Chapter 24
Three o’clock in the morning rolled around, and Eddie started waking up his squad.
“Let’s eat and be out of here in twenty,” he told everybody.
After everybody woke up, stretched, then relieved themselves on the vegetation.
They sat down and opened up their MCI cans. And of course, they shared some of their canned breakfast with Michael and Bruce.
Ten minutes had passed, and everybody finished breakfast.
“Let’s clean up and head out of here,” Eddie said while he walked over to the radio backpack.
The Cong Crushers got up and started cleaning the area, so there weren’t signs of them being there.
“Dragon, this is Shark,” he said into the headset.
“Go ahead, Shark,” Glenn replied from the headset.
“Shark is heading back into the water,” Eddie said into the headset.
“Copy Shark back in the water. Dragon is filling the tub again. Meet you at the bat cave,” Glenn replied from the headset.
“Copy bat cave and tub being filled,” Eddie replied then shoved the headset back into the radio.
“Okay, let’s move out. Kirk is on point,” Eddie told his squad.
The Cong Crushers gathered up their M-16s and headed through the jungle with Kirk leading the way. Michael and Bruce stayed in the middle of the pack.
Two hours had passed, and Squad 2 made it to the area they called the “Bat Cave.”
Squad 4 arrived ten minutes ago and waited for Squad 2.
Eddie, Glenn, Ralph, and Randy had a little huddle to prepare for their attack of the village.
A few minutes later, Eddie walked away with Ralph.
“Okay squad two, here’s the plan,” Eddie said while he walked up to his troops.
“Here’s the plan,” Glenn said when he walked over to his troops.
A few minutes passed. The two squads of Cong Crushers were ready to head to attack the VC camp from the right and left flanks.
Squad 2 went off to the left while Squad 4 went off to the right.
Michael and Bruce trekked through the jungle with Squad 2 while they got closer to the VC camp.
Fifteen minutes later, Eddie stopped his squad behind some large bushes.
He peeked over the top and saw that the VC camp was dark and quiet. The campfire from last night was nothing but smothering ashes. It appeared they were all in their small grass huts still asleep.
“Lock and load. We’re going in,” Eddie told his troops then looked at Michael and Bruce. “I want you two to stay here and hide in these bushes. Shoot any VC that come your way,” he told the two pilots.
Michael and Bruce nodded that they understood their orders.
Eddie used hand signals to instruct his troops to head out to the camp.
His troops nodded that they understood his signals.
Michael and Bruce watched while Eddie and the rest of the Cong Crushers sneak away from the bushes.
Michael and Bruce ducked down by the bushes.
“We’re all alone out here in the jungle. The Vietnam jungle,” Michael told Bruce.
Bruce nodded in agreement that he felt the same way.
They sat and remained quiet while they looked around for any signs of VC.
After a few minutes of sitting by the bushes, the sound of M-16 gunfire came from the VC camp.
“I guess our Cong Crushers are kicking ass right now,” Bruce told Michael.
Michael nodded in agreement while he kept a vigil on the jungle for any VC.
The sound of AK-47 gunfire blended in with the sounds of the M-16 gunfire.
They heard someone scream. It sounded like one of the Cong Crushers.
The sound of AK-47 gunfire mixed with the sounds of M-16 gunfire was heard for a few more minutes.
The jungle got quiet. It was an eerie quiet where the critters all scattered.
Michael and Bruce started to get scared.
“Do you think?” Bruce asked Michael while he looked around for signs of any life.
“I don’t want to think about that,” Michael said while he looked around the area for signs of life.
The snap sound of someone stepping on a twig came behind Michael and Bruce.
Michael and Bruce turned around and peeked above the bush. They looked relieved when they saw Eddie and the seven Cong Crushers. Willie assisted Louis walk since he took a bullet in his right thigh.
Eddie and the Cong Crushers walked back over to Michael and Bruce.
“It looks like a success,” Michael said when he noticed they all survived.
“Those fucking intelligence idiots miscalculated the number of VC. We did not find twenty-five as they estimated. We only found eight,” Eddie said while he sat down in the dirt to rest.
The other Cong Crushers sat down in the dirt.
There was the sound of more twigs snapping.
Eddie did not appear concerned over that sound.
Michael was ready to fire his machine gun, thinking it was VC.
Then Glenn and his squad of Cong Crushers walked up to Squad 2.
“Those intelligence guys fucked up again,” he said while he sat down near Eddie.
Eddie nodded in agreement while he removed his canteen and took a quick drink.
“I’ll call Papa Bear,” Glenn said then he got up and walked over to Sam who removed the radio backpack off his back.
Glenn removed the headset. “Papa Bear, this is Dragon,” he said into the headset.
“Go head Dragon,” Sarge said from the headset.
“Dragon and Shark completed cleaning the Big Bad Wolf. There was a low count in the camp. Intel goof,” Glenn replied.
“Copy. Head to landing zone Hawk. Will give you ride home tomorrow morning,” Sarge replied from the headset.
“Copy Hawk tomorrow,” Glenn responded. He shoved the headset back into the radio backpack.
“We’ll get a ride home from landing zone Hawk tomorrow,” Glenn said while he sat back down next to Eddie.
“We’ll rest for a few more minutes, then head out of here,” Eddie said.
Glenn nodded in agreement then glanced over at Michael and Bruce. He spotted their machine guns. “I see you two were ready for action.”
“Yeah,” Michael replied while he patted his machine gun. But deep down inside, he was glad he did not have to shoot someone. He was not sure he could kill another human being.
Meanwhile, about five miles away, thirty VC made camp in the jungle.
A young male VC old shoved the headset of a PRC-10 radio into the backpack. This was one stolen from LZ Lola.
The young VC soldier heard the entire transmission between Glenn and the Sarge.
“They’ll be a landing zone Hawk tomorrow,” he told an older VC soldier in Vietnamese.
The older VC soldier removed a folded map from his shirt. He opened it up and glanced at it. He saw a spot marked for LZ Hawk and marks for the entire landing zones used by the Crusher Hueys. Having spies on the inside of LZ Lola paid off for the VC.
“We head that way,” he replied to the young VC soldier in Vietnamese while he pointed.
“Let’s go,” the younger VC yelled in Vietnamese at other VC soldiers made up of young men and women.
The other VC got up out of the dirt and started gathering up their AK-47s and equipment.
Back five miles away, Eddie and Glenn moved their squads through the jungle. They were heading in the direction of LZ Hawk.
It was a quiet ten-hour trek through the jungle for Squads 2 and 4s.
They found a spot that was two miles from LZ Hawk and decided to camp there for the night. Everybody was exhausted and wanted to relax and catch up on their sleep.
They at their MCI dinners. Then the Cong Crushers dozed off while some played cards and some smoked their Marlboro’s.
Eddie and Glenn talked to their troops. They paired everybody up for their two-hour guard shifts.
Michael was paired with Willie with their shift starting at two in the morning.
It was ten that night, and all the Cong Crushers were sound asleep. Bruce was paired with Ken for their two-hour guard shift.
Michael slept for an hour, then woke up.
He fell back asleep for another hour then woke up.
He fell back asleep and slept for two more hours.
Two o’clock rolled around, and Michael was sound asleep. But he felt something crawling across his leg during his dream while he sat on the beach back in California.
This crawling sensation woke Michael up, and he glanced down at his legs. His eyes widened in fear when he saw a giant snake slither across his shins. He froze with fear knowing Vietnam had deadly poisonous snakes.
Michael heard a whack sound, and the snake stopped slithering across his legs.
“Got the slimy bastard,” Willie said while he picked up the headless snake off of Michael’s legs.
Michael glanced up and saw Willie holding the headless snake in his hand. “Thanks.”
“My pleasure,” Willie replied, then tossed the dead snake into the jungle. “Time for our shift,” he added while he put his machete away.
Michael got up then scanned the area for more snakes. The coast was clear. He got up and grabbed his machine gun off the ground.
Willie walked over and leaned against a tree. He started scanning the jungle over for signs of the VC.
While Michael walked around, he watched his every step in the dirt for signs of more snakes.
It was going to be a long two-hour guard shift with Michael worried about running across some more snakes.