Mission 8A

I woke up with someone pounding on my hooch door. This is getting old I thought to myself. We were supposed to be on a three day break between missions. When I answered there was an MP standing there and I immediately recognized him as working for the Captain running his errands.

"Sarge, Chung is at the gate and asked to talk to you. I tried to tell him you were still sleeping, but he said it was important."

"Ok, tell him I am on my way."

He left and I started getting dressed. I quickly grabbed my vest and 16 and headed to the gate. Something was wrong because Chung had never bothered me before for any reason. When I got to the gate him and the guard were laughing at something. As soon as he saw me he sobered up waiting till I got up to him. I signed him in and headed to the chow hall for coffee. He followed behind me and I was surprised to see he was fully dressed and carrying his weapons too. I quickly grabbed coffee and food with Chung getting milk and food. He was unusual as he loved cold milk, and would drink till he sloshed as he walked if he could. We got settled and ate with him getting us refills as he dropped our dirty dishes off.

"What's wrong Chung? Has something happened in the village? Has someone been hurt?"

"No Sarge, everyone all ok. Ling's brother came in late last night from his village. He talk to me and Ling bout something I think you need to know right away. Him say NVA heavy around his area so he have hard time getting here and not get shot. He say Khmer Rouge dope runners have five white men as prisoner. He say 4 new and one been there long time, work for them. Pot's soldiers use them to make white powder to sell. He say four in uniform like mine. He want to talk to you. Can you come to village?"

"Let me sign out a jeep for us and we will go."

We quickly got the jeep and headed to the village. The whole way there I was thinking about why the Khmer Rouge of all people would keep prisoners to work for them. I knew they had ambushed some teams, as well as took our money for information. They worked both sides of the fence, and you always had to be careful in dealing with them. I had never heard of them taking prisoners other than to ransom or trade for guns and ammo. To use prisoners to make heroin or whatever was really strange to me. I would have to discuss this one with Gunny when I got back. If anyone knew about it he would.

When we got to the village I was quickly introduced and we were served drinks before we started talking. I listened as he described to me where their camp was and how to get there without running into NVA patrols. I didn't mind VC, but the NVA were starting to use dogs and trackers to hunt teams and none of us liked it. In the last month or so we had two teams disappear without a trace that we could find. No bodies, no signs of a fight. It was like they had been scooped up and vanished. We weren't the only ones either because Gunny had said the LRP's were in the same situation when they ran patrols. The NVA were either getting smarter or were getting good information on operations. They also knew most of the LZ's and were watching them around the clock.

While Ling's brother was talking I was watching him closely, especially his eyes. I had learned from Chung that when a yard lied he would swing his eyes in any direction to keep from looking at the person he was talking too. After watching Chung question several in different situations I realized he was a 100% on in his observations. Ling's brother was looking straight at me and never wavered in his eye contact. I listened politely and we talked some more with me grilling the hell out of him to be sure he had saw what he saw. It wasn't that I distrusted the information but I would have to get Cap's permission to go on a rogue mission like this one. He wouldn't like it at all especially when I couldn't give him all the information I was getting. Jenkins was back, and I wanted to discuss it with him too. I had a feeling I already knew what he would say but I wouldn't do it without him. He was my second as well as a damned good paramedic. If what I was hearing was right we would need his services.

The old man he was talking about had lived in their village for several years and worked wherever he could to make a few dollars to buy food and clothing. The last time he went to work for the Khmer Rouge they had kept him and wouldn't let him come back to the village. From what I was able to gather he had been a soldier many years ago and had been injured. The village had took him in and nursed him back to health but he never remembered who he was or where he came from. He spoke several languages and was thought by all to be very wise. Ling's brother said that when one of the elders went to see why they kept him, they had beat him with bamboo switches and sent him back to the village, bloody and scared half to death. The village decided to send for Ling to help, because it was known he was a paid soldier of the Americans. I listened to the description of where the Khmer Rouge camp was again and thought I already knew where it was. If my memory served me correctly, there used to be an old village there that the NVA had taken over, before moving the people closer to act as slaves and do all their work for them. The last time we had went through it, it had been falling down and was slowly being devoured by the jungle. It wasn't that far over the border but between Khmer Rouge patrols and NVA the going to get to it would be rough as hell. The only backup we had there were helicopter gunships and they were few and far between that deep in NVA territory.

We would have to enter from Pleiku and work our way by foot from there. I wouldn't take a chance of being dropped at a watched LZ. I hadn't been in a Prairie Fire situation and didn't plan on putting my team into a situation where I had to call one. So far I had been lucky or I had made good decisions with Chung's help. I had only lost one man and had one crippled through no fault of mine. I had lost seconds, yes, but not to anything like that. Most of the teams worked with three white men and seven yards but I had never worked that way since I had found Chung to be the leader of my indigenous personnel. I let him hire my yards, and trusted him with our lives, and I had never regretted the decision. We had been together since I had made team leader and my team had one hell of a record for missions.

I pulled Chung to the side telling him to recheck everything the man had told us even if he was Ling's brother. He gave me that grin of his before he spoke to me as I climbed back in the jeep.

"No worry Sarge, I check his story and if he lie he not get home. I think Ling would cut his throat if he put team in danger. Ling almost as good in bush as me. He hate liars even if family. You talk to Captain while I send word out to see if he tell truth or not. Give me two day to find out."

"Ok Chung, I'll leave it in your capable hands."

"That what you pay Chung for, make sure Sarge not get shot in butt running. Men would love that, and make big laugh for whole village."

I started cussing him as I started the jeep and he was laughing out loud as I headed back to the base. When I got out of sight I started chuckling at him and his laughing. It had taken almost eight months for him to even smile at my stupid jokes as he called them. He had come a long way from the bitter man I had first hired. Although still mean as hell he would laugh and smile at me and the men now. Before he would have walked away into the jungle to kill VC, and add to his trophy board. I had accidently stumbled upon them one time when I was drunk and looking for a place to puke so the men wouldn't laugh at me. The sight that greeted my eyes sobered me almost immediately. He had ten boards covered on both sides with his personal kill trophies. The boards were about six foot long and the dried and shriveled parts almost turned my stomach. I never mentioned I saw them nor did I ever get near that area again.

I turned the jeep in and headed to the armory to talk to Gunny. He was chewing ass as usual when I walked in. I just leaned against the door, and smiled at the look on the man's face as Gunny shouted in his ear. I figured he hadn't seen me come in but as usual when it came to the Gunny I was wrong.

"What the hell do you want? I know you ain't hung over and I really don't appreciate you interrupting my schooling of this cherry."

"We need to talk!"

He looked at me and motioned for me to follow him. The new guy gave me a relieved smile as I walked by. He probably figured the schooling was over but boy was he wrong. Gunny didn't quit when he got started, and anyone who knew him knew he had a memory like a steel trap. No cherry, I thought your school of hell has just begun. You're just getting a small recess for now. I followed him into his office where he closed the door and closed the blinds.

"Ok Sarge, what's on your mind. This has to be serious for you to come here sober on your first day off in a month."

I told him all the facts of what I had been told this morning and he just stared at me for a minute before jumping up and opening his safe. He came back with a topographical map of North and South Vietnam and Laos and Cambodia. When he spread it out I saw X's in different colors with numbers beside them. When he got it spread out he must have noticed the puzzled look on my face.

"This is my personal POW map. Every time I hear about a sighting I put it on here and how many there were reported. Black means confirmed, yellow means non confirmed but with a high probability and green means sighted but not counted nor confirmed. I have been keeping this since I came over here. They have been talking about putting a special unit together to go after some of the confirmed ones but I haven't heard any more about it for awhile. Now show me where these five are supposed to be held at? The whole time I been over here I ain't never heard of the Khmer Rouge using prisoners for labor. The old guy you spoke about could be French as a lot of them are still listed as MIA. They find some in the bush every once in awhile. They are mostly dying of Malaria and starving but still alive and hiding."

I went over and looked at the map for a moment to get my bearings and pointed out where I remembered the village as being. I noticed there was an X not far from it with the number 12 next to the X. It was black, so it had been confirmed, and I wondered why we hadn't gone after them before this. Dammit I hated the thought of good men suffering, and starving working for the VC or NVA as slave labor. The more I looked at the X the more I realized I had been within a couple of miles the last time I had run a mission in that area. If I had known I would have checked it out, and tried to free them if I thought I could. Usually there was only a skinny platoon guarding them because they were so weak from not being fed and disease, they couldn't escape if they could get free. I noticed Gunny looking at the area, and knew what he was going to suggest before he asked.

"Dammit Sarge, there is a confirmed camp not far from there. I don't suppose you could check it out before you kill those bastards of Pot's could you?"

"If I can get the mission cleared it's on our way Gunny. We should go right through that area the way I am planning on going in. I am not gonna tell the Captain all the details just in case someone at HQ gets running mouth disease with one of their mistresses. We been having enough problems with leaks and I sure as hell ain't gonna set my team up for an ambush. I probably won't even tell the Captain where I think they are being held, just that they are close to the border and not far from Pleiku. That way no one but my team and you know where I am going. I know you don't talk out of school but I don't have that much confidence in HQ. Besides if the spooks knew I knew the location of the village they would want in on it. By the time we got there all of Vietnam would know we were coming. This is going to be one of those deals that the less HQ knows the better for me. Besides I still have to get it cleared first."

"I don't think you will have any problem there. Since ole big mouthed Jane has been on the tube telling all her anti-war buddies about prisoners being forgotten, HQ will jump at the chance of a little good media if you succeed. If you don't then it's no skin off their noses. Hell Sarge, you know how they think over there; use it to help you sell the mission. Hell, the way they feel about you, if you didn't come back they would throw a big party in celebration."

"Now that hurts my feelings Gunny. I can't believe you wouldn't miss me."

"Cut the bullshit Sarge, you know what I mean. Besides if you get caught that mean ass little half breed would go after you himself. The VC are scared to death of him and that new guy he hunts with. Those two have done more to lower VC morale that the whole US Army. The VC call them the ghosts who kill."

"Yea I've heard that before. One of the A-Camp captains said his Kit Carson committed suicide when Chung and Ling came in to get supplies. He took one look at him, and shot himself on the spot, even after the Captain told him they were just after supplies."

"Sarge, that's a true story. I talked to the Captain about a month ago and he was still mad about it. That little shit is one mean little bastard and hates all VC. I have heard prisoners talked when threatened by being questioned by Chung. He has quite a reputation, and most of the teams would love to have him on their team. Even the yards have said he is big medicine, and all would work with him, and consider it an honor to do so for free if he asked. I don't know why he sticks with you, but he is your good luck charm. By the way you need to make sure you stay on the General's good side."

"Pray tell why should I try to do that Gunny?"

"Because while you were out last time, the Commander of the 5th HQ tried to get you transferred up there permanently. The General got wind of it, and told him if he wanted a short career he better withdraw the paperwork immediately. He came damned close to sneaking it through. HQ here would have signed off on it just to get you out of their hair. Sarge, even though you have an excellent completion record HQ hates you like a rabid dog. The only reason you get away with half the shit you do is because the General admires and respects you. Every new article 15 you get he waits a week and pulls it. He has a special file in his office he keeps them all in. His clerk says when he is mad he gets them out and reads them laughing the whole time. If you're able to pull any part of this one off, your stock will be so high they will be afraid to touch you for a long time."

"Gunny, if I can pull this off, it will be for the men who are prisoner and not for personal gain. I don't give a damned about my reputation, but if I complete my mission and bring us all back in one piece I am happy. I need a favor from you if you can pull it off?"

"Name it Sarge and if it's in my power it WILL happen."

"A couple of days after I go in, if you could manage to get a couple of LRP teams inserted in my area I would appreciate it. If we do manage to rescue any prisoners from either place I am going to need help getting them out. I don't have enough men to guard them and carry them at the same time. Besides if it gets too hot I can use the backup."

"I have a few favors owed me, so you can consider it done. I will have three teams inserted in your general area and all three will be monitoring your frequency. You yell and they will come running. They still haven't forgotten how you pulled one of their snipers out of the bush awhile back."

"Shit Gunny, I wasn't about to leave him out there, wounded and alone. Besides if your guys help I can hitch a ride to your base, and let them take the credit for getting those men out. That way HQ can't hush it up and take all the credit for themselves."

"Sarge, you are one devious son of a bitch, you know that? HQ will have a fit if you do that. They just might send you back to the world for that one."

"If they do I will volunteer to come back. Besides I only have less than a year on my enlistment. If I keep my mouth shut I could be over here as a civilian and they would never know it. My files from the last trip back haven't caught up with me yet. I haven't had any pay since I been back this time. I checked with payroll seven months ago and they had no record of me being in country. I am glad I snuck some money back with me or I would be hurting right about now."

"Sarge, if you need anything you let me know and it will be dropped off in your hooch while you're out. If you need money just ask, and I will make sure you get all you need. We Marines have our own little slush funds for situations like that, and we all consider you one of us even if you're on the wrong side. Now get out of here and let me think about this. I will need some special stuff for you to take and it isn't here. Go talk to the Captain and see if he will clear it. If he doesn't let me know and I will have a little whisper in some ears I know of."

I left thinking I had better see the Captain and get it over with. When I walked into the clerk's office I was told to have a seat as the General was in with the Captain. I sat and drank coffee for about a half hour, before the General came out. I quickly saluted him, and pulled him to the side saying he better come back in with me to hear this one. He just looked at me and followed me in. When the Captain saw us both coming in I almost laughed at the look on his face. When the General got seated I closed the door and sat in the only empty chair.

"Sir's, what I am about to tell you stays in this room. We all know we have a leak, and I think it's coming from that nice big air conditioned building to our right. I am going to keep my voice low while I speak, and if what I want is approved no one is to know until I make it back from the bush. Are we clear on this?"

They both looked at me like I was nuts until I got into what I was going to do. At first there was disbelief then shock as I continued talking. I went through the whole thing again leaving out the exact locations but giving them enough to make their thoughts get on the same path I was on. I finally got through and sat back waiting for someone to speak. The Captain looked at the General as if inviting him to speak first. He wasn't paying any attention but seemed to be lost in thought so the Captain spoke up first.

"Sarge, that's the damndest tale I ever heard. Are you sure your information is accurate? If what you say is true, then it will stir up a lot of hostility toward the Khmer Rouge. Do you know for sure they are our guys, and not someone who looks like our men as in a trap to get hostages."

"Cap, I don't know of any other white men who would fit that description unless they're Russians. I doubt that because of who is holding them. This whole war is changing and not for the better, here or back home. Charlie has either been damned lucky or someone is giving them information that's classified. Even the spooks have better sense than to do something like that. Sir if they are our men we owe it to them to give it a try. I know if it were me, I would not want to be forgotten and left to rot away as a slave."

"Captain, I will personally clear this mission. Sarge, you will get everything you need, right down to me putting both Mike Forces on standby awaiting your call. If they are our men you get them out, and I don't care how many Khmer Rouge you have to kill to do it. Don't leave a one of those bastards alive when you leave. Blow the place to hell and destroy it so bad it can't be used again by any of our enemies. Captain, not a word of this leaves this room. I will handle the logistics from my end. Captain, give Sarge anything he needs and don't worry about any flack you get. If there's a problem refer them to me and continue on. Sarge when you get the plan worked out to satisfy yourself you go forward with it, and leave the hassle and fallout from HQ to me. As a matter of fact it might be a good idea to bring them back where you leave from, and bypass this area. That's all gentlemen!"

He left, and me and the Captain hashed out a few things before I left too, with the paperwork for supplies as well as a pass for my team to stay on base until we got lifted out in the next couple of days. I was happy with the General telling me to bring them back to a different area. That meant I had a green light to take them to the big marine base and let them take the credit. I knew I wouldn't have air cover but most of the time we never asked for it anyways. Chung was the reason and it made my rep grow more as a team leader who never called for backup. We usually were in and out so fast it would have been a dead giveaway if we had it near our position.

I walked over to the NCO club looking for Jenkins. He was there, and drunk as hell, singing with the jukebox at the top of his lungs. I sat down at the table ordering a beer and waited for the song to end. It was 1500 hrs and I still had a lot of loose ends to tie up, before I went after Chung and the men in the morning.

"Hey Sarge, come in to get drunk with me? Man I bet I drank a keg and pissed two. This stuff goes right through me. It's good to have a few days off isn't it?"

"Jenkins, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you have one more hour to celebrate then no more booze. We have a mission."

He looked at me through slightly crossed eyes, and just said ok, and finished his beer and ordered coffee. I got up telling him I would see him after chow at the hooch. He gave me a drunken smile, making faces as he sipped the so called coffee they served here. I went back to the hooch and got my personal map out and started looking for a way in that couldn't be traced by Charlie. I went over in my mind what Ling's brother had said about what routes and trails to take, and it fit with my personal map. The only part that didn't jibe was the village. I didn't have it marked on my map, but like most yard villages they moved a lot depending on pressures from the NVA or hunting conditions. I didn't like the fact that he had said the village had been there a long time. If so why didn't I have it marked because I had been through that area a few times and didn't remember a village? With the NVA wiping out mountain tribes I wondered how they had missed one in their own back yard. Oh well, another question for Chung and Ling to answer.

Jenkins came in and flopped on his cot and in a few minutes started snoring. That's when I got up and headed for the team room to think and make my list out for supplies. The room was empty so I sat down and started in with the list trying to think ahead of the NVA in case we picked up a tracker team.

1. 8 claymores

2. 2 blocks of c-4 each

3. 10 bags of cs powder

4. Eight grenades, 2 of each type

5. Eight gas masks w/extra filters

6. Extra sugar and coffee, and candy

7. 1200 rounds of ammo each

8. 10 Gunny special grenades

9. AK 37's for team/w vests

10. Extra b-12 and antibiotic shots for med kit as well as extra morphine and bandages.

11. Extra dried meals for recovery for prisoners

I decided I was shorting us on ammo and decided to increase the clips we would carry. I went back through it and changed a few more items, but either way I wrote it we would be short if we picked up more than the allotted five prisoners. I gave Gunny my word so I knew we would be checking the other camp on our way in. I was in a quandary with this because if we raided and recovered the prisoners from the camp it would be too hot for us to go after the original five. Maybe I could arrange for one of the LRP teams to hit the Khmer Rouge camp at the same time we hit the other camp. If I could do this it would create mass confusion, and all of us would have a better chance of getting them out in one piece. Dammit, I would have to have another talk with Gunny about this one.

I went back to the armory and Peters told me Gunny had hopped a ride to Marine HQ. He left word he would be back by dark and for me to check with him then. I gave him my list saying it was subject to change if I decided to request more supplies. He just smiled and said he had most of it on hand, but anything special he would have to arrange for. I headed back to my hooch to grab my 16 and map deciding I was going to have a talk with Chung, before I made any more decisions. I left a note on the board in the hooch for Jenkins and headed to the motor pool to get a jeep. I headed for the village deep in thought as I drove the short way. When I got to the village Chung met me saying he was expecting me sooner. I just looked at him in shock, until he broke and started laughing at the look on my face.

"No like Chung joke Sarge? I think you been here too long, you no have humor. Come, we get Ling and talk. I learn more since you leave."

He whistled a few times and my whole team came in as we arrived at his hut. He put them outside to keep everyone away and we three went inside. I spread the map out with Ling and Chung looking at it, and chattering in their language pointing at several locations as they did. I caught part of what they were saying but they were speaking too fast, and I missed some of the conversation.

"Sarge, Ling brother lie bout location of village. Ling talk to sister who leave to come here. She say village move often to keep people and food safe from NVA. She say VC have camp here, (pointing at map) and have prisoner who tend rice paddy. She say they not have many guard since prisoner too sick and weak to leave. She say they have radio and one truck to move prisoner and put rice in at harvest. She say maybe 10 or twenty prisoner there all time. They have big vegetable patch by camp, and village steal from it at night when VC sleep. Ling brother not tell us this, say they grow food in village. She say village all old people, and they weak so have to steal to eat. She say NVA have big camp here and boku supplies come in at all hours. She say they have car on rail that go to old plantation during night. Big cave under this mountain here where they keep car and ammo so no one see it. She say she been in cave before VC come and it be deep under mountain. She say many rooms there and NVA have families with them. She say they hear many kids laughing at several of the smoke holes in mountain. She say NVA dump in creek here and the water no longer fit to drink. That why village move all time. Water short in mountains and they run out and have to move. Ling brother lie to us and Ling say he dead man for doing so."

I looked at Ling and his eyes were blazing with anger over his brothers lies. He looked at me and just shook his head yes without flinching.

"Ling, maybe your brother lied to protect the village. He probably don't want us showing up and giving their location away. He was just trying to protect the old ones like he's supposed to. Hell, I would do the same if I were in his shoes."

"Brother lie to me, if he not want us come to village we not go, but he lie about location to me. I tell him bring here and they all get as much food as they can eat. We rich village and have plenty for everyone thanks to you and Chung. He no need lie to us."

"Well my friend maybe he will follow your advice and bring them here soon. In the mean time we have more problems with this mission we need to get worked out. The NVA being close by in such force will bring us a lot of headache's if they get on our trail with sick men from the camp. We can't fight and carry these men with just us few. I need to think about this some more. If either of you have any suggestions I am open to listen to them. Chung what do you think we should do?"

"I think we should call in some more of our people to help us. I know many who would go just to kill VC. They all work at one time with your men so they know bush. All still have own weapons like us. They all go if I ask."

"Chung, if we do this make sure that you trust them to not run off if we get in a firefight. They will be carrying some of these men on stretchers and if they run the men will all die. The VC will shoot them for escaping. If that happens I will hunt them down one by one and kill them myself."

"If that happen I kill all of them myself Sarge. If I get men they will be told that if they run then they better keep running because I put them on board as my enemy. Me and Ling make sure of this. I put out call and see who show up. When they here I will send for you and you talk to them and choose who you want take with us. If you choose I make sure they no run if we get in fight."

I didn't say anything just got back in the jeep and headed back to the base. When I got back to the hooch Jenkins was not there so I figured he was at the chow hall eating and trying to sober up. I headed that way myself since I hadn't eaten since this morning. I got my food and finally spotted Jenkins hunched over at a corner table. I figured he was hung over so I left him alone and sat elsewhere. I would talk to him later when he sobered up and felt better. I quickly ate and headed back to the armory to see if Gunny had made it back. Peters said he hadn't come back so I figured he wouldn't be back till morning and headed for the hooch to try to get a good night's sleep. I knew the next few days would be hectic and there wouldn't be much sleep gotten by any of us. I finally fell asleep thinking about the men being held, wondering if they had been forgotten by their own country? I knew in my own mind if I could get them out I would do it even if I lost my own life trying. They deserved to go home to their families and to see freedom again, even if it was marred by protests and Hollywood bigots.