Читать книгу Arizona Moon - J.M. Graham - Страница 8
ОглавлениеQUANG NAM PROVINCE, VIETNAM
October 1967, the Year of the Goat
The Arizona was scarred with trails that went in every direction, but to use them meant death. This was the most heavily mined landscape in Vietnam, where the booby-trappers and minelayers had free rein to ply their deadly craft, and some had raised it to a high art. Every bit of unexploded U.S. ordnance in the An Hoa Basin found its way into the Arizona, creatively transformed into some horrific surprise for the unwary, the careless, or the unlucky. From Go Noi Island all the way south to where the Song Thu Bon twisted around the Que Son Mountains, every step was a gamble unless the boot print of the man ahead proved the spot reliable. You trusted only the ground you stood on. And even then you weren’t completely sure.
The three-man fire team waded the shallow stream and climbed the embankment on the far side. They were the point element of Golf Company’s 1st Platoon from the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, out of An Hoa combat base on the fifth day of a weeklong, no-name operation beyond the Song Thu Bon. The October monsoon season alternated blistering heat with blinding downpours that kept the river running brown and fast, and everyone in the platoon miserable. The trailing man carried a PRC-25 field radio, known affectionately as the “prick.” An olive-drab towel hung around his neck, and he mopped his face with one end as he reached level ground. The morning heat that had transformed last night’s rain into steam under the jungle canopy suddenly evaporated into a wide clearing. The three Marines stood a few yards apart catching their breath, water draining from the air vents in their jungle boots.
The point man squatted at the clearing’s edge, his M16 tucked under an arm. He looked back at the other two. “This looks like the spot,” he said. “Get Lieutenant Diehl on the horn.”
Twisted wire from a C ration box made a makeshift hook that hung the black plastic handset from the pocket of the radioman’s flak jacket. He lifted it from the hook, held it to his ear, and squeezed. “Gimme One Actual,” he said.
The radio hissed and a small, faint voice answered, “Roger, wait one.”
Within seconds another voice cut through the static. “One Actual.”
The radioman looked back into the trees as though looking in the lieutenant’s direction might be helpful. “Be advised, we have the LZ, sir.”
The radio squelched and the lieutenant’s voice jumped the two hundred yards to the radioman’s ear with all the force and power of two tin cans on a string. “How big a landing zone is it?”
The radioman turned back to the clearing, estimating the distance to the far side. “It’s big enough. We got some trees in the middle to deal with, but the rest is low brush and grass.”
The other two Marines moved off to the side, being careful to stay inside the concealment of the shade. The point man took deep gulps from his canteen.
The radioman held his M16 at his side by the sight mount as he listened. Finally he said, “Roger that,” and hung the handset back on his flak jacket. “Diehl says to get around the clearing and set up security.”
The point man seemed disappointed at missing an opportunity to sit until the rest of the platoon caught up. “Does he want us to go across or around?”
The middle man started along the edge of the clearing, staying just inside the tree line. “You can go across the open ground,” he said to the point man. “We’ll go around and meet you on the other side.” The radioman followed him.
The point man calculated the shortest distance between two points of seclusion and the lack of cover in between. “Screw it,” he said and fell in behind the others.
Far back under the jungle canopy, 1st Platoon was stopped. Nearly every man was squatting or down on one knee, taking advantage of the delay to grab whatever rest was offered. The column stretched well over three hundred feet, with each man able to see only the man ahead and the one behind; heavy undergrowth obscured all else. In the center of the column Lieutenant Diehl stood beside his radioman and watched the shorter man try to hop the heavy radio into a more comfortable position on his back, the blade antenna whipping wildly.
“Stand still, Bronsky,” the lieutenant said. He checked the notations written on the edge of his plastic-covered map. “We need to change freqs.”
Bronsky dropped to one knee and leaned forward so the lieutenant could see the top of the radio. Two large knobs controlled the tactical frequencies, and Lieutenant Diehl turned them until the numbers matched those written on his map. He squeezed the handset. “Pounder One to Highball, over.” He released the lever and listened to the static: nothing. He squeezed again. “Pounder One to Highball. Come in, over.” The radio hissed and gurgled, and hissed again.
“Maybe we need the whip, sir,” Bronsky said, pointing to the auxiliary antenna collapsed inside the narrow canvas case on the side of the radio.
“Maybe, maybe not,” the lieutenant said, squeezing the handset again. “Pounder One to Highball.” He turned the volume knob, making the static louder.
“Are you on the right freq, sir?”
“What do you think?” the lieutenant said. “Have you changed the battery lately?”
“Fresh this morning. Anyway, Clyde just came in loud and clear.”
Birds flitted through the jungle canopy, feeding and squawking and ignoring the men below.
The lieutenant sighed. “Pounder One to Highball.”
The instant he released the handset lever, a voice jumped back at him. “This is Highball, over.”
Diehl extended a hand, pulling Bronsky back to his feet. “Highball, this is Pounder One. You busy?”
“Negative, Pounder. We’re in the air. Your wish is our command.”
“Be advised, our ETA at WL 477336 is zero five minutes. Copy?”
“Roger, Pounder One. Contact you this net, over.”
“Roger, Highball. Pounder One out.” Lieutenant Diehl held the handset out to Bronsky and pushed the folded map back into the bag slung around his neck. “I need Four,” he said.
Bronsky turned to the man squatting ten feet behind him. “Papa Sierra up,” he said just above a whisper.
The Marine spoke into the shadows behind him. “The lieutenant wants the platoon sergeant.”
Receding voices called, “Blackwell up.”
In less than a minute a tall, black Marine pushed through the brush, mopping his face with an issue towel. The elastic band around his helmet held a bottle of insect repellant and a waterproof cigarette case with a pack of Marlboros inside. Perspiration darkened the waistband of his jungle pants, even soaking his web belt. “Sir?”
“Who has the demo bags, Sergeant?”
Staff Sergeant Blackwell squinted as though the answer had to be forced out into the heat. “The Chief has one back in 3rd Squad, and Franklin has the other one up ahead.”
“Okay,” Diehl said, putting a hand on Blackwell’s shoulder and walking him toward a kneeling man further ahead in the column, whispering instructions like a football coach sending a man in from the bench. “Tell Franklin to put charges on every obstruction in the LZ. I don’t want anything standing higher than his ass.” He stopped and looked back. “Make that Bronsky’s ass. He’s shorter.”
Bronsky toyed absently with the cord on the radio handset. “That hurt, sir. I’m sensitive about my height.”
Sergeant Blackwell had learned his tact and diplomacy as a drill instructor at Parris Island. “Both your feet reach the ground. You’re fuckin’ tall enough.” He pushed through the foliage and disappeared.
The lieutenant got the attention of the man resting at the spot where his sergeant had just disappeared. “Move out,” he said. The word spread up the column. After a few groans, the Marines rose and began moving again.
By the time the lieutenant’s spot in the column reached the clearing, the embankment across the stream was slick with the mud of dozens of boots, and knee and hand prints decorated the slope where lost footing had been saved. Sergeant Blackwell already had the first half of the platoon setting up defensive positions around the LZ, and Franklin was busy placing a C-4 charge at the base of one of the tall trees.
When the lieutenant got to the top of the embankment, he turned and gave Bronsky a hand up. “Find Sergeant Blackwell,” he said.
Before Bronsky could move, the sergeant came from the shadowed edge of the clearing. “Sir?”
“Sergeant, I want a couple of fire teams and one of the guns where they can cover this stream and the path we cut through the bush.”
“Will do. I put the other 60 on the rise to the right of the clearing just beyond the tree line.”
Bronsky extended a hand to the next man struggling up the embankment. Besides his pack the man carried two bags with straps that crisscrossed his flak jacket under a bandolier holding one hundred rounds of M60 ammunition. He had no rifle, but his web belt held a .45-caliber automatic pistol and four magazines. To the untrained eye he looked like all the other Marines, but he was one of two Navy hospital corpsmen assigned to 1st Platoon. As prime targets for snipers the corpsmen made a special effort to blend in, carrying their medical supplies in old demolition bags and occasionally trading their .45s for M16s, but the trip through any village, no matter how remote, would usually burst their bubble of invisibility when children would point and yell “bac-si,” the Vietnamese word for doctor. If a five-year-old could pick you out, how difficult could it be for a trained eye behind a rifle?
Doc Garver, just under six feet tall, had always been thin, but the diet of C rations combined with long hours and little sleep had pared his weight to less than 150. His fair skin seemed incapable of tanning, and ruptured sun blisters on his forearms gave him the appearance of a pox sufferer.
“Doc, the lieutenant says the command post is here. Doc Brede can stay with 1st Squad.”
Bronsky moved over near the lieutenant, and Doc Garver went to the shadows by the edge of the clearing. CPs tended to get crowded, and crowds tended to draw fire. Doc Garver’s survival strategy was to be where the bullets weren’t. He might have to go there after their arrival, but it was always wise to avoid the initial salvo.
Every few seconds a Marine came out of the jungle and crossed the stream. Each carried a bandolier of ammunition for the M60s, and some carried two hundred rounds, the linked cartridges strapping their chests like those on Mexican banditos in old westerns. One Marine hacked a branch from a tree with his machete and used it to haul new arrivals up the mucky incline. Lieutenant Diehl signaled one to wait, directing the others to break off to the left side of the clearing. The waiting man was a stocky lance corporal with a barrel chest. His face and arms were deep bronze, and his high cheekbones and broad nose framed piercingly clear eyes that could fix a man with a stare the way a mountain lion looked at its next meal. His strong chin supported a mouth often bordering on the edge of an intolerant sneer that seemed to warn people to choose their words wisely. His voice belied his forbidding countenance. The prepossessing lilt came out soft as velvet, but like his Apache forebears he was thrifty with words, and no one in the platoon could ever remember hearing him laugh.
Born into a warrior clan in the remote Cibecue community on the White Mountain Reservation in Arizona, his warrior ethic had led him to another warrior clan—the U.S. Marines. He had no interest in saving the Vietnamese from themselves or defeating communism or propping up the domino theory. His enlistment was the fulfillment of an ancient mandate. It was simply a matter of metallurgy: he was forging an Apache manhood, and the crucible was Vietnam.
“Chief. Go help Franklin set charges on those trees, and go easy on the C-4. I just want them down, not vaporized.”
The Chief looked out into the clearing.
“You hear me, Chief?”
“Yes, General,” the Chief said, lifting the demo bag and pulling the strap over his helmet.
“I’m not a damned general, Chief.”
The Chief started into the clearing. “And I’m not a chief, sir.”
Bronsky stifled a laugh but couldn’t suppress a smile. “I guess he’s the sensitive type, too, sir.”
The lieutenant checked his watch, a black-faced chronograph he’d picked up at the PX in Da Nang. “Tell him that burning the company shitters for a week could put a nice crust on that sensitivity.”
“Sir, pfcs don’t tell anybody anything; it’s our only perk. And Marines who want to stay healthy don’t tell the Chief anything he don’t wanna hear. I think the only reason he joined the Crotch and came to Vietnam is because he didn’t get the chance to kill cowboys in the Old West.” Bronsky watched the Chief kneel next to Franklin with a coil of det cord in one hand and a long, wide-bladed knife in the other that he used to cleave low branches. “Once when he was feeling talkative, he told me that if I ever saw him with paint on his face, I should run.”
It was the lieutenant’s turn to smile.
“He was serious, sir. That Indian is fuckin’ crazy.”
Sergeant Blackwell sent the last Marine who emerged from the jungle to a position on the left and returned to the lieutenant. “We expect to be here long, sir?”
Diehl glanced at his watch again. “We’ll be gone in less than ten minutes. Better get the 3rd Squad leader up here quick.”
The sergeant checked his own watch, mentally marking the spot where the minute hand would be when they were moving again. “Strader won’t like this.”
“That’s the great thing about the system we have in the Corps. He doesn’t have to like what I say, but he damned well has to do it.”
Along the left side of the LZ, 3rd Squad were shedding their heavy equipment. Bulky flak jackets with their layered fiberglass plates lay open so the air could dry sweat-soaked linings. Marines stripped to the waist moved in and out of the heavy brush. Cpl. Raymond Strader, the squad leader, moved among them. His pack was off, but he wore his flak jacket and helmet. A thirty-day countdown calendar drawn on one side of his camouflage helmet cover had most of the days scratched out. On the other side was a likeness of a miniature helmet dangling a pair of jungle boots that trod on the words “short timer.”
“Reach, how long you think we’ll be here?” one of 3rd Squad asked as he passed. Some of the platoon were given monikers that suited their jobs, personalities, skills, or even physical characteristics. Corporal Strader was “Reach” because, as the designated platoon sniper, he could reach out and touch the enemy wherever he could see them. Instead of the M16 that had been newly issued to the Marines in March, Strader still carried the old M14, chambered for the larger 7.62-mm NATO round. It was heavier, but he preferred the feel of a warm wooden stock to the hollow plastic of the M16, and unlike the 16, the 14 was reliable.
“Don’t get comfortable,” he answered. “Knowing the LT, we’ll be saddled up and moving before the supply chopper lifts off.”
One of the Marines had his pants down around his ankles while he pissed into the tangled root system of a huge strangler fig that completely obscured its host tree. “Hey, Reach. How short are you now?”
“Shorter than what you have in your hand, Tanner, and nothing’s shorter than that.”
“You wish you packed my gear.”
Strader pointed to the ground where the fig and the tree were locked in a struggle. “I’ll be back in the world before the piss on your boots dries.”
Strader was universally envied in the platoon. Not because of his experience or the responsibility he shouldered as a squad leader, but because he was coming to the end of his tour of duty. He was what everyone longed to be; he was short.
A Marine holding his M16 over his shoulder by the barrel like a baseball bat pushed through the brush. “Reach. Blackwell is looking for you.”
“I’m not hard to find, Burke. I’m right here in Vietnam.”
Burke turned back the way he came. “I think the lieutenant wants you most ricky-tick.”
Sergeant Blackwell shoved through the foliage from the clearing side, letting midmorning sunlight in to wash over the men of 3rd Squad. “Strader, Lieutenant Diehl wants you at the CP back where we crossed the creek.”
“I’m just getting my squad set up. Give me five—”
“I ain’t givin’ you squat, Corporal. The lieutenant wants you now, not five minutes from now. And take your gear. If Victor Charley decides we ain’t welcome on his side of the river, we may have to didi mau, and I ain’t comin’ back for your shit.”
Strader walked a few paces past a rotting stump blanketed with moss, snatched up his pack by one strap, and slung it over his shoulder. “Did he say what he wanted?”
Sergeant Blackwell gave Strader a look that said patience was being tested. “As a matter of fact, he did. He said he wanted you.”
“Eat the apple but fuck the Corps,” Strader said, heading back toward the lieutenant’s position.
Strader stood just under six feet tall, and the heat and mountainous terrain of Vietnam had whittled his weight down to a respectable 165. His blonde hair was cropped close, not in the high-and-tight Marine Corps style that might get him mistaken for a lifer, but close enough that what hair was left didn’t create a heat issue. Any career Marine could see that Strader was just passing through. He had no plans to climb the NCO ranks or maverick himself into an officer. Like most of the men in 1st Platoon, his dreams were of life after the Corps, if there was to be any.
In fact, Strader had never planned to join the Marines at all. After high school, he spent a year working part-time jobs, raising hell with his friends, and playing Russian roulette with the Selective Service Board. One day the morning mail included greetings from his benevolent country and an invitation to become a member of the U.S. Army. It wasn’t a suggestion. He had fourteen days to get his affairs in order and deliver himself to the Federal Building in Pittsburgh. The problem had a limited number of solutions: there was no chance of a college deferment, his job wasn’t considered necessary to the national defense, and he hated the winters in western Pennsylvania, so the ones in Canada were out of the question. The only thing open to him was a verified prior commitment. The Army couldn’t claim you if you were already a member of another branch of the armed services. So a week before his report date, Strader, Raymond C., entered that same Federal Building and walked into the recruiting offices off the main lobby. His goal was to sign up with someone other than the Army, and for as little time as possible.
Small, cramped cubicles surrounded a large room, each partition stenciled with the name of a designated branch of the military and papered with brightly colored posters that made being a member of that particular service seem fun, exciting, and above all, patriotic. Strader’s first thought was to find a spot in one of the reserve units, but as the petty officer in the Navy cubicle said, after choking back a laugh, “Unless people call your daddy Senator or Governor, you can forget that.” He also said that he could provide valuable schooling that guaranteed lucrative employment when the enlistment was over . . . and four years wouldn’t seem that long. The Air Force recruiter parroted the same sentiments and felt sure he could get Strader a first duty station somewhere warm and tropical, like Florida. The Army recruiter didn’t even look up. His quota was secure. He wasn’t about to perform and pass the hat when he already had a captive audience ready to be delivered.
And then a gunnery sergeant welcomed Strader into the USMC cubicle. His shoes shone like they were coated with glass, and the creases in his dress blue trousers and khaki shirt looked like they could slice bread. Rows of colorful ribbons were stacked so high above one breast pocket that they threatened his collarbone. Two marksmanship medals dangling over a pocket flap proclaimed him an expert with both rifle and pistol. The sides of his head were shorn close with a crew top. And he exuded confidence. Behind him on the wall was a portrait of Lyndon Johnson and, next to it, a large photo of the sergeant shaking hands with a Marine officer with enough stars on his shoulders to qualify as a constellation. Strader noticed that none of the men on the wall looked worried. In fact, judging for self-assurance, competence, and strength, the president came in a distant third.
“Don’t pay any attention to anything those numb nuts next door told you,” the sergeant said. “They couldn’t say shit if they had a mouthful.”
Strader was impressed. Here was a no-nonsense man who would give him some experienced advice—direct, straightforward, and ready to be carved into granite as soon as Raymond C. scribbled his name on a promise of two years of servitude.
Fifteen minutes later Strader left the building a future Marine private and feeling the master of his life again. It would be weeks before he realized that his life was actually like a car careening out of control, and he wasn’t even the one driving.
Waves of heat shimmered above the clearing, and Franklin and the Chief shed their packs and flak jackets as they worked at the bases of the condemned trees. Soon, in a pyrotechnical blink of an eye, the jungle’s efforts to reclaim the clearing would be erased. The Chief’s helmet was upended at his knees, and the remains of a block of C-4 sat on the webbing inside the helmet liner, the plastic wrapping partially torn away. Franklin watched as the Chief kneaded the pliable explosive into a pancake and folded it around a knotted loop of det cord. Rivulets of sweat ran through the bristles of the Chief’s close-cropped hair and down his neck until his dog tag chain and a leather cord suspending a small pouch interrupted the flow. The pouch looked old. Bright beads sewn to the leather depicted the abstract figure of a small man running below a silver circle. Franklin watched the bag swing back and forth as the Chief leaned into his work.
“What you got in that bag, man?”
The Chief molded the C-4 pancake to the trunk of one of the trees, but it wouldn’t stick to the slick bark.
Franklin pointed. “That thing around your neck. What you got in there?”
The Chief grabbed the stag-horn handle of his knife and in one quick move brought the heavy blade down on the trunk at an angle, opening a flap like a bird’s mouth. The tree seemed to shudder, and clear juices flowed.
Franklin shifted a few inches back from the Chief’s reach. “Then again, it ain’t none of my business what you got in there.” He busied himself with his own equipment. “You could have a million dollars in there. It ain’t my business.”
“How’d you know there’s money in there?”
Franklin took on the look of the unjustly accused. “Just a lucky guess.” He stowed unused chunks of his own C-4 in his bag. “You’re shittin’ me, right? You really got money in there?”
The Chief looked up with a wry smile. “Honest injun.”
It was difficult to tell where the Chief’s mood was going, so Franklin weighed treading lightly against his natural curiosity. “How much you got in that bag?”
“One penny.”
Franklin wanted to ask if it was an Indian head penny but decided not to press his luck. “Like I said, it ain’t my business.”
“A shaman gave it to me.”
Franklin gave the Chief a look like he knew he was being had. “A shaman. You mean like a witch doctor? So it’s a magic penny?”
The Chief’s look said the time for sharing was over.
It was the first time Franklin had spoken to the Chief at any length. “Yes” and “no” answers generally ended their conversations. He decided to press a little. “A lot of bag for one penny,” he said, stealing glances so he would know to duck if he had to.
“There’s more,” the Chief said, not looking up from his work.
“Like what?”
The Chief attached the pull-ring igniter to the C-4 stuffed into the tree gash. Both Marines stood and hauled their gear back toward the CP.
“My honor,” the Chief said, slipping an arm through one side of his dangling flak jacket.
“What?” Franklin struggled with his hands full.
The Chief touched the leather bag and his eyes seemed to soften. “The spirit bag. It carries my honor.”
“That a fact?” Franklin said, looking at the pouch suspiciously.
“That’s right. It’s a fact.” The softness was gone.
“Whatever you say, man.” The Chief was always unpredictable, and Franklin knew it was best to walk softly and live to fight another day, preferably against another enemy.
Private First Class Franklin came from the streets of Detroit, where every other building in his neighborhood was slated for demolition. Like most black families in the area, his found frequent moves necessary. He had mocha-colored skin and, at six-three, towered over most of the members of his squad. His tall, lithe body gave him a stride that kept the platoon scrambling when he was on point; at rest he looked like an unfolded chaise longue, full of angles and joints. With his three-year enlistment, he would be a civilian back in Michigan before he was old enough to vote.
As Strader worked his way back through his squad, a young Marine with a tattoo of a helmeted bulldog on his arm held out a worn photo for him to see.
“Hey, Reach. Take a look at Deacon’s wife.”
Strader slung his rifle over his shoulder and took the picture. “Damn,” was all he could say.
“Damn straight,” the tattooed Marine said. “I’d lay comm wire across the DMZ bare-ass naked just to hear her fart over a field phone. I shit you not.”
Another Marine stepped up and grabbed the photo. The left leg of his jungle trousers was torn from the front pocket down past the thigh, and his knee popped out as he walked. With only seven weeks in-country, Private Deacon was working hard to overcome the FNG label attached to fresh replacements, but most of the old-timers in the platoon still referred to him as a fuckin’ new guy and hadn’t bothered to learn his name.
“Did Bronsky put in a requisition for me? I’m droppin’ shit everywhere. If I don’t get new drawers I’ll be walkin’ around in my skivvies.”
“I put in the order yesterday,” Strader said. “And I thought I told you to shit-can the skivvies. The doc ain’t gonna send you back to the rear for a case of crotch rot, no matter how bad it gets.”
The tattooed Marine made a grab for the photo and missed. “Come on, man. Let me have another look. You think you’re special because you’re the only one in the platoon dumb enough to have on underwear?”
Deacon tucked the photo into the bulging cargo pocket on the untorn pant leg. “Maybe I need extra support,” he said, cupping his scrotum in one hand.
The Marine with the bulldog tattoo picked up his M16 and held it out with one hand. “This is my rifle,” he said, then grabbed his own crotch with his free hand. “This is my gun.” He shook the M16. “This one’s for fighting.” Then he pulled up on his crotch. “And this one really wants to see that photo again.”
“Screw you, Karns,” Deacon said, turning away.
Strader shook his head and moved on. When he passed a Marine sitting against a tree and opening a small cigarette pack from his C rations, he stopped long enough to say, “The smoking lamp is not lit, Laney. And get your fire team squared away. We’re deep in the Arizona. Charley owns this place, and he don’t like visitors. We got less than two days left on this op, and if we can get back across the river with our asses intact, I’ll consider it a victory.”
Laney snapped the cigarette pack under the band around his helmet.
Strader waited. “You think you can do that?” he said.
Laney shrugged and said, “Kohng biet.” Like most Marines he had no practical knowledge of the Vietnamese language, but he had heard those words a thousand times in dozens of villages in the Quang Nams. Whenever a Marine asked for the location of any VC, the nervous villagers would nod their heads and repeat the phrase over and over. Marines new to the boonies thought they were saying, “Cong bad,” affirming that these villagers were friendly—or at least sympathetic—instead of the words’ actual meaning, which was simply, “I don’t know.”
“Well, you better find out before Chuck rains beaucoup shit on our heads.”
“Don’t sweat it, Reach. We got it together.”
Strader knew there was no time now to put Laney’s head right, so he went on, wondering what the young Marine’s parents were going to buy with his military life insurance.
Beyond his squad Strader passed into Corporal Middleton’s 2nd Squad. Middleton stood at the top of the embankment and watched as two of his men filled canteens in the creek. “Put halizone in those canteens,” Middleton was saying. “If you don’t have enough, ask one of the docs for more.”
The innocuous-looking little pills changed the local water into a medicinal-tasting fluid, palatable only if extreme thirst forced your hand. Given enough time, halizone pills could kill the microorganisms that racked your bowels and played havoc with your internal thermostat, but they also killed any desire to put the liquid into your mouth. Strader once asked Doc Garver if the pills made the water sterile. The corpsman laughed and said that the only thing sterile to drink in the bush was your own urine. Strader thought that was a disgusting concept, but from then on he couldn’t help looking at his own stream as though he were pissing lemonade.
Middleton caught Strader as he passed. “Reach, can you smell that?” Middleton had a little over nine months in-country and considered himself short. Over six months gave you delusions of shortness, but over nine made it official for purposes of bragging. You were on the home stretch, short for sure.
“What?” Strader said.
Middleton tipped his head back and sniffed the air. Strader did the same.
“I don’t smell anything,” Strader said.
Middleton sniffed again. “Yep, I can smell your woman’s panties.”
“You’re not that short, and keep you nose out of my love life.”
Middleton had once been a member of Strader’s squad, and he credited his old squad leader for teaching him the ropes and keeping him alive when he was too new to do it himself. He was closer to Strader than to anyone else in the platoon.
“You know what I’m going to do first when I get home, Reach?” Middleton said.
“No, what?”
“I’m going to fuck for six solid hours,” Middleton said.
“Sounds like a plan. What will you do second?”
Middleton seemed lost in thought. “Probably put down my seabag.” He slapped Strader on the shoulder as he left.
Strader reached the CP as Bronsky pushed the radio handset up under the rim of his helmet and clapped a hand over the other ear to block out the ten million invertebrate voices that made the jungle seem to vibrate. The radioman stepped a little closer to the clearing so the short antenna would grab as much reception as it could from the sea of vegetation all around them. “Sir,” he said to Lieutenant Diehl. “Highball says they’re about a minute out. They want to be advised on the smoke.”
“Reach. What color smoke grenades do you have?” the lieutenant said.
Strader swung his pack to the ground. “One red and one yellow.”
Lieutenant Diehl held out his hand. “Bronsky, tell Highball the smoke will be yellow.” He stood waiting, arm extended, until Strader handed over the canister. “I’m glad we’re using one of yours, Reach,” he said. “It’s kind of poetic.”
“Why is that, sir?”
“Because a Marine should hail his own cab.”
The lieutenant handed the smoke grenade to Franklin, who was standing off to the side with the Chief, and urged him toward the clearing. “When I signal, pop the smoke and start the fuses. And don’t take your time getting back here. We won’t be waiting for Doc to pull splinters out of your ass.”
Franklin headed into the clearing, pulling on his flak jacket as he went. The Chief squatted where he was, always conscious of the size of the target he made.
“I don’t know what you mean, sir,” Strader said. “What cab?”
The lieutenant looked up at the cloudless blue sky above the clearing, appreciating the view generally denied him in the Arizona. “What is your DEROS, Reach?”
Strader looked at Bronsky, but the radioman turned away, busying himself with an imaginary problem with the handset.
Strader didn’t need to calculate his date of expected return from overseas. “I’ve got three days and a wake-up,” Strader answered.
“Hear that, Doc?” the lieutenant said. “Three days and a wake-up.”
The corpsman was sitting on the ground, using his pack for a backrest. “Don’t look for sympathy here. I’ve got five months and a wake-up.”
The lieutenant stopped looking at the sky and turned to Strader. “This is your ride coming. When we get the supplies off the chopper, you get on.”
Strader let his pack fall to the ground. His eyes darted about like an animal’s looking for a way out of a trap. “I can’t leave, sir. My squad’s short two rifles now. The ones I have are a headache when we’re in the rear. Out here in the boonies . . .” His mind raced to find some piece of logic that would dissuade the lieutenant, even though experience told him that two stripes never overruled one bar in the Corps. In the hierarchy of Marine Corps firepower, he was a mere peashooter.
Lieutenant Diehl put a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll be back in a couple of days. You’ll have plenty of time to buy everybody in An Hoa a beer before you go. You can even buy me one. So grab your gear. That’s an order.”
“Sir, I can’t go.”
“You can, and you will.” The lieutenant tried to soften his authoritarian voice; he’d grown to like Strader. “Look,” he said, “you should never have come on this operation. The Arizona has always been a nightmare, and the captain was sure we were going to step in it, like always, and you would be needed. But for some reason Charley is doing his best to avoid us—too busy doing something else, I guess—so you’re just here for the exercise. There’s no point.”
“I can stay and still have a day left to get squared away after we get back.”
Argument from subordinates wasn’t tolerated in the Corps, but the lieutenant’s fondness for Strader tempered his frustration. “You may not be familiar with military law concerning disobeying orders in the field. Chief! Get over here.”
The Chief stood and jogged the few steps to where they stood, feeling oddly self-conscious. “Sir,” he said.
“You ever shoot a white man, Chief?”
The Chief seemed stunned by the question. He wasn’t at all sure what the lieutenant expected him to answer. “No, sir,” he said, slowly and with caution.
Bronsky moved over beside Doc Garver. “Not that we know of,” he whispered.
“Would you like to?” Lieutenant Diehl asked.
A broad smile spread over the Chief’s face. He was trailing his M16 by the front stock and slowly raised it up with both hands. That Strader was his squad leader made the prospect even sweeter. “It would make my ancestors very happy,” he said.
“Your choice, Reach. You go out on the supply chopper or on a medevac.”
Strader could see that further resistance was not only futile but, judging from the twisted grin on the Chief’s face, probably dangerous. He was sure the lieutenant was being facetious, but the look in the Chief’s eyes left little doubt that if the order was given, he might enjoy pulling the trigger.
“Chief, please don’t shoot Reach,” Doc said. “I just got comfortable.”
A distant pounding interrupted the farce. Every Marine in 1st Platoon sensed it; the sound seemed to emanate from their core, subtle thuds that punched the chest in rapid succession like little concussion grenades. At the lieutenant’s command, Franklin pulled the pin on the smoke and tossed it into the tall grass a few yards away. It pinged, sending the spoon spinning into the air, and the canister spewed clouds of yellow smoke that billowed up from the clearing on columns of hot air like a drawing chimney. In seconds an H-34 helicopter streaked over the clearing at ninety miles per hour, just above treetop level. Anyone who wanted to take a shot at it would have to be quick on the draw. The huge radial piston engine staggered the trees and made the ground quiver as the helicopter banked to starboard and climbed.
The H-34, officially designated the UH-34 D, was the workhorse of the Marines in the northern provinces of I Corps. While the Army flooded the southern provinces with the UH-IE, which looked like a scorpion and became universally known as the “Huey,” in the north, the Marines’ mainstay was a flying truck that looked like a grasshopper. The H-34 was forgiving, it could outcarry the Huey, and it could absorb enough punishment to sink a battleship and still stay in the air.
Bronsky held the radio handset out to the lieutenant. He had to shout to be heard. “Highball wants a sit rep, sir.”
Lieutenant Diehl grabbed the handset. “Highball, this is Pounder One. The LZ is secure, over. Do you read? The LZ is secure.”
“That’s good, Pounder. I’ll just set down on top of one of those trees and you can climb up and get your supplies, over.”
As Lieutenant Diehl watched, Franklin pulled the rings on the igniters and started running back to the CP screaming “Fire in the hole” at the top of his lungs.
Lieutenant Diehl grabbed Bronsky by the shoulder strap and pulled him toward the embankment. “Bring it in now, Highball. We’re throwing out the welcome mat. Over and out.”
Marines scrambled over the edge of the embankment, ducked behind high ground, and crouched behind any tree with enough girth to provide cover.
As the escort 34 swept away and banked steeply to port, the door gunner looked straight down on the jungle’s canopy, a roiling green sea. The supply 34 started a straight descent toward the clearing.
The copilot signaled the crew chief that they were going in, and the chief and the door gunner tucked the butts of their M60 machine guns into their shoulders. In the jump seats by the door, two Marines in newly issued gear and jungle utilities, their new jungle boots without a scuff, looked at each other with thinly veiled apprehension as the chopper shook and vibrated. Clumps of dirt danced around the riveted floor like the little plastic players on an electric football game. As the crew chief had demanded before takeoff, their M16s held no magazines and the chambers were cleared.
The door gunner leaned over with a toothy grin not meant to be comforting and shouted over the noise, “Stay away from the rear of the chopper. You can’t see the tail rotor spinning, and it will cut you in half. I don’t give a shit about you, but after it cuts you in half, we won’t be able to take off. So stay the hell away from the tail.”
Three rapid explosions jolted the ground, and shards of tree trunks shredded the surrounding foliage. Three trees hopped spasmodically in unison and collapsed with a crash into the grass. Before the branches stopped twitching Sergeant Blackwell was into the clearing with a detail involving half the platoon. They snatched up the trees and dragged them into the jungle, pulling and twisting until even the uppermost branches were manhandled clear of the LZ.
Even before the trees were completely concealed in the jungle, the 34’s tires were bouncing on their struts beside three splintered stumps. The huge rotors whipped the grass into a brown frenzy and tossed bits of tree trunk around like shrapnel. The crew chief was already pushing cases of C rations to the door. “Last stop, everybody out,” he yelled, pushing a carton into the arms of one of the passengers. “And don’t go empty-handed.”
The pilot lowered the collective and adjusted the engine’s rpms as a small group of Marines rushed the starboard side, stooping at the waist to avoid the deadly rotors. The two new guys hit the ground disoriented, each holding a case of C-rats under one arm. One of the approaching Marines pointed back to the edge of the clearing, and the replacements ducked down and headed to where the lieutenant and Bronsky stood watching.
The escort flew a wide arc above the clearing as cases of food and equipment were dragged through the cargo door of the supply helicopter and hauled away.
Standing next to Diehl, Strader watched the two new Marines approach. Their pants were bloused at the boot tops, and they wore their jungle utility shirts under their flak jackets, the sleeves rolled to the elbow. One set the C ration case at his feet and started to raise his right hand to the rim of his helmet.
“Don’t paint a target on me, Marine,” the lieutenant said. The new guy dropped his arm to his side. The other stood there, clutching his C rations.
Strader looked at the lieutenant with disbelief. “Two more FNGs, sir? I should stay to make sure—”
The lieutenant cut him short. He nodded at the grenade pouches on Strader’s belt. “Reach, give these two hard chargers your frags and smoke. You won’t need them.”
Strader dug the grenades out and handed them to the new guy without the C ration case.
All the gear was offloaded from the helicopter now, and the pilot was increasing the engine’s power. Lieutenant Diehl grabbed the radio handset. “Hold on, Highball. I’ve got one to go.” The pilot’s voice hissed through the speaker, and Diehl turned away and covered his other ear.
“Let’s move, Pounder. I don’t like your neighborhood.”
Strader wanted one last appeal. “But, sir,” he said.
“Chief, make sure the corporal gets on that chopper.”
The Chief took a menacing step forward.
“Okay, okay. I’m going. I don’t like it, but I’m going.”
The two Marines started across the clearing toward the helicopter as the rotors whipped the air impatiently.
Corporal Middleton ran in from the side and caught up. “Blackwell says you’re skying up, Reach. Is that true?”
“True enough, Carl. The lieutenant says I go or the Chief here will be wearing my hair on his belt. Right, Chief?”
“I’m not a chief, shitbird.”
Middleton slapped Strader on the shoulder. “I’ll see you in a couple days. Save me a beer.” He turned and jogged back toward his squad.
Strader tossed his pack through the helicopter door and started to climb on, then looked back. “You wouldn’t really shoot me would you, Chief?”
The Chief slung his rifle over his shoulder. “My name is Gonshayee, asshole.”
The door gunner extended a hand and dragged Strader in.
The pilot worked the collective, and the huge open exhaust roared, the rotors spinning until they were a translucent blur. He adjusted the pitch of the main rotor, simultaneously increasing the engine speed, and the Chief ran for cover, disappearing in a swirling hail of debris. The machine rattled and shook until it seemed to test all the rivets that held its form together. With one more throttle increase, the pounding rotor beat the law of gravity into submission and the big green grasshopper lifted into the air, raised its tail, and climbed out of the clearing.
Corporal Strader stood in the door and watched his Marine family fall away. Unexpected sadness and overwhelming guilt swept over him as the helicopter moved above the jungle canopy and the arboreal wilderness swallowed up Golf’s 1st Platoon.
The H-34 swung north with the escort close behind. The gunner sat by the door, casually holding the pistol grip on his M60 as it hung down in its mount. He whistled loudly to get Strader’s attention and pointed to one of the jump seats. Strader didn’t want to break his mental connection with his platoon. The crew chief cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, “Sit down.” Finally, Strader dropped into the seat. The air seemed cooler in the chopper. The rotor wash and speed whipped air currents about the interior, drying the sweat on his face. He noticed the crew chief pointing at him. He raised a defiant chin as if to say, “What the hell do you want now?” The Marine pointed at Strader’s rifle. “Clear that weapon,” he yelled.
Strader lay the M14 across his knees, released the magazine, and ejected the chambered cartridge. The jacketed 7.62-mm round gleamed in the shadowy interior of the helicopter, and he pushed it into the pocket of his flak jacket. The crew chief gave him a thumbs-up and turned back to his window.
In the last year Strader had been ferried about the northern provinces of I Corps many times in choppers like this one. He had flown from the top of the mountain outpost at Nong Son. His squad had dropped into the Phu Loc compound at Liberty Bridge to stop VC sappers from destroying the engineers’ newly completed work. And he went with Sparrow Hawk to Tam Ky when a North Vietnamese Army push overwhelmed Marine defenses there. He might even have flown in this very 34 before, though he didn’t recognize the crew.
The crew chief was sitting in shadow against the bulkhead, but the door gunner sat in a square of bright morning light. The green paint on his flight helmet was so scratched and worn that his name, stenciled in black letters, was illegible. His face seemed marked with acne, but on closer inspection Strader could see that the problem was caused by enthusiasm, not hormones or hygiene. The black spots were specks of cartridge powder burned into the skin, blowback from an overheated M60 barrel known as a cook off. Strader was sure the spots would have faded to mere shadows by the time the gunner was old enough to drink.
Strader leaned back, closed his eyes, and tried to enjoy the ride.
