Chapter 9

The following characters appear in this chapter:

Sergeant Bounmy

Recon Sergeant, 5’-7’’ tall, 135 pounds and muscular, 27 years old, black hair, brown eyes and an infectious smile

Mike still has the Narrative

“What are these things that you have heard?” Vanh immediately demanded.

“While Chanthra visited the Wats in Sing town, and I waited for this meeting, I played tourist in town. I wandered around, visited the stores, the market, and a couple of drinking locations. I saw people smoking opium and drinking various types of beer and liquor. I listened to what they were saying but never looked like I understood them. When questioned, I would answer in poor Thai. This convinced many that I didn’t speak or understand their languages.

“From what I heard, your intentions to wage war on the drug-lords is common knowledge in Sing. The drug-lords are aware of you, and they are already making plans to remove you and those who join you. They do not, however, know how you intend to gather your forces or when. More importantly, they have no idea of where you will do this,” I told a shocked group of conspirators.

“Where did you hear this?” Vanh demanded in an upset voice.

“All over town. People were discussing it openly, and there was betting on how long you would last before the drug-lords wiped you out,” I told him and the others.

“But how could others know this?” Keo asked in a confused voice.

“Obviously, someone talked about it, or someone was listening when it was discussed,” I told them. They all looked around at each other, but nothing was said then.

“Is that all?” Vanh asked after considering what I had said.

“No, there is a rumor that the Wa are trying to form a coalition with the various drug-lords to create something called the Wa State in the western part of the Shan States,” I told them. Sergeant Ai smiled when I said this.

“Yes,” he said after a few seconds. “It is more than a rumor. The Wa are trying to consolidate their power. They have had people talking to the major drug-lords. They want to create an Autonomous State in the western Shan States. It would still be a part of Myanmar (Burma), but it would be more independent with its own ruling council and laws. The Burmese are totally against this idea but have other problems as well,” Ai told us.

“How large would this area be?” Vanh asked.

“It would start in the mountains west of the Salween River and the Thai Shan States and would include all of the Shan States from there to the Mekong River and to China and Laos. From the north, it would be from the Kachin border to the Thai border in the south. It is also reported that the Chinese support the Wa in this,” he told us. (The Wa were a minority people with close ties to the Chinese. They are considered very fierce warriors.)

“So, the Burmese and the drug-lords in the Shan States may have more to worry about than us,” Vanh said with a smile on hearing this.

“Yes,” Lieutenant Soak said. “The Burmese already have a problem enforcing their will in that area. The Thai Shan States have cut them off from direct access to it. They need to go far north to come down through the Kachin State and very close to the border with China to access the area. Those in Kachin are not anxious to have them passing through there. It interferes with their business with others, plus it places them close to India, and those there are not their friends,” he told us.

We had only been absorbing what Lt. Souk had told us for a short time, when another man burst into the house.

“Sorry to be late!” he said, as we all turned to look at him. I had reached for the pistol that I was carrying out of reflex, but didn’t draw it on seeing that the others weren’t alarmed by his arrival.

“What have you learned?” Vahn demanded of the newcomer without the usual greetings or introduction.

“I spoke with those in Xieng Kok Mai. They told me that the Burmese are landing troops at the airport at Keng Tung, but only troops and supplies plus a few jeep type vehicles. They haven’t brought in any trucks yet. The soldiers will need to march to wherever they are going. Another source told me that the Burmese are seizing any trucks they can find,” he told us. On hearing him mention Keng Tung, I remembered that the Amulets had told Chanthra that it was too dangerous for us to go there and had us go to Chiang Khong and Huay Xai instead. This may have been the reason why.

(Note: Xieng Kok Mai is a town on the border of Laos and the Burmese Shan States. It is in Long District, southeast of Muang Sing.)

“They won’t be getting any help or trucks from the KMT (Kuomintang), as most of them have withdrawn to Thailand. The Thai have been negotiating their return to the Nationalists in Taiwan. They are in camps in northern Thailand. There are only a few that remain in the Golden Triangle, and they are warlords or drug-lords. I have this on the word of a Thai Army major who is visiting Luang Nam Tha,” Lt. Souk informed us, breaking into the new man’s report. The new man continued when he had finished.

“There may also be more troops on the way there through the Kachin State, but they will have a long way to go to join the others and will face the prospect of being ambushed on the way there,” the new man told us.

“Very good, Sergeant Bounmy,” Vanh told the man before turning to me.

“This is Sergeant Bounmy, the fifth man,” he told me in explanation. While I exchanged greetings with him, I took note of his appearance. In height, he was about the same as the other men, say 5’-7’’ tall. While he appeared to be about 135 pounds or so, he was very muscular, and I could see that his hands were calloused. His clothing was also splattered with mud and was wet in places. He appeared to be about 27 or 28 years old. He had an infectious smile.

“Sergeant Bounmy is the one who does the reconnaissance for us,” Vanh told me following that.

“From his report, it would appear that the Burmese will be keeping the Wa and the drug-lords busy for some time. That is good for us. It will allow us to gather the volunteers for the unit without too much interference. The question then is where do they assemble and when will we be able to start the training?” I told the others.

“It can’t be south of Sing town. The drug-lords are all familiar with the area around road #17B and use it regularly to move their drugs,” Sergeant Ai told us. Lt. Souk agreed with him.

“Yes, the area near road #17B is not appropriate. It has been the main drug route for too many years. It was the damned French who are responsible. They are the ones who persuaded the local people to increase the growth of poppies by as much as seven or eight times as much to support their drug labs in Marseilles. That was some seventy years ago around the turn of the century. Sing town has been a major drug center ever since,” he told us.

“Where should we set up our training site then?” Lt. Keo asked.

“It would need to be north or east of Sing town but not too close to the Chinese border or Burma either,” Sergeant Ai told us.

“Yes, the Chinese border is only some ten kilometers west of Sing town at the Ban Pang Thong border station,” Vanh agreed.

“We could go north, but all of the towns and villages are near the border there,” Lt. Kham reminded us.

“Yes, and that puts us further from those we need to remove,” Vanh remarked. “Where does that leave us?” he added.

“Either to the south or the east,” Thao said entering the conversation.

“The south is too flat and easily accessible to the drug-lords,” Lt. Kep noted.

“That leaves only going east, but where? It’s all mountains,” Vanh stated.

“There is a place there,” Sergeant Ai said with a smile. “Ban Chap Houma. It’s in a valley on the far side of the mountains from Sing town,” he added.

“Yes, it is,” Bounmy added. “It’s a long somewhat narrow valley with mountains on both sides and trees everywhere. The road through the mountains to the village isn’t any better than the other roads in Luang Nam Tha Province, but it isn’t any worse, and it’s only 16 km (10 miles) from Sing town. The mountains will keep whatever we do there from being heard outside of the valley,” he added with a smile.

“That answers one critical question, but the next one is more difficult. Namely, how long will it take to get the word out to those interested in joining the unit? Secondly, how long will it take them to conclude anything they may be involved in and make the trip to the campsite, or to an agreed upon collection point? Do we have the ability to pick up and move a number of people?” I asked them. There was silence for a time following those questions.

“I fear that it will require far longer to do this than I had originally believed. I can see now that you were right, Sergeant Barnett. If we had broadcast out intentions widely, the drug-lords or their people would do all they could to stop us. Even using those we first recruit to spread the word to others, it will still require considerable time for the word to reach those in the most distant and smallest villages,” Vanh acknowledged.

“If we can get each man that we recruit to spread the word to four or five others who would also spread the word, even if they are unable to volunteer, we should be able to spread the word to most of the villages in Sing district and possibly even to some villages in other districts,” Lt. Keo suggested.

“There is still the problem of all of those men moving to the camp, which would reveal its location also,” Sergeant Ai reminded us.

“There is a way, a partial way at least, around that. If we designate certain large villages as assembly points for various areas, as the Sergeant suggested, the men could gather there and be guided to the camp or moved to the camp. The assembly areas could be checked every week or so,” Lt. Souk suggested.

“But that would require vehicles or at least one large vehicle. We have little of the transportation, that the Thai Army has,” Lt Kham pointed out.

“Yes,” Vanh acknowledged. “We only have Thao’s scooter and Bounmy’s motorcycle. Of course, there is Master Sergeant Barnett’s truck, but it could carry only a few men,” he added. Sergeant Bounmy cleared his throat following that.

“A little bird whispered in my ear while I was in Xieng Kok Mai that the local drug-lord had two Chinese trucks that he had purchased from someone in the Thai Shan States. He has them hidden in a village named Ban Phoc Hane which is 5 km. (3.1 miles) up in the mountains off of road #17B. The turn off is just past the town of Prathae. It is about 40 km. (24.8 miles) from Sing town. The road to Ban Phoc Hane is very poor even by Lao standards,” he told us.

“Did this little bird tell you what condition those trucks were in?” Lt. Souk asked.

“They were apparently in good enough condition to make it to the village. They haven’t been there very long either according to the one I talked to,” Bounmy told him.

“There were a number of Chinese trucks disposed of in the Thai Shan States a few months ago along with a number of weapons,” I told them. They all turned to look at me in shocked surprise.