Mission 15

Dammit I thought, why the firebase can't find some indigenous personnel that knew what they were doing. Seemed like this was the third trip this year to Dak Seang. The last time we had been sent Chung almost beat the Hmong head scout to death. He had met our chopper when it landed and told Chung he wasn't welcome in their camp. It had taken me and Ling both to pull him off the idiot. When the Captain came over and started chewing me I had told him the next time that ass jumped one of my men I would shoot him myself. I then reminded the Captain that he had called for us and that this was the main reason I didn't give a damned how many of his indigenous men were killed. If they couldn't find one sniper then he needed to get yards to work for them. Chung and Ling were sniggering and needless to say it didn't go over very well with the camp leader. This trip I was inserting before we got to the camp because I was going to do it my way.

Two days ago I had been sitting in the elders hut with Chung and Ling, and the rest of the team drinking Jack Daniels that Ling had stolen somewhere. We were all pretty well drunk off our asses having just returned from a two week mission. We were sitting around telling jokes and Chung was making fun of me as usual. He was making fun of me over one of his damned dirty tricks he always seemed to enjoy pulling on me for some reason. Chung had a very strange sense of humor but I knew it was always in fun and there was no disrespect meant by them. As usual this time he had gotten me good and although I was a little pissed about it my sense of humor always won through. The rest of them seemed to love laughing at me when I threatened to choke his ass. This time when he drunkenly got up to imitate me I booted him in the ass and he sailed out the door of the hut. Everyone broke up laughing when he stood up with his face covered in mud giving me hell for kicking him and ruining his show and tell. I gave him the Bronx salute and took another swig of the bottle in my hand to the laughter of the men at his sputtering. When he finally made his way up the steps Ling was pointing at him and rolling drunkenly on the floor. His front was covered in mud from the top of his head to his feet. From what I could see it looked like he had done a swan dive into the big mud hole by the steps of the shack. When he stopped at the bucket by the door to wash his face he almost went head first into the bucket. This brought another round of drunken laughter with me laughing the loudest, and calling out remarks about him being related to some of the village pigs. He finally half ass washed some of the mud off his face and staggered to my side wilting to the floor grabbing the bottle from my hand and finishing it off. He threw it towards the door missing, and told Ling to pass another bottle he was thirsty.

I watched as Ling reached behind him and parted the curtain to get another bottle from the box, and was surprised at how many different kinds of scotch and whiskey he had hidden away. God some of them were almost impossible to get here unless you had a star on your shoulder. I wasn't about to say a word because I knew that they wouldn't hesitate to share it if I asked. What happened next was a surprise to all of us. Ling underhanded the bottle to Chung and his hands closed about a second after the bottle passed through them. When his hands clapped together he missed the toss and the bottom of the bottle hit him right between the eyes. I watched in shock as his eyes rolled back in his head and he went out hitting the floor from his sitting position. I swear his head bounced twice off the floor and he was out cold. You could have heard a pin drop for about two seconds before everyone in the shack was rolling on the floor in laughter. I stuck my finger out and checked his pulse before taking the bottle off his chest twisting the cap and taking a big swig of it.

"Well we won't have to listen to his big mouth for awhile. Peace and quiet men, lets enjoy it till he wakes up."

Everyone looked at me until one of the elders started choking in laughter. Then everyone was rolling until we heard the jeep motor coming towards the hut. They immediately shut up and grabbing weapons scattered to each side of the hut to look out a window to see who was coming.

"Gunny come Sarge and he not alone."

Shit I thought what the hell does he want? We had already debriefed and were told to take a few days off. I didn't even bother to move and waved the men back from the windows. We were passing the bottles around again when the Gunny and the Captain came up the steps.

I watched as he bowed to the elder and asked permission to enter. The elder looked at me and I grinned at him and he waved them in. When they got inside the Captain was a big surprise as I had never seen him outside our compound. The Captain looked around and came to where I was with the Gunny at his heels. To my surprise he sat down across from me taking the bottle out of my hand and taking a healthy swig before passing it to Gunny. When he did this the men relaxed and started laughing and kidding back and forth again with each other. Ling moved closer to me watching the Captain with suspicion. Ling was the most dangerous one here and I think Gunny knew it as he looked around seeming to realize he and the Captain were boxed in and all my men had weapons near them. The Captain had already scoped it out and I saw the small smile as he took another swig of the whiskey. He looked at Chung lying on his back noticing the big bump between his eyes and looked at me a little puzzled before he spoke.

"Sarge, I know I told you to take a few days off but something has come up and I need you. You can tell your team to relax because you know I wouldn't try to take you out of here by force. You deserve your R&R but this is important. I need you to go back to Dak Seang again."

"You gotta be shitting me Cap! The last time we were there they treated us like dirt, and I almost shot that damn stupid Captain running the camp."

"I know Sarge and that's why he is no longer in charge up there. Charlie has a team of snipers up there and this time they are shooting Berets instead of the indigenous personnel. So far the count is four and they have been head shots and according to Luskin they are all professional shots from a long way off. He says he thinks they are trained Russian snipers. Hell you know Lusk and if it has him worried then it's bad. Every man they've shot so far has been a team leader working out of the base. There has been no pattern and the last time they took two men out at either end of the camp so it has to be a team. The last time they had a team out scouting and they were close to the shooter, but when they got there he or she was gone. They did find a Shell casing that was dropped in the snipers haste to get out before they got there. It came from a Russian sniper rifle and HQ has confirmed it. Lusk asked me specifically for your team and said to tell you he is callin in his marker. It's bad Sarge, and if Lusk hadn't specifically asked for you I wouldn't be here. What do you want me to tell him?"

"Dammit Cap I owe him and if he's callin in his marker I will go, but I don't have a second assigned to me yet. This last one was a bitch and as you can see we haven't been drunk long enough to forget about it. Give me a day to get sobered up and go over it with Chung and Ling and I will come in and talk to you."

"Ok Sarge and the General said to tell you you're calling the shots on this one with no interference. Whatever you need you got."

I didn't say anything as him and Gunny got up and left together. When the jeep motor faded in the distance I looked over at Ling who was looking at me with a frown.

"Sarge, this is not good thing. You remember what happened last time we went to that camp. I go where you do and Chung say same but it be smart if we not go in camp. If they shoot team leaders you too well known to take chance. VC already have big reward on you and rest of us."

"Yea I know Ling, and I am not about to set myself up as a target by offloading at the camp. I think I'll go back to the hooch and think about this. When Chung wakes up give him a couple of aspirins and get the rest of the men sobered up. Ling, you don't have to go on this one and neither does Chung. If they are Russian trained it's gonna get hairy as hell."

Ling gave me a dirty look and then looked at Chung and smiled before he spoke.

"Sarge, we be team for long time and you save us and we save you many times. Chung and me think of you as brother so we go where you go. You no leave us behind. You belong to village and keep us safe and we have much food and people happy. You try go without Ling and Chung we follow. Other men feel same. We figure some way to stop killing of you friends. Now go get food, think about how we do this and when Chung wake, me and him talk too. Here take bottle with you to put in coffee in morning."

I knew when the conversation was over and when he handed me a new bottle of Jack I got up and went to my jeep. I was almost totally sober now and was thinking furiously on the drive back to the base. I stopped at the gate and was waved through and turned the jeep in headed for my hooch. I grabbed clean clothes and headed for the shower. I took my shower realizing that I stunk to high heaven and needed a haircut. I shaved and got dressed and put my dirty clothes out for the Mama San to pick up and headed for the chow hall. I filled my tray grabbed a cold Coke and sat facing the door. I was about halfway through my meal when Gunny came in grabbing his food and joining me. We didn't say anything until the food was gone and we had dumped our trays. I grabbed another Coke and Gunny coffee and we sat back down.

"Sarge, when the Captain asked me to drive him to the village I almost fainted in shock. To my knowledge that's the first time I ever saw him leave the compound other than to go to HQ. What did he mean when he said Luskin was calling in his marker?"

"Lusk and I go way back Gunny. When I went to the bush the first time he pulled me out of a punji pit by using his body as a bridge. If it weren't for him I would look like a shish kabob. I owe him my life and if he called in his marker then it's a lot more serious than the Captain realizes. Lusk doesn't panic and if he thinks they are Russian trained then they are and probably Spetsnaz snipers working as a team. Granted they rarely show up here, but if they are training the VC then it's as dangerous as it comes. I have watched them in competition and there are very few better than they are in their field. The only snipers that I know who are as good are a few Marines and to my knowledge from what I have saw and observed they are almost matched in skill and both are the best there is in long range shooting. If they are taking out team leaders then someone in the camp is giving them pictures of the team leaders. They have a mole there and a damned smart one if he or she is smuggling pictures out. We been there before and took a VC sniper out, but he was the only one we saw and he was keeping within five hundred yards of the camp moving his shooting position every day to keep from being discovered. Chung picked up his trail and it took us two days to find his hidey hole. If this is a team like Lusk thinks then they will be watching for an outside team to drop in. No, they will be expecting it and that makes them the masters in the bush because they will already have all the LZ's checked out and measured off. They will have everyway in bracketed from the high ground. That camp is between two high hills and Charley is always dropping mortars into them from the surrounding hills. If these two are what Lusk thinks they will have a clear field of fire from the top of the hills on either side and you can bet they know every way in or out. No Gunny, I owe Lusk but this is gonna be a hairy sonofabitch if I can't get in under their radar."

"Damn Sarge the more you explain it the more it sounds like a suicide mission. I know a Marine sniper that would love to go in with you to get a shot at a Russian sniper. He's considered one of the best we have and has an impressive kill record."

"Normally I would love to have him, but they would know about it and just pull back again until we left. If one is a master and the other a student he won't take a chance on endangering his student by going up against someone as good or better that they are. This one I am going to have to think outside the box or we all will be killed. I can't go in through the camp because my team is too well known by the VC and you can bet they have pictures of me and would take me out before I walked a hundred yards inside the camp. Gunny, use your contacts and get us all VC clothing and AK's. If we want to survive more than forty eight hours we are gonna have to blend in. I will have a bigger list for you after I talk to Chung and Ling tomorrow. I'm gonna grab some sleep and tackle this in the morning when I'm sober."

"Ok Sarge, you know I will get whatever you need. I will give this some more thought too, and we will talk in the morning."

We got up and I headed for my hooch to get a few hours of sleep and give this some more thought. Either way I looked at the situation I knew the risk factor on this one was higher than any mission I had under taken so far since I started working in the bush. Any way I looked at it I was setting myself and my team up as a target with very little chance of surviving. One skilled and experienced sniper was bad, but two working together was as deadly as they came out there where they knew the territory and never missed when they fired. I was thinking about the hills above the camp when I fell asleep with a plan starting to form.

I woke the next morning and was surprised as hell I wasn't hung over. When I got up and headed for the shower I felt pretty good for a change after drinking all day the previous day. Normally I would have stayed in the village drinking coffee and eating aspirins until I quit puking. Then we would eat and start all over again but what we were facing had to have somehow affected my normal hangover. I was surprised to see the old man who cut hair set up by the gate and wandered over to get my hair cut to its normal flat top. When he finished I paid him and headed for the shower again. I got a quick one and went back to the hooch and got dressed. I didn't need another shave since at nineteen my beard wasn't that heavy. God I thought my birthday was only a couple months off and this time instead of celebrating with Chung and Ling I was going to take thirty days of R&R and go to Bangkok or even Australia and spend some time chasing women and maybe for a change go fishing. I knew I had ninety days of leave coming but I never took more than fifteen before. Usually the Captain had to order me to take even that and I always seemed to come back early. For some reason I could never explain to myself I didn't feel comfortable being back in the world anymore. I had learned the hard way to never wear my uniform and always wear civvies when I went back to the states. I still remember the first time I went back after my first tour and got off the plane in California. I was immediately booed and yelled at by some greasy haired bearded young kids in the lobby of the airport. I had started toward them when I was intercepted by two MP's and guided out to the transport bus to the Fort where I was staying overnight before I caught my hop back to Columbus, Ohio to go visit my folks. I got an education at the fort about wearing my uniform off base and when I flew. I went and bought a couple pairs of jeans and some shirts to wear while I traveled. I packed my dress greens away in my duffel and left it at the base storage to pick up when I got back. That's how I lost my uniform; I hadn't flown through there to return to Nam. Then from that point on I didn't have a dress uniform until I was issued one at Bragg when I mustered out. The one I had for my Graves detail I had immediately burned when that duty was over, after swearing never to wear it again. I ended up paying for it, and in my own thoughts the expense had been worth it. I wasn't ashamed of the duty but the lies and half truths I had been ordered to tell grieving families made me bitter as hell toward all the Regular Army Officers I was stuck under. What made me bitter was the fact that they were fallen comrades and their families deserved to know more than I was allowed to tell. My part of it was one of the greatest honors I had ever known, but the reverse side and the lies made me feel ashamed of my own government.