Chapter 25

On Monday, the 30th of March, the Major called all of the Section Chiefs in for a meeting.

"Tomorrow is the last payday that we will have requiring a split shift, as next payday we will all be on our way to Chiang Rai, and then back to our regular assignments, at least most of us. What will the Red Tigers be doing?" the Major asked.

"We'll be rotating also, sir," Captain Rust told him. "But it will be on the First of May. They will hold our pay till then," he assured us.

"So, I am giving everyone a chance to pick the day that they want to get paid this month, either the 31st of March, or the 1st of April. Again though, only half of any section can be gone on each day, as we must still remain operational," the Major finished.

"Can I presume that the Thai Paymaster will be here on the First again, sir?" Captain Paribetra asked.

"As far as we know, yes. We have received no word otherwise," the Major assured him.

MSG Sorenson canvassed those of us working in Operations about our choice of paydays. Naturally Tweed, Starling and I chose the 31st. We were surprised by the reasons several of the others picked the 1st.

"Everyplace is too crowded there on payday," Broyles told us.

"You can't find any women either. All of the pilots and other aviation people stationed there have them. On the 1st, it will be easier to find female company," Williams told us, apparently upset with the people in his unit.

Sergeant Lee just smiled when asked and chose the 1st also. I made a call to Cowboy 6 that morning to advise him of the Major's decision.

I had my people check all of the equipment that day so that we could leave on the 31st without going over everything, or there being any problems while a part of us were gone. I was still up early on the 31st, and personally checked everything again. It was unlikely that the Chinese would try anything so soon after the last fiasco, but we needed to be prepared.

The Black Horse helicopter arrived just after 0900 hrs as usual, and we were on our way shortly after that. When we arrived in Chiang Rai, it was just after 1030 hrs.

"Get to the Team House as soon as you can," I told Starling before he left for his unit to get paid, and Tweed and I headed for the Team House to get paid ourselves. Our wives, children, and Noon were there, and were already dressed for the wedding.

Our wives were wearing long sleeved blouses and the brightly colored sarongs of the lowland Thai. Since both women were pregnant, the sarongs were easier to adjust to their conditions than regular dresses would be. Noon also had on a long sleeved blouse, but a more traditional Hmong style sarong that was very colorfully embroidered in abstract patterns around the bottom in addition to having appliques of more organic shapes on the center sections and on the blouse. With their long hair and almond eyes, they all presented a lovely sight.

"Where is my Rick?" Noon asked nervously when she didn't see him with us.

"He is at his unit getting paid," I assured her. "He will be here shortly."

Tweed and I gave our wives a kiss, and then needed to pay some attention to our daughters who were decked out in new little outfits similar their mothers, and were as proud of them as could be. They looked like miniatures of their mothers, and I was sure that LTC Hawkins had been correct at the Thanksgiving dinner in'67 when he said that they would all be charmers. Tweed and I were the last ones through the pay line, as usual.

It was a while after we were paid, and out daughters wanted something more to do than wait patiently, even with daddy, before Starling showed up with a big grin on his face.

"He did it!" he said strolling in to the compound, and holding up several sheets of paper.

"Who did what?" Tweed demanded.

"The Sergeant Major! He got me reassigned," Starling said, as he waved the papers again, which turned out to be a set of orders.

"I'm assigned to the 46th Special Forces with temporary duty station at Nawngh Kam!" he told us. Suenee only smiled. We took Starling to the orderly room to be sure they had a copy of his orders.

"Talk later," Phesila told us in irritation, when we returned. "We need go to Thetsaban where Municipal Offices are to have them married."

"Here," Suenee said, handing me one of my old berets. "Starling can now wear this to the Municipal Offices. Then we will go to the house for him to change clothes for the wedding ceremony."

We took three tuk tuks to the Municipal Offices which are located on Uttarakit Road. They weren't very busy there, but the appearance of three Farang Special Forces soldiers in camouflage uniforms and berets did cause quite a stir. Phesila, being a Governor's daughter, knew just what to do to quickly accomplish what we had come for. She wasn't about to be put off by any objections from minor officials, although we really didn't have any trouble. It was just that a Farang marrying a local girl was a novelty then, and it did cause a bit of excitement.

We were soon on our way to the house with the paperwork that by Thai Law meant that Rick and Noon were now married. At the house, we all had lunch before Rick was sent to change into his Greens for the Marriage Ceremony.

At 1500 hrs, five monks arrived at the house from Wat Phra Singha, where Suenee had been teaching. They were led by the Abbot himself who oversaw the ceremony. It was not as elaborate a ceremony as we had in Bangkok, but there wasn't time for such. The ceremony started with the monks chanting for a time after being seated on pillows that had been prepared for them. Rick and Nook knelt and waied before the Abbot during that.

Following that they were joined by the sai monkhon (White Yarn) circling their heads. It had been blessed that morning when the women were at the Wat. Flower garlands called Phuang Malai were draped around their shoulders by the women attending the ceremony. The Abbot recited the usual prayers, and water was poured over their hands by their friends while they still knelt and waied. The Abbot said a final prayer to conclude the ceremony. Before they departed, gifts were presented to all of the monks for their attendance, and for the blessings they had bestowed on the couple and the house by their chanting.

A number of women from Suenee's classes had attended the ceremony, and we all left for dinner at one of the large restaurants at the Night Market shortly after Rick changed out of his Greens and back into his duty uniform. Noon remained in her wedding clothing. The dinner lasted through many courses and several hours. The bride and groom had been given little time alone together through all of this.

The party finally broke up around 2000 hrs, after a visit to a photo studio to have pictures made of the happy couple, and we all got tuk tuks back to the house. I didn't know who was paying for all of this, but suspected that it was Tweed and me. Well, we could afford it, and they were a nice couple. Our daughters hadn't had a nap that day, and they had gone to sleep after eating some dinner. They were put to bed as soon as we reached the house. Bua Gal, who had also gone with us, retired too on reaching home.

Rick and Noon, now officially Mr. and Mrs. Starling, went directly to Noon's room on reaching the house, and that was the last that we saw of them until the morning. Tweed and Phesila went to their room after helping us straighten up the gathering room and wishing us a good night, as did Suenee and I also. Suenee was very tired and just fell into bed after changing into some more comfortable house clothes.

"Are you all right?" I asked her, worried.

"I am just tired, my Bill. It has been a long day. I have about six more weeks before our son is born, and I will need to rest more," she told me, as she cuddled up to me in bed and was soon asleep. I wasn't far behind her.

Early in the morning, we awoke to kiss and cuddle, refreshed by a good night's sleep. We made love in the spoon position again as Chiang Rai was still very chilly at night even on the 1st of April.

Everyone was soon up, and we had a quick breakfast before leaving for the Team House by 0645. Noon was very passionate and cried when Rick left, but Suenee held her and assured her that soon they would be together more of the time.

The ride to the airbase and back to Nawngh Kam had become routine by now, and we even dozed on the noisy helicopter. The Thai Paymaster had accompanied us back as usual. The others were waiting when we reached camp, and Starling and I hurried to Operations to relieve the person on radio watch It turned out to be Broyles.

I took over radio watch and sent Starling to get some breakfast. Tweed came in later after shaving and changing uniforms to run operations. It was a very slow day. The Major came in later after I had returned from chow, shaving and changing uniforms.

Starling presented the Major with a copy of his orders to make him aware of the change in assignment. We had stopped at Captain Richardson's orderly room yesterday, but they were already aware of the change. Major Del Vecchio looked at the orders for several minutes, studying them, before turning to me.

"SO! Suenee was correct, at least, for this part of her prediction," he said.

"Did you get married yesterday?" he then asked Starling.

"Yes sir. We did."

"How will you get her to Lop Buri?" he asked next.

"She will ride the train with Suenee, Phesila and our daughters," I told him.

"Yes, I had forgotten about them," the Major acknowledged.

"We'll see how this goes," he told us, before turning to continue working on the End of Tour report that we had all been working on for the last week or so.

Payday for the Rangers, that day and the next, was unusually quiet, but I could guess why. Song Kran - the Thai traditional Solar New Year - is on the 13th of April, and it would be celebrated for a week or so starting about the 10th. There would be much partying and the throwing of water to celebrate it. The Salween had already started to rise from the snow melt and rain that it had accumulated on the way here from where it began in the Tibetan Highlands. There would be plenty of water to celebrate Song Kran with even though it hadn't rained all that much here yet.

Everyone was back on the morning of the 2nd, and once they had all recovered, we started serious work on preparing for the end of our tour. Equipment was checked out, and that not required now was packed up.

One thing that I did notice that week was that some of the Chinese trucks started to disappear. I didn't say anything initially, but after several days and more disappearances, I took Tweed aside to discuss it.

"Have you noticed that some of the trucks have disappeared?" I asked.

"Yes, they've been sold," he told me.

"Sold?"

"Yes, to merchants up here. They can get parts for them from merchants in China. So they can keep them running," he told me.

"Who is selling them?" I asked.

"Captain Paribetra is here, and Captains Tamusarit and Pendgith are in Nawng-awn. It's an old Thai Army tradition," Tweed told me with a grin.

"Is there that much money up here?" I asked, surprised.

"Oh yes! There is plenty of money up here if you know where to look. It comes from the Golden Triangle. Some of those trucks will wind up there just as will some of the weapons, ammunition, and other stuff that we took off of those attacking Chinese soldiers. What else could they do with them?" he asked. I didn't know, but thought it inappropriate to sell things like that to those involved in the opium trade. My amulet must have agreed, as it warmed up while I was thinking about that.

"How do you know all of that?" I asked Tweed.

"I have my sources. It's why they put me in one of the Intelligence NCOs slots," Tweed told me with that shit eating grin of his.

Song Kran was as joyous and as wet a festival as I have ever seen it. Many of the Ranger's Squad Leaders got very wet, but the Platoon Sergeants and Officers only received a light sprinkling of water. Some of our Team's NCOs also got quite wet, but the celebrators stayed away from our Operations tent. The Major was sprinkled with a little water by Captain Paribetra to celebrate the New Year on the 13th. A monk from a Wat in a nearby town came to bless Nawngh Kam, and also our camp that afternoon. The partying for Song Kran was long and loud, but was over by the morning of 16th.

Also by the 16th, we were seriously engaged in preparations to leave. All of the items that would be left behind like the tents, the mess hall gear and CONEX containers had been inventoried and the transfer paperwork created so that our replacements could sign for them.

All of the extra equipment that we had received, like generators, and radio equipment also needed paperwork, and would be turned in to the S-4 in Lop Buri. Broyles and I were both busy getting all of this taken care of while Starling and Williams took radio watch.

Williams had been a bit of a problem. It seems that he had found a date over payday, and a couple of days later had developed a nice drip. Doc Fleming had fixed him up with a little penicillin, and he was okay in a couple of days, but Williams was still having a hard time dealing with it.

"She seemed like such a nice girl," he kept saying. We finally convinced him that while she may have been a nice girl, she also had the clap and gave it to him.