQUADS IN THE OPEN THREE KILOMETERS WEST SOUTHWEST OF FIREBASE BARNETT. ARTILLERY WAS EMPLOYED. A SEARCH OF THE AREA REVEALED NUMEROUS BLOOD TRAILS.

DURING A LATE MORNING SWEEP, 2D PLT, CO A, 7/402 DISCOVERED AN NVA FISHING CAMP, VICINITY YD 165311, WITH NUMEROUS BAMBOO FISH TRAPS AND SEVERAL SMALL ANIMAL SNARES. THE TRAPS AND SNARES WERE DESTROYED. AT 1215 HOURS 3D PLT OF CO A REPORTED FINDING FOUR MARIJUANA PATCHES VICINITY YD 168309. WHITE PHOSPHORUS ARTILLERY ROUNDS WERE EMPLOYED TO DESTROY THE CROP.

AT 1330 HOURS ON A SWEEP SOUTH OF THE KHE TA LAOU RIVER CO A WAS AMBUSHED BY AN ESTIMATED REINFORCED NVA SQUAD. THE UNIT RETURNED ORGANIC WEAPONS FIRE AND WAS SUPPORTED BY ARTILLERY RESULTING IN NINE ENEMY KILLED AND FOUR INDIVIDUAL WEAPONS CAPTURED. NO US CASUALTIES WERE REPORTED.

IN A MASS GRAVE APPROXIMATELY THREE KILOMETERS NORTHWEST OF FIREBASE RIPCORD, THE 3D CO, 3D BN, 1ST REGT (ARVN) DISCOVERED 20 ENEMY KILLED DURING THE PREVIOUS WEEK BY TACTICAL AIR STRIKES.

WHILE RECONNING AN ENEMY BASE AREA VICINITY YD 155307, A SQUAD OF CO A, 7/402 WAS AMBUSHED BY AN UNKNOWN SIZED ENEMY FORCE. THE SQUAD RETURNED ORGANIC WEAPONS FIRE AND WAS SUPPORTED BY ARA AND REINFORCED BY TWO PLATOONS OF CO A. TWO US WERE KIA, THREE US WERE WOUNDED AND EVACUATED. ENEMY CASUALTIES WERE UNKNOWN.

FIREBASE BARNETT RECEIVED 13 ROUNDS OF 82MM MORTAR FIRE AT 1819 HOURS. NO CASUALTIES WERE REPORTED.

C
HAPTER
27

20 A
UGUST
1970

By first light the raindrizzle had ceased. Alpha was socked in beneath thick valley mist. The boonierats hardly moved. For an hour the only noise was the RTOs calling in situation reports and resupply requests and Brown calling in the altered supply order for now seventy-five men. Doc Johnson had convinced the L-T to send Whiteboy to the rear because of the big soldier's eye wound. Melvin Harley would act as squad leader until Whiteboy returned.

Alpha rested. Today would be resupply day and they anticipated none of the complications of the last resupply. Brooks cut them as much slack as he dared. He sent out only three five-man patrols, one from each platoon, and they were instructed to stay relatively close. “Just have a look around,” he had told the platoon leaders. “Get us some targets for arty, collect intelligence, but avoid engaging the enemy if possible.” Everyone had agreed enthusiastically and had left Brooks alone in the dawning while he called the GreenMan.

“Red Rover One, this is Quiet Rover Four,” he radioed. He was not sure how to proceed. He had a personal request.

Brooks spoke with the TOC RTO and finally got the GreenMan. “Four, this is One Niner. Over.”

“One,” Brooks addressed the GreenMan. How could he say it other than just saying it? He could not think of a way. “One, Quiet Rover Four Niner requests to delta echo romeo oscar sierra on two eight August. Over.” There! Finally he had said it. There was a long pause. He wanted to DEROS in eight days. He would be out of the field in five days or less. His decision was made. Now it would be up to the GreenMan to approve it and up to Personnel to implement it.

“Four,” the GreenMan's voice came from the handset, “that's a rodge. That's affirm. I have you deltaechoromeooscarsierra on two eight August—providing Texas Star reaches termination. Four, I need you. Over. Out.”

There had been no CP meeting the previous night because of the fleeing and hiding. In the unreal security of dawn the usual boonierats gathered at the CP. They felt extra tired, extra irritable, yet they generally maintained the macho, though dampened, facade of young soldiers.

Cherry sat quietly monitoring the various companies' internals about the valley. Doc, Minh and Whiteboy spoke quietly among themselves. Brown and Cahalan shared a cold can of Spaghetti and Meatballs. El Paso monitored the reconning patrols and he and FO plotted targets. Egan painstakingly cleaned his weapon. Thomaston, Caldwell and De Barti savored the smoke of a single last cigarette.

“Hey, Eg,” Thomaston called lowly, “how many today?”

“Eighteen en a wake-up,” Egan answered. “What about you?”

“Twenty-one.”

“You cherries,” Brooks laughed. “EIGHT!” he announced.

“Is that fucken right?” Thomaston said astounded.

“You finally decided,” Egan added.

“You owe it to yerself,” Doc said. “Right on.”

“I didn't think you'd ever leave,” El Paso smiled.

“But I still have eight days,” Brooks said. He was happy and they were happy for him. “Let's get down to business.”

The boonierats closed in about their commander. They whispered one-to-one the cliches they always whispered when a boonierat brother left. “Get some for me.” “Look out, Mama, Daddy been holdin it so long, it gonna explode.” “I bet he shoots his load before he ee-ven enters the door and still blows her eyes out.” “Bet yer ass he will.”

“Well,” Pop Randalph smiled at them all, quieted them as he leaned into the center of the circle, “when yer twenty you can send a squirt right across the room. When yer twenty-five you still got enough muzzle velocity to fire from the hip. But, I gotta let yall know, when yer thirty-seven, goddammitall, it'll still come out with a bit a coaxin but you best have a bucket under it. How old are you, Sir?”

“Old enough to reach halfway across the room,” Brooks chuckled.

“Why, hell. Here all this time I thought you was seventeen.”

They all laughed then Brooks put a damper on the meeting. They discussed yesterday's ambush of Mohnsen's squad. What happened, why it happened, how it could have been avoided. “Recon elements should not pursue ambushers,” Brooks said. “It's the same damn thing that happened to Bravo down on the Sông Bo. They sucked them in then blew them away.”

“L-T, I don't think you can say that,” Lt. De Barti challenged him.

“I agree, Sir,” Pop said. “You gotta return fire, suppress their fire, an gain fire superiority. Otherwise they goan eat you up.”

“Not a seven-man recon element,” Brooks said. “When they began taking fire they should have held their position until maneuver elements could have flanked them.”

“No Sir,” Pop said. “I disagree. Most times you can't wait for nobody. You gotta break the back of a ambush.”

“That's true,” Egan said.

“Yes,” El Paso agreed then tried for a compromise, “but I think what Mohnsen did was run through his ambush. They should have stopped the second they realized there were enemy on their sides. They could still have disengaged.”

“Hey,” Brooks said. “Listen. As long as I'm in command here, recon elements are to return fire but to disengage as rapidly as possible. They are to wait for reinforcements or for arty or ARA. That's it. Any questions?” No one answered. Egan bit down and tightened his jaw. Pop examined his fingers. The weariness that was in them all seemed to seep to the surface. Brooks removed his odd baseball-style hat and scratched his scalp. “We're going to have plenty of opportunities over the next few days to mix it up with Charlie,” Brooks said. “Don't worry about that. Green-Man still wants us to clean out this valley. After resupply we're coming back here. We're going for their heart.”

Before Alpha moved out Brooks walked to each platoon. He wanted to tell as many of his men as was possible. He especially wanted to tell the old-timers. He wanted to say he was leaving them but not abandoning them. That was always bullshit. It seemed everyone always said that in one form or another just before they DEROSed. Then they would leave and perhaps send a letter or maybe even a package. But soon that ceased and they were out of touch; the old unit was filled with cherries and the vet was surrounded by a different and demanding world. But Brooks believed he would be different. He would not forget. He wanted them to know that. Slowly he moved to 1st Plt's area. He carried only his weapon and a notebook. Yes, he thought. It is also time to write down their views and perceptions on conflict. Perhaps, in the next five days, I can make enough notes to lay the foundation for a thesis. And yes, one thing more, he felt it, knew it without verbalizing it, to write these things down and to speak them out would calm his troubled mind. It had been near impossible for him to look at Egan this morning. Perhaps he would tell Egan his dream. Not explicitly, generally. Egan had lady problems too. They all knew that even if no one said it. It would be easy to talk to him.

“Ssssssttt. Jax.”

“Here, L-T.”

“How you doing, Little Brother?” Brooks asked. It was going to be harder than he had thought.

“Like a uncorked jug upside-down. Drained, Man.”

“You've already heard?”

“Right on.”

“How do you feel about it?”

“Doan mean nothin,” Jax said softly. “Only yo din't have ta do it like that. I never thought yo do it like that. Yo aint one a em.”

“Jax, it's my time to go.”

“That aint it, L-T. Shee-it. Yo owe it to yerself. I's happy fo yo but I aint believin yo din't know. Jest spring it on us like locust attackin.”

“I'm sorry, Jax,” Brooks said. Jax sounded very depressed and it saddened Brooks.

“Who gowin get the company?” Jax asked. “Yo aint gowin give it to that mothafucken honky Thomaston, is yo?”

“That's not my decision. The GreenMan decides that. Thomaston's pretty good though.”

“That honky fucka doan know his weapon from his ass wid out Eg point it out to'm. An Eg leavin in two weeks. We gowin get our asses kicked seven ways ta hell.”

“Jax, it's going to work out.” Brooks felt a little disgusted. Goddamn, he had the right to leave. “Hey, what are you going to do?” Brooks shrugged and tried to sound carefree.

“Gowin start a war,” Jax said very factually.

“No, Jax. Now listen. You'll lose everything you ever worked for if you do that.”

“Aint gowin miss somethin I aint never had.”

Doc and El Paso approached Jax' perimeter position, whispered the password and came forward. They sat, one to each side of Jax and the L-T, and aimed their weapons outward. “Doc,” Brooks whispered, “when I'm gone I want you to keep an eye on Jax here. Watch over him, okay? El Paso, you too.”

“He okay,” Doc said. “He'll be watchin over us. What's happenin, Jackson?”

“War,” Jax said. “War in our homeland.”

“Can't fight with that,” Doc said.

“You guys be careful, huh? Please.” Brooks pulled out his notebook. “Hey,” he said. “I want to give you guys my address. Look me up when you get back.” He wrote his name and address several times and tore the bottom from the page. “Here,” he said. “Give me your addresses too.”

“There aint gowin be no address when I get back,” Jax said. “I's gowin be roamin. Sabotagin. Blowin up the cities, creatin terror. We gowin hold a million people hostage. Trade their lives for King Richard's.”