Chapter 9

Soon the only ones left there in the mess hall were the CO, Sawyer, Barlow, Morris and me. We all had a second beer.

“What the hell is causing these ‘Ammunition Malfunctions’, as everyone is calling them?” the CO asked of no one in particular.

“Sir, it has to be sabotage. That much explosive just doesn’t go off by itself. Even if someone were careless, it wouldn’t set off everything like that and apparently at the same time. Although how a saboteur could arrange it all to go off at the same time is beyond me,” Sgt. Morris said.

“And what killed all of those people in the 7th Battalion?” Sawyer asked.

“It could have been lightning, but it would have had to have been the granddaddy of all lightning storms. That column was a good 500 meters long,” Sgt. Barlow told him.

“Any idea where they were headed?” the CO asked.

“HERE!” both Morris and Barlow answered immediately.

“There were maps in the papers we recovered from the 7th Battalion Command Group. They showed the artillery positions, the route the sappers were to take and the infantry attacking up both saddles while the sappers came up the side slopes,” Barlow said.

“Just damn,” the CO said in wonder. That was when I had to put my big foot in my mouth.

“Sir, remember what Suenee told you shortly after she arrived, ‘the Amulets are the ones that stopped the mortar attacks and have eliminated the threat that was coming here to assault your camp. Your people will report tonight just how thoroughly that threat was eliminated’, “ I quoted.

“Are you into spirits and ghosts like the local people, Baker?” the CO demanded.

“No, sir, but everything that Suenee has told me since we met has come true. There has to be something behind that,” I said.

By now it was 2400 hrs. and we all began the moved over to the commo bunker. I checked that the generator had enough fuel for at least another hour and went in and turned the radio on. It immediately started spitting out code. I grabbed a pencil and pad of paper, and started recording what was coming through. I was on my second sheet of paper when the CO came in. I passed the first sheet to him and continued to copy down the message. I handed off each sheet as I finished it. It was almost 0030 hrs before I was done. The CO hadn’t said anything while I was working, but had handed the pages to Sawyer as he finished reading them.

“Just damn,” was all he said, as I handed him the last sheet.

“Shit!” was all Sawyer said as he finished reading them. “It must have been the same thing all along the border. The NVA must have started a major offensive and from this it doesn’t look like they got very far with it.”

“Yes,” the CO replied. “That’s from the Navy to the 46th in Lop Buri. How the hell did we get it, Baker?”

“It just started coming through when I turned the radio on, sir,” I answered.

“Were you set up for code on SSB?” he asked.

“No, sir. When I turned it off before, it was set for FM voice,”

“Then how the hell did we get this?” he demanded, confused.

“I have absolutely no idea, sir,” I answered, just before my amulet warmed up.

“Well, at least you didn’t try to blame it on jungle spirits,” the CO answered with a bit of a smile. By now it was 0030 and I re-tuned the radio to the correct FM band, which was clear.

“Tasty Rabbit, Tasty Rabbit, this is Golden Badger 3 Zulu, over.”

“Golden Badger 3 Zulu, this is Tasty Rabbit 3, go.”

“Tasty Rabbit 3 this is Golden Badger 6,” the CO transmitted and gave a short concise report on the activities of the two patrols.

“Badger 6 this is Rabbit 3. There will be a flight in thirty-six hours that will pick up reports from all of our border posts. Have your reports ready when he lands. Include the film and all of the intelligence data that was found for analysis here. Do you copy, over?”

“Roger, Rabbit 3, we’ll have everything ready when they arrive. Anything else for us, over?”

“Badger 6, don’t repeat this but it looks like the NVA have launched a major push to clear the border of all obstructions, and so far it hasn’t gone very well for them. We are still waiting for reports from 5th Group in Da Nang, but it appears that it started at pretty much the same time all along the border with pretty much the same results as yours, and we don’t have a clue how it went wrong, over.”

“Rabbit 3, my people are blaming it on ‘Ammunition Malfunctions’, but have no idea how they occur, over.”

“Badger 6, that’s better than some of the reports that we have received that blame it on the jungle spirits. Rabbit 3 out.”

The CO looked startled on hearing that and just stood there for a few seconds.

“Maybe I should have a talk with your girlfriend, Baker. But let’s make it tomorrow. It’s much too late tonight for that,” the CO said, as he looked around the bunker. “Where is Sgt. Meadows?”

“I believe he is over in Tweed’s bunker, sir. He said commo was going to be too noisy tonight to get any sleep,” Sawyer informed the CO.

“Yes, I can believe that. Well, no one is out on patrol and we aren’t expecting anyone for a while, at least not until daylight. Go ahead and close it down until the morning,” the CO advised.

I turned off all of the radios and then the generator. I ran into Tweed on guard on the way to my bunker.

“You finally get done?” he asked.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Meadows is over in our old bunker. He said it was too busy in commo to sleep.”

“Yes, we’re off the air now until the morning. I’m going to try to get some sleep before I go on guard,” I told him.

I found Suenee asleep when I got to the bunker and crashed on my own cot without waking her. There had just been too many things going on today for us to have any time together. Hopefully tomorrow would be better. I was asleep about two seconds after hitting the air mattress.

It seemed like I had just lain down when Sawyer was shaking my shoulder.

“Come on young Troop, it’s time for guard,” he was saying as I came to. God, I felt like shit. Oh well, I had felt worse. Not in a long time but definitely worse - it had been in Ranger School.

I got up, tightened my belt, put on my shirt, grabbed my rifle and followed Sawyer out.

“This hasn’t been any fun for the girls,” Sawyer confided to me as we started our inspection. He took the perimeter on our right side and I took the left side. We started at the rear gate and met later at the front gate.

Things were very quiet and had been all night. Many of the men greeted me as I passed their positions and they seemed genially happy to see me. The sun finally came up at 0600 hrs. and guard was over. I went to the bunker and woke Suenee for breakfast.

“Did you get any sleep, my Bill?” she asked, “You look very tired.”

“I got a couple of hours,” I told her. “After breakfast, I’ll get some more.”

After breakfast, I went to shave and shower. Suenee joined me and was delighted with the heated water, even though there wasn’t a lot of it. She had put on a sarong when we stopped at the bunker to get soap, towels and other things. She had a bucket and a small bowl that one of the women had given her and took a shower from it with out removing her sarong. She used the towel to dry off and wrapped it around herself. She then helped me to shower. I had shaved while she showered.

By the time we got back to the bunker, I was wasted and hit the cot for some much needed sleep. Suenee woke me just before noon. I felt a lot better and was ready to face the new day now.

“We should go to eat. Your Captain will want to talk to me shortly,” Suenee told me.

“How... ?” I started, but stopped as I realized the answer. “Your amulet told you,” I stated.

“Yes, of course. They tell me everything,” she said with a smile. Sure enough during lunch Sawyer came over to where we were eating.

“Yes, I know,” Suenee told him before he could say anything. “I will go to meet with him in Operations as soon as we finish eating.”

“How does she do that?” Sawyer asked, puzzled. I had no answer, and Sophie came over to drag him over to another table to eat.

“He’s so cute when he’s upset,” Suenee said with a giggle. ‘Cute?’ - Sawyer!! She had to be kidding.

We were soon finished eating and headed over to Operations. I didn’t have a good feeling about this, but noticed that my amulet was warm again. It had only done that when things were OK. I stopped worrying then - some anyway. The CO was waiting for us when we came in.

“Good day, Miss Suenee. The reason I asked you to come here... !!” he started.

“Was to ask me how I know about things that happened before I came here and also before they happen,” Suenee finished.

“Yes!!” the CO answered, obviously surprised.

“The answer is simple. My amulet tells me,” Suenee stated.

She then went into an explanation of the Amulets of Power and the role they had played in Thai history. How they had influenced Thai rulers and helped to defeat Thailand’s enemies. She also told us that the Amulets didn’t like the North Vietnamese Communists at all and were the ones that were causing them so much trouble on the borders. Not just here but all along the Thai border with Laos and the South, the Amulets were helping in the fight against the North.

Similarly, they also guarded Thailand’s northern border with China, who was in league with the North Vietnamese and the rest of the border with Laos in the north. They also guarded the southern border with Malaysia and the one with Cambodia. It was apparent that the CO had a very hard time believing this. That was when Suenee put her latest prediction on the table.

“Tonight at 2100 hrs. there will be a very large explosion visible. The North Vietnamese have a large supply base at Attapu in Laos. There will be an ‘Ammunition Malfunction’, as your people call it there tonight.” She then gave the exact compass bearing that we were to watch.

To say that the CO was skeptical would be putting it mildly. He was sure that Suenee was putting him on.

“We’ll see,” was all that he said, however, and we were dismissed after that. I went over to commo from Operations. Meadows was there.

“There isn’t anything going on,” he told me. “Take some time with your girlfriend and relieve me after chow tonight.”

“Your Captain, he doesn’t believe me,” Suenee told me on the way to our bunker. “He will learn tonight.”

“Were you serious about that explosion?” I asked.

“Yes, the North Vietnamese have a very large base there. It is where things are sent to the South from to be used in the war. There are many warehouses and other facilities located there. Also there are many soldiers. I feel sorry for the soldiers, but their leaders should not oppose the Amulets.

“Their leaders have been warned, but have paid no attention. They threw the one that brought the warning in prison. She was there for less than a minute after they closed the cell door before the Amulets returned her to their Wat near Bangkok. The authorities in Hanoi were greatly disturbed by that. That is why they have launched these attacks. They cannot fight the Amulets, however. They are everywhere and know their plans as soon as they are made. The Amulets can do many things that men cannot,” Suenee assured me.

As soon as we entered the bunker, Suenee came into my arms.

“Oh Bill, I feel so badly about all of the people that have died already and those that will die soon. Love me to help me forget them for a little while at least,” she pleaded.