The following morning, instead of taking the usual walk sporting their heavy, full range rucksacks, the guys opted for a group run.
They went for a run in the vast empty area at the back of the base in front of the airplane runway. The bas was located on the southern city limit, and to make it safer they had burned the surrounding vegetation down with chemicals and you could still strongly smell them in the air. That ensured the Vietcong didn’t have a jungle to hide their sharp shooters in and the base was definitely safer.
The Baker Team guys came out of the base chatting as they stretched and then slowly began to run along plane, despite the strong and unmistakeable smell.