CHAPTER 2

Search and Destroy

The elephant grass was sharp. It provided good cover but no protection. Rick's hands were bleeding because of those green blades. But the heat and the noise occupied his senses until the choppers departed. Then drops of sweat burned his fresh cuts, forcing him to wipe his face with a sleeve.

The eight men remained in their circle of silence, waiting for the enemy to make their presence known. They looked like green frogs on a waterless, razor-sharp lily pad. No one spoke.

Sergeant Russo gave the signal to move out as soon as he felt certain “Charlie” wasn't there. It felt good to release the tension of waiting. Especially since the choppers could no longer be heard.

Their short-range goal was to get away from the intensity of the sun's heat. And their long-range goal was to search and destroy and successfully steal information from the enemy. So, they pushed their way through the elephant grass into the relative comfort of shade and concealment.

Rick's breathing was already labored, making him anxious to see the break-time signal from Russo. When it finally came, everybody dropped and sat and breathlessly lit up a smoke; the patrol was going well.

Routine breaks were always quiet and thoughtful and filled with the air of gray cigarette smoke. The expression of pleasure appeared on every man's face. They knew these were the good times when the smoke smelled good.

Rick gazed at the single line formation. Its men were permanently arranged according to their job: Sunny, the point man, could see and hear for a mile; Bearcat was Sunny's back up and Rick's best friend, too; Russo, the brains, was their patrol leader; Wishbone wore first radio and was Russo's communications man; Kafka, the M-79 man, carried the heavy ammunition; Mormon rode back-up radio, but rarely spoke; and Happy walked alone as the tailend Charlie. As for himself, he was the assistant patrol leader.

Rick knew, from experience, that their break time was about over. So, he took the deep drag that put an end to his smoke and waited.

They were still close to the bombed-out prep-sight left by the choppers just prior to their insertion. So, it was necessary to get away from that charred circle of land as fast as possible to avoid contact with the enemy.

After Russo gave them the signal to saddle up, they plowed through the bush until they became confident about their concealment and aware of dusk's approach. Then they stopped near the top of a mountain and bivouacked on its side without setting any claymore mines for security.

Russo was feeling uneasy about their surroundings and wanted the team to set up quickly for the night. His orders were: no eating or grab-assing, which meant, he was worried about Charlie smelling and hearing them.

Rick took two grenades off his cartridge belt, straightened their pins, and placed them alongside a couple of loose magazines near his backpack. Then he leaned against his backpack, took a drink from his canteen, and waited.

As soon as the darkness completely enveloped them, Rick saw a stream of blue and red tracers streak across the valley below. It was clear to him that he was witnessing a firefight by the time the sound of the rapid fire reached him. Then Rick saw flames streak across the darkness and was shocked when he realized this was a flamethrower in action. He'd never seen one used “in country” before.

He watched the flames and imagined the screams. Men were dying down there.