This is my rifle, this is
my gun, one if for killing, the other for fun...Army training cadence
The weeks passed slowly for Richard. The initial high now subsided. and he was bored with the routine. The C-rations and the occasional helicopter flown in hot meals lost their newness, the rains filled the foxholes, the constant sniper fire into the camp, countered with periodic artillery barrages into the unknown green hills off in the distant. An occasional patrol in t he rain, and if not raining, hot and humid, and if neither, fighting off the dysentery, and malaria, that sapped the troops the most.
There were constant rumors of the Vietcong buildup and even the presence of a North Vietnamese regiment in the area, with the intention of spitting South Vietnam, by pushing to the sea. There were rumors that the North Vietnamese were better equipped, with Russian made automatic AK-47' and mortars and rockets, not the ill equipped Vietcong, surviving on World War Two carbines, stolen American arms, and even crude spears and sophisticated booby traps, though crude, effective. Rumors about the next patrol , the next large scale campaign, they got to be so common that no one believed anything until the order came down to move out. Then and only then did they know that something was happening.
Richard ,Jason, and Eddie were cleaning their M-14's, sitting on ammo crates outside their tents. The smell of rifle oil permeated the area. Richard now smoked cigarettes, mostly Winstons, starting out at first as a pastime to kill the boredom ,now he was hooked and some days smoked two packs. In war the temptation to vices increased, maybe because of the uncertainties of the soldier's life. Richard thought about his first sexual experience ,he knew that if he wasn't in a war zone, he wouldn't have ever done that sort of thing, but in places like Vietnam. things are different.
His attitude changed, he grew up in the first few weeks and he still had some growing to do. So far, the war was a bore. A few patrols, no serious injuries to his company, a few shrapnel wounds, superficial, only one man was injured seriously enough to be shipped back to he States, and that was due to friendly fire, a nervous soldier, a cherry, newcomer, Richard and his friends now called them, GI , almost ripping off his whole arm which hanged together by a feel strands of meat .The destruction of an M-14 bullet as it ripped though his arm, shocked Richard.
"Fuckin A, Dick, "Jason complained, as he put his rifle down and took out a can of C-rations, "I'm getting sick of this shit. If its not beans and rice, it's C-rations, That's a hell of a way to fight a war."
"Hey , wait a minute, hold it!" Richard said as he got up and rushed into his tent. and brought out a brown paper wrapped box." It's from my sister ," he opened it," cookies,.. and fudge...here help yourself. Got it this morning... Forgot all about it."
"Say, save it for yourself," Eddie rejected the offer but Richard insisted and he took some cookies and fudge bars.
"Come on Jason, take it.. it will rot by tomorrow in this weather. I can't eat it all."
For fifteen minutes, the contents of the large box slowly diminished until just crumbs were present. But Eddie tipped the box up and tapped the box, and the crumbs fell into his open month.
"Damn that was good," Eddie said," you 'll have to introduce me to her when we get back to the States, is she good lookin' ?"
Richard smiled, "fuckin A, but I don't know though. All you want is to fuck her, then leave her."
"No, not me,.." defended Eddy.
The sarge briskly and determined, walked up ,"Ok you soldiers, we got orders. We're movin' out tomorrow morning. Dust off at 0400. Get your gear packed, five days supplies. Inspection at 1800 sharp."
" 'bout time," Jason yelled.
Eddie yelled, "where're headed?"
He shrugged his shoulders, and pointed west into the Central highlands, "up there. Don't know for sure, the lieutenant says, that we're gonna check out some villages. But we'll have to march in on our own, the huey's can't land that close, too much jungle brush."
Richard didn't say anything, his stomach knotted,l ike always when he went on a patrol. He couldn't control the feeling, but he knew that anything was better that sitting around camp in the rain, swatting mosquitoes, and taking potshots from the some unseen VC.
The sarge continued," It's gonna be a big operation. The Air Cavs , the marines, the South Vietnamese. Something about a large buildup of Vietcong regulars wanting to push to the sea."
No one slept well that night. Richard tossed and turned fought off some mosquitoes and crawling bugs that sneaked under his mosquito net, and he made a mental note that he would have to check for holes in the net when he returned to camp. Although nervous, he wasn't scared. The night before a patrol, always was tight and tense in anticipation of the hunt. He was invincible, no VC was going to tag him, he thought. No, he wasn't scared, he'd been on these missions before, usually only a some small arm fire, an occasional mortar blast, and a burst, or two of automatic fire. He hadn't even seen a Vietcong yet, except one time, when he saw the back of a black pajamas clad VC darting into the jungles before he could raise his oiled cleaned never used rifle.
Richard , somewhere between that time of sleep, between being awake and asleep, awoke suddenly when the sarge bellowed. Groggy and dazed he and the others got dressed.
"Hey sarge, we're due for a three day pass...after this,... Damn we deserve it." Eddie cracked at the sarge who was too busy thinking about the war.
"Keep your dick in your pants till you get back. I don't want you thinking about banging some whore house, while you're supposed to be looking for Charley cong," he snapped. "Damn kids. Still kids," he muttered to himself. If they knew what war was really about, he thought as memories drifted back to Korea, sitting in a fox hole in the mountains, freezing the shit out of you and then fighting the human wave attacks of the Chinese Communists.
"What's that sarge, you said something?" asked Jason.
" It's nothin', Let's go. Pronto."
He rushed them out into the still night , only the humming of the generators and a few lights marked the sky. They all hiked along with the other troops to the helicopter landing strip. The engines whirred, and squad by squad loaded on the choppers. Sarge had a foreboding about this mission. They were at war, yet, no casualties. They had to come , sometime. This was a war. The nightmare, of his first battle in Korea, the one he had last night haunted him as he watched young, pimpled faced kids, still too young to shave, sitting in the helicopters, going off to war. He was cocky, invincible, war was a piece of cake, but after the battle, he saw the dead, once alive bodies, strewn where they died, all gaping for air that didn't move. Sarge thought about Carla Jean, his wife, and kids, back in the States. Billy Bob 's going to college next Fall at mom's insistence, despite the fact that he wanted to join the army. But now , he's gonna be an officer, Sarge thought proudly. And Amy Lou, will be in college in a few years, then we'll have...The thought crossed his mind, that Carla Jean will be alone, after the kids left home and if something happened to him. Now his escapade in Saigon shamed him, he bit his cheek, stared at the floor, but Carla Jeans understood he thought, I'll make it up to her, I promise.
Once in the copters, and buckled in, the door gunner checked the machine gun , aimed it out the door, and they took off rapidly ascending and curving upwards, like dragon flies, one at a time. Richard's stomach flipped flopped, he thought, no slow take offs in war, too dangerous.
For twenty minutes the chopper flew up into the dense green tree covered hills, the roar of the engines prevented most conversations, only yelling was sometime understandable, not to mention the unknown expectations put everybody on edge. Would it be a hot landing zone, getting blasted by sniper and mortar fire, and a cool one, with no resistance? Richard's company, so far had been, lucky, but stories abound of others bad fate.
Sergeant E. Pricket looked out the door. The hot air blew against his face, "Damn, Damn, it's a hot one," he shouted, then turned to pass he word down the line. The red flares blew in the wind, soldiers in the choppers in front of them, unloaded, and scampered like ants, Sarge's stomach twisted, he didn't know the extent of the resistance. Suddenly, the machine gunner cocked the machine and blasted short bursts into the perimeter, some black pajamas clad VC scattered into the bush, one cut down , fell face first into the ground, and the gunner hooted a kill. Ping.. Ping ...Ping...live bullets hit the chopper, one pieced the armor, a mortar exploded down on the ground, the chopper descended rapidly, the gunner, now opened up with a continual firing.
Richard was angry, how dare they fire at them. They aren't even on the ground , dirty pool, he thought. His heart pounded ,he was being shot down like a helpless bird. Adrenalin pumped through his veins. He was helpless. Scared. He wanted to fight but couldn't.
"Let's go!...Hurry up, land!" he mumbled to himself. The