Chapter 9

The following new named character appears in this and other chapters:

Sergeant Chuang

The Sergeant from Sonsri's guard detail, 5'-6'' tall, 125 pounds, 30 years old, brown eyes, black hair

I led the horses back to the open shed-like structure where the water buffalo had previously been kept. One glance inside convinced me that it was not ready for the horses to occupy it. I unsaddled them and took the saddles to the area under the house where they would be dry and reasonable cool after I released the horses to browse on the grass growing on the property.

"How are the horses?" Chanthra asked when I joined her and Ratana on the terrace.

"The stable will require cleaning out, and we will also need to get rice straw to put on the ground and feed grain for the horses. They are currently eating some of the grass but will require more food than that," I told her.

"Yes, and they will require water also in this heat," Chanthra agreed.

We hadn't been at the house long before things began to arrive. The first was a cart with the mattresses, pillows and sheets. It also had the lamps, candle holders, candles, and the oil for the lamps. It appeared that the different merchants had kept track of us and had consolidated their shipments. This was followed a short time later by another cart that delivered the rice, stove, charcoal, and other kitchen and dining items.

The last to arrive was a large cart with a klong jar in the back that held part of the water that we had ordered. It pulled up close to the house and the driver and his assistant began to move the water in buckets from the klong jar on the cart to our klong jars under the house. They had nearly finished when Chanthra joined us.

"Do you know where we can obtain rice straw and grain for the horses?" she asked the driver after exchanging greetings. He was an older man with a wrinkled complexion and a mop of hair going gray.

"Yes, Pee, I can arrange the delivery of those things as well as having someone come on a regular basis to clean out the place where they stay," he assured us, and Chanthra negotiated the cost for this service with him before he left.

Meanwhile, I had been investigating the area under the house and had discovered several lengths of stout bamboo lying on the ground there. They were long enough to stretch between the pilings that support the house, and they would be a good way to keep the saddles and other horse tack up off of the ground and readily available to us once they were secured to the poles. I went up to the house to get my large knife to cut vines to lash them to the pilings with.

On reaching the principal room, the first thing that I noticed was the scent of burning charcoal and cooking rice. Ratana had obviously been busy since the rice and kitchen things had arrived.

"Guardian, is there any other food beside rice?" she asked on seeing me come out onto the terrace.

"No, we didn't purchase any other food yesterday," I told her, as Chanthra joined us.

"We will go to the market to get food while the Guardian remains here to await the things for the horses," Chanthra told her with a smile. "As soon as the rice is finished," she amended on smelling the scent of cooking rice. Soon they were ready to leave.

In the meantime, I had retrieved my knife and gone over near the fence on the right side of our property to cut some vines growing there so I could lash the bamboo to the house pilings. Finishing that, I checked out the house and set up the mattresses and put up the mosquito nets in our room and in Ratana's. It was obvious that we would require more furniture to make the house livable, but we would be all right for the present. What I was especially interested in acquiring was a lockable cabinet in which to keep the pistols and their reloading supplies. I know that Chanthra had said that the Amulets were watching the house, but I preferred not to tempt fate.

It was a bit past noon before Chanthra and Ratana returned loaded down. They had purchased vegetables and some fruit along with other essentials such as fish sauce, soy sauce, and peppers. They were followed by a cart which held some wicker furniture and a number of pillows for sitting on, on the floor.

The cart driver helped them carry everything up to the house since I was busy. The water merchant's man had returned with not only the rest of our water, but with a second cart with bales of rice straw and sacks of grain for the horses plus an extra assistant.

While the water man and his assistant transferred the remainder of the water to the klong jars under the house, the new man with the rice straw and the grain plus his assistant cleaned out the stable before unloading the straw under the rice storage building and the grain above it in the rice barn as there wasn't room in the stable enclosure. The sweepings from the stable went into an existing pile of similar material to be turned into fertilizer. The water man eventually drove his cart over to the stable and filled the small trough there with the last of the water. They were all soon gone, and Chanthra called me to lunch. It was while eating that she had a reminder for me.

"You need to change into the clothes that the Amulets prepared for you after eating. There will be a number of men from the Army camp who will be here to see you about the new unit that you wish to form, and you will need to address them," she reminded me. I hadn't forgotten that from yesterday, but wasn't sure what I was going to say to them. I had never been a recruiter since all of the teams that I had served on, and the units that I had advised had been units or groups that were already formed and had personnel. They just needed extra or advanced training. Still, I had made an extensive study of Ranger history while at the Thai language school before returning to Thailand this time to advise the Rangers.

"Yes, I'll change after we eat. Do you know how many will be coming?" I asked her.

"The Amulets only said that some men will be here to talk to you in an hour or so," she replied.

Later while changing, I went over in my mind what I would speak to them about. I had been ready for a short time before a group of men marched down the road and stopped in front of the entrance to our property. They were commanded by the Sergeant from the guard detail for the Governor's daughter. He left them standing in the road while he entered our property and approached the house. I went down to meet him in front of the house.

"Sawat dee, krup," he said with a wai and a bow as he approached me at the bottom of the stairs. I returned his greeting and wai, before asking, "What can I do for you Sergeant?"

"A number of men at the camp have heard that you are interested in forming a special company, and they are interested in what those in that company will be doing," he told me.

"I have yet to speak to the Governor about forming the unit, but I can explain the type of unit that I want to form and train, if you will march the men in near the house and have them sit in the shade, Sergeant," I told him, but I had another question.

"What is your name? There will be positions for several Sergeants in the new unit, and I will need names to be able to address all of them," I told him.

"I am Sergeant Chuang, Krup," he told me before returning to move the men, who numbered about twenty, on to the property and had them sit in the shade of several trees. I moved over in front of them to address them when they were all settled, and I looked like a giant among midgets with my 6' – 3'' height and them sitting on the ground.

"I am a Ranger!" I proclaimed first thing. It was all that I could think of to say since everything that I had planned to say had vanished from my mind as I stepped in front of them. The words rolled off my tongue with ease, and I suddenly knew what to follow it with as it all came to me from the Ranger's Creed. Additionally, I had been a Ranger before becoming Special Forces.

"I lead the way for others to follow. I set the example for others to emulate. I am a volunteer and am highly trained to accomplish many different types of missions.

"I will never fail my brother Rangers and will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy. No one will be left behind.

"I will never surrender, but will fight on to complete the mission, though I be the lone survivor," I finished. "These are words from the Ranger's Creed, and they describe what is expected of those who are Rangers," I added. I hadn't been sure of many of the words in Thai previously, but now they had rolled off my tongue as if I used them every day, and I marveled at how I had done that until I noticed that the amulet was very warm on my chest.

The men were now staring at me in awe, and it was obvious that I had their complete attention, and needed to continue if I were to retain it.

"First, I want to tell you a little bit about the history of the American Ranger," I continued, and started with defining the origin of the term Ranger, and how Colonel Benjamin Church formed the first Ranger force in 1676, that was 2219 in the Buddhist calendar, which I added to give them a more easily understood date to deal with. I then went on to tell them that they had fought in King Philip's War and later King William's War and Queen Anne's War. They didn't know any of these sovereigns but appeared to be impressed that they had fought for them.

I went on to explain how Church designed his forces to copy the native Americans' pattern of warfare, and that the colonists became Rangers under the guidance of their Indian allies, and that they carried out attacks with them against hostile Indians in areas where normal militia units were ineffective, such as the deep forest. This brought up questions from the men.

"Krup, do you have people from India in your country also?" Sergeant Chuang asked for the other men. I had to smile at their misunderstanding, though it was an understandable mistake.

"No, these aren't people from India who are Hindu. These people are native to North America. They are mostly savages who live in the forest and hunt, but who also grew a few crops. The colonists were the people who built houses, cities, and farmed," I told them. All of the men having been farmers, they had little sympathy for the Indians who weren't farmers.

"There were other units of Rangers organized by Lovewell and Gorham before the next famous Ranger unit was established by Major Robert Rogers in 1751 (2294 in the Buddhist calendar). He established the first set of standard orders for Rangers. Many of these standard orders are still used by Rangers to this day, and each man in my unit will receive a copy of these orders to memorize," I continued.

"Rogers' units, as he established nine companies of Rangers, were effective during the 'French and Indian War' as it is called in my country. To give you an example, Rogers moved a company of 200 Rangers over 400 miles (more than 40 yote) in 6o days and then raided an enemy camp successfully before returning to their own camp.

"Later in the Revolutionary War, which began against the British in 1775 (2318 on the Buddhist calendar), there were a number of men who had served with Rogers who became important to the War's success. These were men like General Israel Putnam, Brigadier Generals John Stark, and Moses Hazen, all of whom played major parts in winning the war. There were a number of Ranger units formed by men like Daniel Morgan who formed a group of riflemen who were known as 'The Corps of Rangers'.

"Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys captured the strategically important military posts of Fort Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Fort George on Lake Champlain in May of 1775 (2318 on the Buddhist calendar), and they invaded Canada later that year but had to retreat upon the arrival of a superior force of British regulars.

"Francis Marion, 'The Swamp Fox' organized another famous Revolutionary War unit in South Carolina that used irregular or guerrilla warfare against the British Army very successfully.

"During the War of 1812 (2355 of the Buddhist calendar), Ranger companies were organized to fight the British and their Indian allies on the frontier west of the mountains in the forests of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. Later in 1832 (2375 Buddhist calendar) there was a Battalion of Mounted Rangers organized to fight in the Black Hawk War." I finished there, as the next use of Rangers was during the Civil War which wouldn't occur for another five plus years.