Chapter 8

The following characters appear in this chapter:

Lieutenant Keo

Second in Command, 5’-7’’ tall, 130 pounds, 28 years old, short black hair, brown eyes

Lieutenant Kham

Platoon leader, 5’-7’’ tall, 135 pounds, 26 years old, black hair, brown eyes

Lieutenant Soak

Platoon leader, 5’-6’’ tall, 140 pounds, 28 years old, black hair, brown eyes

Sergeant Ai

Senior Sergeant, 5’-8’’ tall, 150 pounds, 36 years old, very short black hair, brown eyes

Mike still has the Narrative

We all had an early lunch after Yuang and Thao returned from the market. Thao was surprised to see that Yuang did most of the cooking. Following eating, Chanthra and Yuang left for Wat Chiang Lae which was located west of us. It was only some 300 meters (330 yards) away using the roads of the town. Thao and I then set out to meet with Captain Vanh at the location where he had agreed to meet us.

“Aren’t you going to lock the door?” Thao asked as we moved off the porch. “There are those who would rob you. They would also steal your truck,” he added.

“It isn’t necessary. The house and the truck are both protected by the Amulets. No one could steal them or enter the house,” I told him.

“You really believe in those spirits?” he asked before adding, “you are a fa-rang. They don’t believe in those things.”

“I have lived with Chanthra for a long time now. I have seen the many things that the Amulets can do. They are not the ghosts or spirits that many people here believe in. They are a more advanced form of energy beings that are able to do many things that would astound normal people,” I assured him. Thao didn’t look like he was convinced by what I had said.

He led me basically south from our house moving over to take several different sois or streets for some 800 meters (880 yards) to another rather anonymous looking house near what appeared to be the edge of town, as we could see fields and other things growing out past the last of the houses and the trees and other vegetation.

It appeared that we had arrived early, as Captain Vanh wasn’t there when we entered the house. It was similar to ours, but it only had one bedroom plus the main room and the other facilities. I considered it just as well that he wasn’t here yet. I had worn normal civilian clothing for the walk here but had brought other clothes with me in my backpack.

“I’ll be in the bedroom for a short time,” I told Thao before entering the room to change. While in there, I heard the captain arrive. He appeared to be quite upset at not seeing me when he entered the house.

“Where is he?” he demanded of Thao in an upset voice. Before he could answer, I swung the bedroom door open and stepped out into the main room. Both men were shocked on seeing me. I was no longer in civilian clothing, as I had changed into one of the three sets of tiger stripe fatigues that Sawyer had given me. I had the pants bloused over my jungle boots and was wearing my Green Beret. One of my pistols was in a holster hanging from the web belt around my waist. At 6’-3’’ tall (190 cm) and 220 pounds (100 kg), I presented quite a sight. It was obvious that the two of them were impressed.

“You really are a soldier!” the captain said on recovering.

“I was a soldier for 20 years and a Green Beret for 14 of those years, but I am retired now,” I told them.

“Still, you know how to plan an attack. We must attack Rettikone’s refineries. That will take the pressure off of the people to produce the poppies that he turns into opium,” Vanh told us in a frenzied voice. It was obvious to me that he wasn’t considering how his unit would be organized, how they would move to the area to attack the refineries, or how they would be armed or provisioned. That isn’t to mention how they would withdraw or any of the other actions they would need to undertake.

“So captain, you believe that you can assemble a company of around a hundred men. Is that correct?” I asked.

“Yes, a hundred men. Most will have been trained by the Thai Army. There are many here who have been so trained. What they lack is weapons to fight the men of the drug-lords,” he replied.

“We have a saying in my country. ‘You are putting the cart in front of the horse’. Without training, discipline, and organization, you will have nothing more than the gangs that the drug-lords have. You will not be able to control what they do, where they go, or who they attack,” I told him to make a point. There were a number of other things to consider.

“How long ago were these men trained? Have they ever worked together? Do you have NCOs to run the platoons? Will you have enough officers to be in charge of those platoons? Will there be a Lieutenant to be your Executive Officer who could take over if you are injured or killed?” I demanded to perplexed looks from the captain and Thao.

“None of that matters. With the men, we can remove the drug-lords and burn the refineries,” Vanh insisted, trying to brush aside what I had said.

“No, captain. All of that matters, and they are the most important ingredients in conducting a successful operation,” I assured him.

“The men must be used to working together as a team. They must have known and respected leaders from the squad level to platoon level, and an officer to lead and direct them. They will need to work together at the squad level, the platoon level and finally at the company level. This is why the military has so many training exercises.

“We will need several other things also. There will need to be a reconnaissance squad, someone in charge of issuing supplies like uniforms and other things, cooks to make meals, a planning group, and a recognized chain of command. The men will start refresher training after they have been assigned to a platoon and to squads. Everyone needs to go through it. It is easy to forget what you have been taught if you don’t use it,” I reminded him.

“Once the men have started their training, we can select targets and conduct the necessary reconnaissance to plan our attack and return once the target has been removed or destroyed,” I told him.

“But all of that will take time. We don’t have time for all of that,” he insisted.

“Have you considered where you will obtain the one hundred rifles and their ammunition, or the food or other supplies for such an operation? Where will the men gather? Who will see that they are healthy and able to do the required work and to make the necessary journey to the places that we will be attacking?” I demanded. I could see that Thao was in shock at the questions I had asked. Even the captain looked unsure of what to say.

“In Special Forces, I helped train many platoons and companies both in Viet Nam and in Thailand. For a time, I trained the Thai Ranger Companies in Korat. Following that, I established a Ranger School where I trained a unit of a hundred Rangers. The unit tracked down a group of bandits through the jungle and killed most of them while capturing a few. It was a well run operation. All of those in the unit went on to many more successful operations after Chanthra and I left,” I told them, purposely not identifying where or when I had trained that last unit. Venerable Phet entered the house just after I had finished.

“The...?” he started and then stopped having looked over at me in surprise. He obviously wasn’t sure how to refer to me in my uniform.

“Master Sergeant Barnett. Mike to my friends,” I told him.

“The Master Sergeant is correct, Vanh, but I fear that the job will be even more difficult than he has outlined. The people here are not as homogeneous as the lowland Thai or the lowland Lao are. There are many minority groups in the Muang Sing area. There are Akha, Tai Lua, Tai Neua, Tao, Hmong, and the Tai Dam. There are also many Yunanese here from China. They all have their own native languages though many speak at least some Northern Lao or Thai.

“The Akha comprise nearly half of those in the district and are most often found out in the rural areas, especially the hills. The Tai Lua represent maybe a third of those here and prefer to live in the main towns. The rest are spread all over the district and most speak little Lao,” the Abbot reminded him.

“The Thai Rangers have a similar problem and divide their personnel into platoons where only one language is spoken by the majority of the members. Sometimes this is difficult to achieve. Often in that case, the Squad Leader must be able to speak two or more languages as well as Thai,” I told them. Captain Vanh didn’t look so sure of himself on hearing all of this.

“Again, this is the reason that the men need to work together, so they understand what they are to do and how to do it,” I reminded him again.

“Yes, I had forgotten that. I saw it in those serving in General Vang Poa’s Army. There was often confusion when orders were given,” Vanh admitted in a somewhat defeated voice.

“You need to bring in your senior people so we can start planning where and when to bring all of those who volunteer for the unit together to start training. I would suggest that we hold that planning meeting someplace other than here in Muang Sing town, as there are sure to be spies here for the drug-lords and also the Chinese. There are also those in the Thai municipal government who would be upset by our undertaking,” I told both of them.

“Senior people? Who do you mean? Who else besides the two of us are necessary?” Vanh in a somewhat unsure voice.

“By senior people, I mean your Lieutenants, the Platoon Sergeants, the Operations Sergeant, and the Mess Sergeant. I’ll handle Security and Reconnaissance. These people are necessary to provide information and to prepare them to take charge of the volunteers when they arrive at the unit’s training location. We need to be sure that there are sufficient people to be in charge of the various groups, and who will assist in the training of the men. They will also be able to advise us of the best location to conduct the training so that we don’t come to the attention of those we intend to remove before we are ready to do that,” I told him. Vanh looked at me for a short time with a blank expression.