Chapter 14

“Uncle!” Suenee said very quietly.

The Thai Colonel instantly turned to see who had uttered the word and appeared to be shocked when he saw Suenee standing there.

“Suenee! Little Suenee!” he asked in amazement. We were all surprised at this, also. The Colonel then turned back to us.

“Suenee isn’t really my niece. Her father has been my friend and adviser since I was a young man. I met him through my father who was his friend and adviser for many years.

“I often visited him and his family in Thon Buri and played with his children. Suenee was the youngest. The children weren’t sure how to address me. I remembered the American custom of calling older friends ‘uncle’ from my days of schooling at your Army’s Staff and Command school and told them to address me as Uncle Thuathao.”

“It is very good to see you again, Uncle Thuathao,” Suenee said after he had finished.

“What are you doing here, Suenee?” he asked, turning back to her.

“I am here with my husband, Sergeant Baker,” she answered. Now it was the Colonel’s turn to be surprised.

“Suenee is the one that checks the house for bugs everyday,” the CO told him. “She says her amulets can detect them.”

“Oh, yes. I’m sure of that,” The Colonel returned. “My father was very informed on the Amulets. In fact he had a box which held ten copies a special book that had been written on Thai History and the Amulets. It is a very rare and old book now. I have over the years given out copies to young officers that I thought showed great potential. They in turn have lent it to those they consider to have great potential also.”

“Lieutenant Tamusarit,” I said, the words coming unbidden to my lips.

“What about him?” Sawyer asked, as he was the one here that remembered the name.

“He had a book that his uncle the TSF Commander in Ratana Kiri Province lent him,” I answered.

“So you have seen the book?” the Colonel asked.

“Only the cover, sir,” I told him. “The Lieutenant was reading it, but I don’t read Thai.”

“Is that the book that he was holding when we were there?” Major Carlson asked, now remembering the Lieutenant.

“Yes, sir. It was,” I told him.

“Curious,” the Major answered. “A very curious connection.”

“How is your father?” the Colonel asked Suenee. “I haven’t seen him in sometime.”

“He is quite well. Retirement agrees with him. He always worked too hard when he worked for the government.”

“Yes, and he would have worked even harder if he had accepted the post of Prime Minister. It isn’t an easy job,” the Colonel finished.

By now all of those sitting around the table were just spellbound at the information that had just been revealed, and in such a casual manner as well. The Colonel seemed to come back to the present situation then.

“Well,” he said, “we have taken up enough of your valuable time. Major Carlson and I will go out to Thai Army Headquarters here and set things in motion. One of my officers will be here tomorrow to coordinate with you.”

We all stood and escorted our visitors back outside. Suenee walked close to her ‘Uncle’ but of course couldn’t touch him. I could see how sad she was at this, but she had given up contact with almost all men when she accepted her amulet. I put an arm around her to comfort her as we watched them leave.

Outside the Thai guards had all turned out and came to attention and saluted as the Colonel and Major came out. They returned the salute and the Colonel nodded to the Sergeant in charge, who seemed pleased.

While we had been in conference, other things had continued in operation without us. De Foor had returned with a trailer full of purified water. There was a small wet spot under it where one of the faucets had dripped when used. The sandbagging had continued and the generator shelter had been completed and was ready to be sandbagged. It was lunchtime and everyone was ready to eat.

After a very good lunch, I went to look at the chain link fencing. We had received way more then I needed for the radio room and its window and I began to consider where else to use it. The S-3 windows came to mind and the windows in the great room on the front of the house. It wouldn’t be so much for security there, but to prevent foreign objects, like grenades, from entering.

I would need something to secure the fencing to the area around the windows and the walls in the radio room. Probably some large staples would work. I spoke to Sawyer about that, as I would also need a large wire cutter, as the one in my radio container wasn’t large enough to cut the fencing. Sawyer gave me money from the Team fund to purchase the wire cutter and staples at the local hardware store. I left early and stopped there on the way to Carstairs’s for the daily intel update. I also checked out some of the large knife switches that they had on hand for shifting electricity from one system to another, as I had an idea about how to use the generator.

At the briefing there was more information about fighting in the vicinity of LS-20A and attacks on the border of Houaphan Province with Lower Laos. I was sure that there was trouble brewing there and that we should concentrate our best teams there. I was very surprised when my amulet turned very cold at that idea and wondered what was up.

There had only been reports of minor harassment on the border with North Vietnam, but my amulet warmed up immediately when that was mentioned leaving me more confused than ever.

As soon as I got back, I went to take a look at the house wiring. The first thing that I noticed was that the lead fuse wires were seriously oxidized and would need replacing. The wiring in the house was seriously old also. I wasn’t about to rewire the whole house however. I did decide to rewire the radio room, the S-3 and possibly the dining room. I could do that with a minimum of wire and a couple of DPDT (double pole, double throw) knife switches. We could then use either the regular electric or the generator in those areas.

I talked to Sawyer again after typing up the intel synopsis for the daily report. He thought the rewiring was a good idea. That day’s Team meeting was put off until after supper so everyone would be back for it.

At dinner I noticed that Suenee was very quiet and seemed sad. I had been very busy and hadn’t really had much time to spend with her since she returned from the Wat around noontime, and I was going to be busy for a while yet.

The Team meeting started right after the cook and the house girl left for the night. We ran a quick check on the guards and the rest of the house before starting.

The CO started out with a synopsis of the meeting that morning, He then moved to the Team assignments. Obviously he and Sawyer had spent a lot of time on the maps making up the assignments and picking the locations.

“We need to be ready to move the Teams out in two more days. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we need to finish the tasks started here. Thursday we’ll be on the range to check out all team weapons followed by finishing packing of equipment and vehicles.

“Friday morning transportation will be here to take the teams to their Team Headquarters sites. Team 1, Tweed and Carson, will be headquartered in Muang Et (H-11) on the northern border of Houaphan with North Vietnam and will be responsible for the border with North Vietnam from Ban Bong (H-12) on the internal border with Luang Phrabang province and east all the way around to Na Meo (H-19) where highway 6A crosses the border into North Vietnam. Sawyer was pointing out all of this on the map we had set up for the briefing.

“Team 2, Williams and Colby, will be headquartered in Phang Xang (H-21) on the border with North Vietnam in the southern part of Houaphan Province. They’ll cover the border from there east to Ban Houaylin (H-29A), which is just the other side of the Nam Xam River.

“Team 3, Ramirez and Quincy, will be headquartered in Ban Hatep (H-31) on road 1C and will be covering the border with Xiang Khoang Province east to Ban Houay Done (H-35) and west to Ban Na Din Dang (H-37).

“Team 4, Chang and De Foor, will be headquartered in Phou Khoun (H-41) on highway 13, the north/south highway and will cover the Luang Phrabang border with Xieng Khoang province as far north as Ban Sop (H-48), That’s a pretty mountainous region and may require extra air travel. We’ll have to see.

“Sergeant Sawyer has prepared maps with overlays and site lists for each team. All of these areas are in the mountains and most lack adequate roads. Drive carefully where you can drive. Other forms of transportation may be required. There are quite a few high peaks in the area also. Make sure you have plenty of gas with you when you travel. I want all of you to study these maps and site lists tonight, and have any questions ready for tomorrows meeting. I’ll turn you over to Master Sergeant Sawyer now,” the CO finished.

“All right listen up. We need to finish all started projects here tomorrow. Draw all of your weapons and ammunition tomorrow evening for the range on Thursday. We’ll take four jeeps and two trailers, Tweed’s and Williams’s. After weapons cleaning that afternoon pull a good stables (vehicle inspection) on your vehicle and start loading the trailers. I’ll post a guard roster for that night so that nothing will disappear. Any questions or problems?” he finished.

“What about Halazone tablets?” Carson asked.

“Check the ones you have. We will order more when we contact the B Detachment tonight. C-rations and extra gas cans are already on order,” Sawyer told them.

By the time the meeting broke up, it was nearly time for our daily situation report to the B Detachment and I returned to the radio room and checked things there before checking and starting the generator. It was soon warmed up and running fine. The radio was a very light load for that large a generator to handle.

The CO came in just after I had turned the radio on and I was soon ready to transmit. The Captain sent the report and added the Halazone tablets to the list of things we would need. After that I closed everything down and went up to our bedroom to find a crying Suenee.

When I entered the room, Suenee was just crying her eyes out. I was stunned. I had never seen this happy and resolute girl so distraught. What could be the matter?

“Suenee, what’s the matter?” I asked.

“Oh, Bill! Hooold me,” she pleaded through her tears and sobs. I took her in my arms and held her while she cried some more with her head on my shoulder. I rubbed her back some to try to make her feel better.

“What’s wrong?” I asked quietly after a time, when she seemed a little better.

“Oh Bill, I so wanted to hug my uncle today, but I knew that I couldn’t. The Amulets wouldn’t allow it, but I so needed to. He used to pick me up and hug me when I was a little girl. Later he would just hug me when I was bigger. Now, he can’t and I wanted him to so. Please hold me!” she whimpered still in tears.

I held her tightly for a long time then and tried to make her feel better. She had given up so much when she accepted the Amulets. I wondered if it had really been worth it? My amulet warmed up between the two of us then, but I wasn’t totally convinced. We went to bed after that and I held Suenee all night. She seemed better in the morning.

We had hot water to shave with in the morning. Sgt. Phillips had set up the immersion heater outside near the kitchen and had filled the metal trash can with water last night and lit the heater earlier this morning. Everyone agreed that it was a lot better shaving with hot water and we all thanked Phillips.

The sandbag fillers were there again bright and early this morning. Williams and Quincy were having a hard time explaining that today would be the last day but they would get a bonus if they did a good job again today. Suenee heard them and talked to the women to be sure that they understood.

I started cutting and installing the chain link fencing over the windows after breakfast. Tweed and Chang gave me a hand, as the generator enclosure was finished and only needed sandbagging. The job went fairly quickly with three sets of hands, plus they had the hammers.

A Thai Special Forces Captain showed up about mid-morning. I assumed that he was the S-3 Air that we had been promised would be here. He spent about an hour with the CO and Sawyer before leaving.

We finished the windows by lunchtime and then put the remainder of the chain link on the interior walls of the radio room before I left for the intel briefing that afternoon. I had talked to Suenee at lunch when she got back from the Wat and she had seemed all right now. I would see tonight.