Drowning in Her Eyes (33 page)

Jack looked up at these young men, at
their
soft brown eyes.
“Yes,
” he said,
“Yes
,
you have.
” For more than a year, he would refuse to listen to the song.
“Ok, where were we, field craft?
”

“You want a beer, sir?
” Ruiz held out a can of Bud. Two hours later, he left the bunker. He had learned more than he would for the rest of his time in Fire Base Romeo.

* * *
*

The next day Jack requested an interview with Major Klein, the base commander.
“Sir, I would like your permission to take out a patrol myself. I want to see how your men perform in relatively small groups. Most of our patrolling in Phuoc Tuy Province is done at platoon strength or smaller. If I could take out a couple of squads, I think I can get a good idea of your methods and how to improve them if necessary.
” Major Klein was not very happy about this. Shit, here was an Australian
junior
officer wanting to evaluate
his
command. However, his orders had been specific, and they came from the highest source. He must offer all possible cooperation to these Australians. Oh
,
well, he thought, this young man se
emed to know what he was doing.

“Ok
ay
, Lieutenant, I will arrange a couple of squads for you. Let me have an outline of what you intend to do.
”

Jack pushed his luck.
“With respect, Sir, I would like to choose my own squads. I have worked with Sergeant Ruiz, so his squad will be one. The other squad I will choose today. Then I will require them for a day prior to the patrol for a general briefing.
”

Klein was even less happy, but he remembered what his
c
olonel had told him.
“This better be good, Lieutenant. I do not want to lose a couple of squads. You
'll answer to me if you fuck up.
”

Jack grinned.
Cover your asses must be the most important subject studied by senior officers all over the world.

That afternoon he sought out Sergeant Ruiz and his squad. He told him what he had planned, and asked him to recommend a squad like his for the patrol. Ruiz thought for a while.
“I think Mo
's squad would be the best choice.
”

Sergeant Moses turned out to be a small Negro, wiry and strong looking. Most of his men were Negros, regular soldiers. When asked to join the patrol, he said;
“I guess you might be able to show us a better way. What we are doing now don
't seem to be having much of an effect. Sure, Sir, count me in.
” Jack spent the next day with his squads, explaining about the need for stealth, concealment and strict fire discipline. He emphasized the need for patience.

At 0400 the next morning, they moved through the wire and began their sweep westward towards an area of high ground. The American intelligence officer had shown Jack a river beyond some distant ridges.
“Somewhere along there the VC have been stashing stores. Our patrols have not gone that far yet.
” On the map there appeared to be several villages and some high ground to their left flank, bordering the river. Jack wanted to check out this area for the caves. Maybe they could surprise some of the little buggers in the act. It would be a two day march, or longer.

Progress was slow. There was no talking, no smoking. There were constant halts as forward scouts came in to report. They skirted a number of villages unseen and lay up concealed in the jungle to observe any suspicious activity in them. There was nothing to see until they found a third village. This one was more productive. From their position in the jungle, they watched and waited.

After a while, Sergeant Moses slid up alongside Jack.
“I
've been watching the south side,
” he said.
“It seems that the only people here are old men, women and kids.
” Jack had noted this also. Moses went on:
“Some of them are carrying loads into the jungle over there.
” He pointed.
“They don
't seem to be gone long, and then they come back empty
handed. I reckon there is a supply dump or something in there not far away.
”

One of his men, PFC Malcolm, said,
“That
's funny. Usually they don
't keep caches that close to a village unless they have a tunnel under the village to store things.
”

Jack said,
“Right, then what are they doing? I wonder if there is a VC unit holed up over there being resupplied by the locals.
” He made a decision.
“Ok
ay
. Let
's check it out. Sergeant Ruiz, take your squad around
to the left of that area. We
'
ll give you time to reach your position, and then
we
'
ll move on the right. If there are VC there, they
're
in for a nasty little surprise. Hold your fire until we open up.
”

Sergeant Ruiz set off. Soon, his scout returned.
“Sarge, there
's about twenty VC up there. They look like a carrying party. The villagers are bringing up their loads.
”

“Ok
ay
,
”
said Ruiz.
“We
'
ll advance in a skir
mish line. You halt us when we
'
re just out of sight. The Lieutenant will be getting the same story, I hope.
”

They advanced about a hundred yards. The scout pointed ahead. They crept through the jungle until they could see their quarry, sitting, relaxed, some eating from rice bowls.
“Torres,
” whispered Ruiz to his M60 gunner,
“concentrate on that larger gro
up. I
'
ll try to ID an officer.
” Torres nodded. Ruiz crawled off to locate his grenade launcher.
“Diaz, when the shit hits the fan, start lobbing your little toys. Follow a line from left to right and sweep the whole area.
”

“Sure, Sarge,
” he nodded, hefting the M79.

Meanwhile, Jack and Sergeant Moses
' squad had closed to about fifty yards from where they expected the target to be. A scout moved forward stealthily; he was unlucky. They say the plan lasts until the first shot is fired; just in front of him appeared a VC who had moved away from his group to attend a call of nature. They saw each other at the same time. Moses
' man was the first to react and leapt onto the smaller VC, bayonet in hand. The Vietnamese was surprisingly agile for he managed to avoid the first blow, causing the blade to enter his shoulder instead of his neck. Before the fatal blow could be struck, he emitted a shriek of terror and discharged his AK47 in a long burst. Jack had heard the shout before he heard the rifle. Shit, he thought, I hope Ruiz is in position. Then he was yelling,
“Open fire!
” as loud as he could, before motioning his squad to advance.

Ruiz did
n
'
t let him down. The VC had shifted their attention towards the sound of the firing, exposing their rear to his squad. The M60 began to chatter, while rifles and grenades added their voices to the uproar. Most of the enemy fell in the first bursts of fire. Some turned and returned fire. The others bolted into the jungle and ran into Jack and his men. A brief but fierce hand-
to-
hand combat ensued. Jack shot one of the VC with his rifle and parried a bayonet thrust before swinging his rifle butt against the man
's head. Then it was over.

“Stand fast,
” called the
s
ergeants,
“Lock and load.
”

There had been twenty-
two VC in the clearing. Eighteen were dead. There were three wounded as well as the comatose man Jack had dealt with. Around them lay their weapons, bags of rice and some substance that looked like dried fish. The wounded were attended to, the prisoners restrained, and made ready for evacuation. One of Mo
's men had a bayonet wound through the side; another had a gunshot wound high up on his shoulder.

“Call up Romeo,
” said Jack to his radioman,
“tell them we are about to investigate a village. We need a platoon to take over the village and an ARVN man to interpret and advise us. We also need a dust-
off. Give them this position and tell them we will make yellow smoke.
” The radioman bent to his task.

“Ok
ay
,
” Jack said to his squad leaders,
“put a cordon around the village. Take care, now. There could still be some VC in there or one of their sympathizers who would like to be a dead hero.
”

Stealthily, they surrounded the village. The occupants stared sullenly at these invaders.
“Search the place,
” he said.
“Remember, do
not
destroy their possessions or take a
nything unless you are sure it
'
s contraband.
”

The search revealed nothing. There was a well in the centre of the village. Possibly, it concealed the entrance to a tunnel, but the relieving platoon could check that out. Before long, the sound of helicopters announced the arrival of their reinforcements and the medivac. They landed where one of Ruiz
's men had tossed a yellow smoke grenade onto a level site near the village. Jack reported his action, handed over to the Lieutenant in command of the platoon and headed off with his depleted squads.

They set up a perimeter at dusk. Jack and the
s
ergeants carefully sited the M60s and set a sentry roster. They stood to at dusk and again at dawn. There was no activity during the night. In the morning, they moved out to investigate the high ground. Noon saw them climbing the north-
west slope of the hills. According to the map, the river was on the other side of these ridges. Moses sent out scouts as they halted just short of the top. If there were hostile forces on the far side of the hills, they would surely have sentries posted on the hilltop. Sure enough, the scouts returned to report two NVA soldiers near the crest of the hill. Jack s
aid to his squad leaders,
“We
'
ll have to take them out, silently if possible. Sergeant Ruiz, send a small party to do it. Four should be enough, knives or bayonets, no noise.
”

Ruiz had more than four good men. When it came to knives, few could match the men from the
barrios
. They slithered off and returned with self-
satisfied grins. The patrol crept forward to the crest. Below them was the river. There was a small jetty with a covered boat alongside. Khaki clad NVA troops were helping VC to carry loads up the slope towards them. Along the bank, skillfully camouflaged, were a couple of heavy machine guns and a line of positions manned by about fifty NVA soldiers. Two NVA officers were moving along the bank to what looked like a command bunker of some kind. The squad commanders slid back down the hill to where Jack and his radioman were waiting. Ruiz described the scene below them.
“They
're coming about half way up the bank towards us,
” he said.
“It looks as though the caves are below us on this side.
”

Jack crawled to the ridge and scanned the area with his field glasses. There were too many of the enemy for them to take on, even with the element of surprise, with only their squad weapons. He called the two Sergeants to him.
“The three of us should figure out this map reference and check we have it right. Then I will call in some of our flyboys to give them the once-
over.
” Once they were sure of the exact reference, he called up the air support.
“Yellow Cab, Yellow Cab, we have a fare.
One hundred
plus ground troops at map reference
…
” He sent his men well down from the ridge. He did not want any friendly fire casualties.