Chapter 13

New characters introduced in the next two chapters:

Colonel Thuathao

Senior Colonel, Thai Special Forces, Suenee's 'uncle', 5'-10" tall, 170 pounds, 48 years old, black hair going gray at the temples, brown eyes

I arrived at the airfield while they were still unloading the C-130 aircraft, as it is only about a four mile drive. I pulled up on the unloading ramp near the plane and walked over to the Air Force Loadmaster who was supervising the unloading.

"Howdy," I said as I approached, "You have anything for us?"

"I have three jeeps and two trailers plus miscellaneous equipment for Advisory Team 67-14-1. There are also two drums of gas for them. Are you from that Team?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm the assistant S-4," I told him. "We were expecting something else."

"That's all that I have for you on this flight. What ever you were looking for must be on another flight," the Loadmaster told me.

"Oh, we were hoping to get these, but our Headquarters wasn't real positive about the possibility," I informed him.

"Well, I need you to sign for these," the Loadmaster said. I signed the document and returned to Sawyer's jeep.

"Young Cowboy, Young Cowboy, this is Cowboy 3 Alpha, over," I transmitted.

"Cowboy 3 Alpha, this is Cowboy Tango 1 Alpha, over," I heard Tweed come back.

"Cowboy Tango 1 Alpha, this is Cowboy 3 Alpha. There are 3 M-151s and two Tangos out here along with two drums of go juice. I'll need drivers and a truck to transport the juice, over."

"Cowboy 3 Alpha, this is Cowboy Tango 1 Alpha. Roger. Assistance on the way, out."

It was about fifteen minutes later when Tweed showed up in the other jeep with one of the 5/4s right behind him. He had more than half of the Team with him.

"The rest are figuring out where to put the gas," Tweed told me, as they all unloaded.

"Just damn! Look at that. Brand new jeeps, hot damn," Williams of Team 2 said.

"All right, let's get these babies ready to roll," Tweed told the others. "Ramirez and Quincy, get the trailers unstrapped and ready to hook up to the jeeps," Tweed, obviously the one in charge, told the others. "Carson, Williams, and Colby check the jeeps and see what they need to run."

"Come on Bill, let's see about this gas," he finished to me. The two fifty-five gallon barrels of gas were on a pallet and sitting apart from the vehicles.

While Tweed and I checked the gas, Ramirez and Quincy broke the straps holding the two trailers together one upside down on top of the other and got the top one right side up on the ground.

"Damn, look at this. There are radios for the jeeps in the first trailer," Quincy shouted.

"Plus some tools and gas cans," Ramirez added.

"The damn jeeps are dry as a bone," Carson told us after inspecting the first jeep. "We're going to need some of that gas to get them going. The oil is full though. I just hope the batteries are charged."

Tweed and I had discovered that the two barrels of gas were also banded together. Luckily, someone had remembered to include a hand-cranked gasoline dispensing pump with them. It would be relatively easy then to fill the jeep's gas tank with that.

"Two barrels of gas aren't going to give us that many refills with all of the vehicles we have now," Tweed stated.

We got the bands on the barrels broken to separate them some and installed the hand pump in one. Several of the other men pushed the first jeep over to us and we started pumping gas into its tank. It took a lot of cranking to fill the tank most of the way.

Then came the real test. Carson had connected the battery before moving the jeep. He got in and hit the ignition switch. The motor turned over for a number of seconds before gas reached the cylinders and it started. The engine was a little rough at first, possibly from air still in the fuel line, but smoothed out shortly.

"Well that's one down," Carson said as he moved the jeep out of the way and over to hook it up to a trailer. The other two jeeps were pretty much the same. Everyone had taken a turn at cranking the gas pump. We had put about fifteen gallons of gas in each jeep and finished off the drum by topping off the other jeep and 5/4. This left us with one empty drum and one full one.

"Damn," Tweed remarked, "this gas really isn't going to go far. We're going to need a steady supply."

"That's why we have Sawyer and the CO," Quincy told him.

"If we are going to be going to the outposts in this province, we're going to have to take gas with us. We're going to need a lot more gas, count on it," I said, echoing Tweeds comments.

There wasn't any trouble getting the empty gas drum into the back of the 5/4. The problem came with the full one. The thing weighed over 350 pounds and getting it up into the back of the truck was going to be a major problem.

One of the Thai Army NCOs, that had been watching us, came over and offered to lend us some planks that they used to get drums of gas into the backs of their vehicles. It was a lot easier rolling that full barrel up the incline of the planks than it would have been lifting it up into the back of the truck. We secured it in the truck with the cargo nets, which we still had.

Finally after an hour and a-half or more we were ready to head back to the compound. We formed a convoy with Tweed in the lead and headed back. I followed the 5/4, as last vehicle to be sure everyone got there.

I got back to a late lunch. Suenee had saved some food for me. By the time I had cleaned up and eaten, it was nearly time to go to Carstairs's place for the daily intel update. I went by myself today.

There were more reports of fighting near Long Tieng (LS-20A) and in the Plain of Jars region. There were also reports of increased contacts in Houaphan province. I was beginning to worry about these increased contacts. It showed the NVA and Pathet Lao were getting bolder and starting to invade Thai territory. I mentioned my misgivings to Sawyer when I got back to the compound.

"Yes," he agreed, "they are getting ready to do something but what?" We mentioned this in our report to the B Detachment in Nan that night.

All of the radio equipment had been removed from the jeep trailer and brought into commo while I was at Carstairs's. There were enough parts for complete radio sets for the three new jeeps as well as five of the KY-8 Voice Security devices. All of the jeeps' radios could be fitted with one, and I was sure 'the Radio' would be able to pick them up when I fitted its encryption module.

We were prepared to install the radios the next morning, or thought we were. The installation was a reasonably simple one and could be done in any reasonably complete motor pool, but not in Luang Phrabang. The installation required a drill, a power drill, to drill holes for the bolts and screws used to install the metal mounting plate that the MT-1029 shock protection mount was bolted to. Naturally, we didn't have an electrical drill or any other kind of drill.

All work stopped while I went in search of a drill. It soon became evident that power drills were not to be had in Luang Phrabang at this time. The best I could come up with was a large gear driven manual breast drill and some drill bits of undetermined ancestry. We would just have to make due with them.

Drilling the holes for the mounting plate was slow work and several of the men took turns turning the drill while I worked on the first jeep when it was ready. We eventually got the radios installed in all three new jeeps. The drill bits were dull by then, and I went in search of someone to sharpen them the next morning. Suenee went with me in Sawyer's jeep. We eventually located a machine shop. All of its equipment was still run by belts from an overhead pulley system. Before we left, the owner told us proudly that he had replaced the original steam engine with an electric motor three years before. He had sharpened our drill bits for a few baht while we waited.

When I returned we started drilling the holes for the antenna mounts on the back of the jeeps. Again it took most of the rest of the day to finish the drilling and installation of the mounts. The next morning I was ready to hook everything up and test the radios. The three new jeeps went out a few miles from the compound in different directions and I started calling them after ten minutes or so. I was able to contact each jeep and they were able to talk to me and to each other. They all soon returned.

It was shortly after the jeeps returned that two C-123's landed. We heard them as they came over the house, and I got ready to leave immediately for the airfield. There wouldn't be any problem with communication now with all of the jeeps having radios.

During the past two days there had been a lot of traffic going in and out of the Luang Phrabang airfield. We had heard numerous large aircraft come in and depart. There had also been a lot of smaller planes. Tweed had spent a lot of time out there while I worked on the radios. None of the incoming material however had been for us.

I got quite a surprise when I got to the airfield. There were now many Thai Air Force T-28 fighter aircraft parked there. I had heard them flying around during the last two days but didn't realize that they were apparently now stationed here along with their support elements. The U.S. Air Force also had a larger presence here now. It certainly looked like things were heating up. After parking the jeep, I approached the Loadmaster of the nearest plane.

"Anything for Team 67-14-1?" I inquired.

"Yes, quite a bit. We'll have it all off loaded shortly. Stand by," he told me. I could see a number of the aluminum pallets that had been off loaded already and more would soon follow. I returned to the jeep to call in.

"Young Cowboy, Young Cowboy, this is Cowboy 3 Alpha, over."

"Cowboy 3 Alpha, this is Cowboy 3, over," I heard Phillips reply.

"Cowboy 3 this is Cowboy 3 Alpha. There is quite a bit of material here for us. Send both trucks, but only one trailer. Also send a jeep with a trailer, over."

"Roger, 3 Alpha. Will send. Cowboy 3, out."

I could already see a water trailer that had been unloaded in the last few minutes and there were pallets with other things also. I could see a medium size generator, a large metal container of some kind, and a pallet with six drums of gas on it. I didn't know how we were going to handle that.

A short time later both trucks with one trailer showed up along with two jeeps with trailers. I was over talking to the Loadmaster at the time and signed his paperwork right after that.

We got the generator loaded on one of the trucks. It was a 5 Kw and fairly heavy. The container went on the trailer along with stacks of sandbags and several cases of oil. A couple of cases of kerosene went into a jeep trailer along with part of the miscellaneous stuff. The rest went in the other jeep trailer along with the partial roll of fencing for the radio room. There were also cases of ammunition and a wooden box with a number of M-79 grenade launchers along with cases of ammunition for them.

"Boy, we hit the jackpot," Colby said, seeing all of the stuff.

"What are we going to do with all of the gas?" Tweed asked, apparently in charge again.

"Let's talk to the Air Force," I suggested, and we headed over to the Operations building looking for someone in charge. We found a very harried Captain there. It took a few minutes before we got to talk to him.

"Sir, we're from Advisory Team 67-14-1. We have received a pallet containing six drums of gasoline. Is there somewhere here that we can leave it until we can use it. We don't have the capability to move it at present or a place to store it," Tweed told him.

"Gas you say?" the Captain asked. "Yes, I have a storage yard that we have set up. I can have a forklift move it there. Be sure that it is identified with your unit designation. We are getting a lot of material in now and it could get lost otherwise."

"Yes, sir. We'll be sure to mark it," Tweed said, and added under his breath, "some how". We thanked the Captain and went back out to check on the progress of the thing being loaded.

A short time later an airman with a large rough terrain forklift came over to us.

"Where is the gas you want moved?" he asked. We indicated the pallet with the six drums on it.

"I'll put in a corner where it will be easy to find. You can come over and get one then," he told us. That fork lift sure made short work of moving that pallet of gas.

"We still need to mark that shit," Tweed reminded me as we watched the forklift move away from us. Just then De Foor came over.

"Will you look at this shit?" he asked, exasperated. "They must think we're still in the states." He was holding up a cardboard stencil with the team numbers cut in it and had several cans of white spray paint.

"That's just what the hell we needed!" Tweed exclaimed excitedly and taking the stencil and a can of paint he followed the departed forklift.

"Bill, make sure they leave room on one of the trucks for a drum of gas. I'm going over there and put our mark on those drums," Tweed shouted back to me.

I went to check the 5/4s to be sure there was room left on one for the drum of gas. I chose the one that would be towing the empty water trailer, as it wasn't hooked up yet and we could get into the back of the truck easily. Soon we had everything loaded but the gas and I led the truck over to the fenced area to get it.

Tweed had the drums all marked with our stenciled unit identification, several times over, by the time we got there and was talking to an Air Force sergeant with a smaller fork lift. He picked up one of the drums of gas and brought it over and set it in the back of the truck. It sure was easy with that forklift. It was going to be a lot more work getting it back down on the ground at the compound.

We soon got the empty water trailer hooked up and were ready to roll. Tweed led the convoy out of the airfield and I again brought up the rear, as I had previously to make sure everyone got home OK.

What had initially been a reasonably spacious courtyard when we first arrived at the compound was now a space overfilled with vehicles. We needed to park some of the vehicles on the road while we unloaded others and got them parked.

It turned out that there were two metal containers. They had been banded together and looked like a single container. They were quickly separated and both were moved to the garden behind the house. One would serve for ammunition storage and the other was for POL products like oil, grease and kerosene plus the spray cans of paint we had received. The sandbags were thrown in one of the jeep trailers. We would see about getting them filled tomorrow.

The generator also went in the garden, as there wasn't anywhere else to put it and it would be near the radio there. It would need to be sandbagged also. The empty water trailer was parked with the other trailers for now. We would need to find a source of water to fill it.

I finally located the hasps and locks for the commo room door in a box of other miscellaneous items and set them aside. The new weapons would also go in commo for now, although it was getting crowded in there.

There were a number of boxes now in the great room with all sorts of minor items in them. Someone would need to sort them out eventually, but they just sat there for now.

We had previously found two stout planks, 2 1/2 " thick by 10" wide in the compound and used them to roll the drum of gas out of the 5/4 and put it with the others. The second drum was about empty by this time, and we were going to need to figure out what to do with the empties as they were taking up needed space.

Suenee returned from her classes at the Wat to find confusion and busy people all over the compound. Sawyer and Tweed were having a discussion about sandbags when she came in.

"We need to get them filled," Sawyer was saying.

"Where do we get the sand and who is going to do the filling?" Tweed asked.

"There is money in the Team fund to hire day laborers," Sawyer told him.

"How do we find them?" Tweed asked. "This isn't like Cambodia where we had a hundred strikers."

"Put up a sign in the market," Suenee suggested.

"A sign?" Tweed asked.

"Yes. I will make one and put it in the market this afternoon. How much is the pay?" she asked.

"Twenty-two baht a day," Sawyer told her, "for filling sandbags. We'll supply the bags and move them. Where can we get the sand or dirt?" Sawyer asked.

"At the river bank," Suenee assured him.

"See Phillips for some cardboard to put the sign on," Sawyer told her.

In no time at all it was time to leave for Carstairs's for the intel briefing. Suenee rode with me and we stopped at the market so she could post the sign. She went with me then to Carstairs's and waited in the jeep for me while I was in talking to him.

"Do not trust him," Suenee told me on the way back to the compound. "He is only looking out for himself, what he can steal and what power he can get. He is not a nice man."

"We already figured he was out for all he could get," I told her.

Things had calmed down somewhat by the time we returned. The supplies were pretty much put away and all of the vehicles were parked. At the operations meeting that afternoon several topics were discussed.

"Now that we have a potable water trailer, where do we get water to fill it, and how do we treat it to make it potable?" Sawyer brought up.

"Major Carlson said to try the Coke bottling plant here. They have to have pure water to make the cola, and he thought they might sell us some," I told them.

"There is a French guy who is the manager of the plant," De Foor told us. "I met him at the market a couple of days ago. He was cussing in French; that's how I knew that he was French. I stopped and talked to him and straightened out his problem. The women there couldn't understand his Thai, as he has a real bad accent."

"OK!" Sawyer told him. "Since you already met him, take the water trailer over to the plant tomorrow morning and see if he'll sell us some water. Pure water."

"Quincy and Williams," Sawyer said next, "I want you two to take whoever shows up in the morning to fill sandbags. Take two of the jeeps with trailers. I'll have the money ready when we see how many there are. The rest of you figure on toting sandbags and covering those two containers and also building a shelter for the generator and sandbagging it.

"Bill, see about hooking the generator up and testing it. Tomorrow will be fine for that," Sawyer told me.

It seemed that today was a day for things to happen. The next thing to happen occurred that night when I contacted 'Desk Rider', the B detachment in Nan.

"One other thing Cowboy 6," they sent prior to signing off, "be advised that the team for Houaphan Province will not, I repeat, will not be here in the foreseeable future. They are hung up at Bragg with internal problems. You have been detailed to take over their mission until such time as a new team arrives, over."

"Rider 3, Cowboy 6. Will we be receiving any additional personnel for this, over."

"Cowboy 6, Rider 3. Negative. Use your present personnel. An updated mission statement and security briefing will be arriving at your location shortly. You will also have access to certain air assets for the additional mission. Details will be contained in the briefing. Desk Rider 3, out."

"Wonderful, just wonderful!" the CO said in exasperation. "We don't have enough people to cover one province adequately and now we have two to worry about."

"We're going to be spread awfully thin," Sawyer said from the doorway.

"The way things are going in my talks with Thai Army Headquarters here, what Carstairs said the first day appears to be true. They want us to advise the village defense teams, especially along the border, on self-protection and setting up a CIDG, Civilian Irregular Defense Force, type organization.

"We're going to need to get our people on the road quickly. That means that we need to finish getting set up here as soon as possible. After that, we need everyone to check out their weapons on the range again and then we can get them on the road. Tomorrow inform the B Detachment that we will need more C-rations, Baker. The teams are going to need to take them with them, plus they're going to need as much extra gas as they can carry. Order more 5-gallon gas cans tomorrow also, Baker," the CO finished.

When I got up to bed that night, Suenee was waiting for me.

"Things are not going well," she said. It was a statement, not a question.

"There are complications," I told her, as she came into my arms for a long kiss.

"Do not worry, my Bill. Things will be all right. My amulet has assured me of this," she told me when we came up for air.

Early the next morning there were a dozen women who showed up to fill sandbags. They even brought their own shovels with them, and the woman who appeared to be the leader, knew where to get the sand. Williams and Quency took two jeeps with trailers and part of the women to the site. One of the trucks transported the remaining women and returned empty. We hooked the water trailer to the returned truck and De Foor left for the Coke bottling plant to see about potable water.

The rest of the Team was soon busy sandbagging the containers, as soon as the first sandbags arrived. Tweed and Chang took some of the lumber on hand to build a shelter for the generator, which I serviced and then tested to be sure it was working properly.

Sawyer and the Captain spent much of the morning going over the maps of both provinces figuring out the best locations for the initial team visits. It was about 1030 hrs when Major Carlson arrived in a Thai Special Forces jeep with a driver and a Senior Thai Special Forces Colonel. The Thai Army guard at the front gate immediately saluted and called for the Sergeant of the Guard.

We were soon made aware of their arrival by the Sergeant of the Guard and went outside to greet them.

"Good morning, sir" Captain Del Vecchio said in greeting after we had all saluted.

"Good morning," Major Carlson returned and then added," this is Senior Colonel Thuathao, the S-3 at Thai Special Forces Headquarters in Lop Buri. We came to brief you on your revised mission and to give you a security update. There are also some air assets that will be available to you for your expanded mission." We all adjourned to the dining room for the briefing.

"Who is this young man and why is he attending this meeting?" the Thai Colonel asked in very good English after we were seated.

"This is Sergeant Baker, sir," the CO answered. "He is the S-2 and also the Communication Chief. I believe our S-3 should join us also.

"Yes, that is probably a good idea," the Colonel admitted. After we were all seated around the table, the Colonel had another question.

"Are you sure there are no listening devices in here?"

"Yes, sir," the CO answered. "The house is swept for bugs daily and we haven't found any since the first day that we moved in."

The briefing that followed was very concise on exactly what they now wanted us to do. It broke down to us being advisers to local villages and area defense units, a revival of the CIDG idea from Vietnam. The Colonel covered the locations where the Thais had already set up CIDG operations and the areas they wanted us to operate in to set up new units or to reinforce existing units.

The border of Luang Phrabang Province with North Vietnam was already fairly well covered. It was in Houaphan Province that the need for more security really lay. It was it's long border with both North Vietnam and Lower Laos that made it particularly vulnerable to attack. Additionally, there were Air Force TACAN sites there that needed to be protected. Lastly was the Luang Phrabang border with Lower Laos that could use some reinforcing.

It was finally decided to assign one team to the Luang Phrabang border area that faced Xiieng Khuang Province in Lower Laos. This was an area near the Plain of Jars and LS 20A, General Vang Pao's headquarters. Two teams would be assigned to the Houaphan Province border facing North Vietnam, and the final Team would be deployed on the Houaphan Province border that faced Xiieng Khuang Province in Lower Laos.

The fifth Team consisting of Sawyer and the Captain would remain here to handle coordination with the Thai Army Headquarters, our B Detachment and to act as an emergency response team for any of the others that required assistance.

"There will be two CH-47 aircraft on call for your use," Major Carlson informed us. "That is for normal operations. In an emergency, at least one will be available on short notice. They will have gunship escorts if necessary." He then gave us the contact information for the helicopter company and we mentioned the need for more C-rations and gas cans.

"Also," the Thai Colonel added, "I will arrange to have support from the Thai Air force. There are T-28 aircraft located here now. One of my men, the new S-3 Air, from the Army Headquarters here will call on you tomorrow to advise you on how to contact them for assistance."

So, I thought to myself that may be one of the TSF officers who flew up here with us when Suenee and I returned from Lop Buri.

"When will you be operational?" the Colonel asked next.

"I would say on the third day from today," The CO stated. "It will take one more day to finish up things here and we will need one day on the range for weapons check out, but we should be ready to move out on the following day."

"Very good," the Colonel said, "the S-3 Air will also arrange for the range for you to fire on."

We were just about to break up, when Suenee returned from her classes at the Wat. Her shock at seeing the Thai Colonel was followed by one very quiet word.

"Uncle!"