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 In Hell With Dragonsby Richard ShafferCHAPTER FOURTEENJUST A MATTER OF TIME |
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We made
it back to Cu Chi late Wednesday, the night before Thanksgiving. The mess
hall was preparing a large dinner. The CO had orphans brought in from the
local orphanage to share dinner with the company. Everything turned out
great. We even had wine on the table. It was good to be able to finally relax
and feel good about life again. After
what we'd been through the last few weeks, it was a great way to relieve
tension. I had a
talk with Sgt. McDonald about the re-supply snafu. He said his men were
called out to the bunker line for an emergency. When they returned to work at
the re-supply chopper, he saw that the other crew did not send out weapons
platoons gear with the chopper. By then it was too late. He apologized for
the problem with the platoon. For the
next week and a half we prepared to close down our base camp at Cu Chi. The
1st Brigade was moving out to a permanent base in Tay Ninh. The operation was
called "Yellowstone" and would begin officially on Dec. 8. Our area
of operations within the province of Tay Ninh would actually be south of the
city. Something
happened in Cu Chi that I never thought would. Sgt. Mac
came to my tent to break the news to me. "Hey
Shaf, did you hear what happened last night?" "No,
what?" "The
CO and two other officers got `fragged' in their tent early this
morning." "Oh
yea, they get killed?" "No,
all of them will survive." "What
happened? They find who did it?" "The
brass, think that a subversive did it." "How
are they?" "From
what I hear the grenade went off under their bunks. One of the lieutenants
bunking with them is pretty bad. They saved the CO's legs, but I think he may
lose his balls." "How
the hell can he lose something he never had to begin with?" I asked. "Hey
Sarge, that sounds like a low blow to me." "Yea,
sure was, wasn't it?" "Looks
like Lt. Thomas will be acting CO until they find a new captain." "Yea,
he's a good officer. They ought to make him captain and a permanent CO." "Maybe.
Well, I thought you'd want to know. See you later at the briefing." "What
briefing?" "The
one at 1600 hours. Didn't you get the word?" "No,
nothing came in to me here. Okay, thanks for telling me, Mac." "Yea,
okay, see ya later." I spent
part of the day catching up on some letter writing. Mantley came in to see
me; he was getting ready to leave tomorrow morning. He finally got his orders
to go home. "How's
it going, Sarge? Catching up on your letters home?" "Hey
Mantley, how's it with you? You about ready to fly the big bird home?" "You
got that shit right. I can't wait to get the hell out of this place. Hey
look, a few of us guys are getting together to sort of send me off right.
Would you like to show up, maybe split a few beers?" "Yea,
I'd like that. What time?" "Around
seven or seven-thirty. Sorry, I mean 1930 hours, Sarge." "Hey,
don't worry about it. As much time as you've got left, seven-thirty sounds
good to me too." "Yea,
I feel like a civilian already. Just counting the hours now. I'm so short
that a clock's got more time." "You're
going to re-enlist for another six years, aren't you?" "Shit
man, who you say? You been smoking rag weed or something?" "Don't
talk that jive shit to me. I've got it from a good authority that you love
the Army and want to re-enlist." "Who
gave you that line of crap? I ought to cut his balls off!" "None
other than Sgt. Sawyer himself." "Bull
shit! He hates this Army worse than I do. He's just feeding you a line of
crap a mile long and two foot full." "You
mean you're really getting out?" "Out?
I'm going so far out that it'll take an Army mule with a magnet attached to
its ass to find me. I don't want no part of the U.S. Army. My time is up.
Speakin' of time, just how long has your butt got to go yet?" "I've
got a few days left yet. Remember, it's just a matter of time. Time is
irrelevant. It's what you do with it that counts." "Yea,
I already know what I'm going to do with the time I've got left. I'm going to
get shit-faced, that's what I'm going to do." "Okay
Mantley, if that's the way you feel, then I guess my talking to you now will
never change your mind. But just think about it some more before you go off
the deep end. I'll see you later, okay?" "Right,
see you later, Sarge." The
meeting at 1600 hours was mostly about the move to Tay Ninh. The other part concerned
Lt. Thomas taking over as CO. We'd probably get a new captain up at Tay Ninh. The next
day we struck down the tents and broke camp at Cu Chi. I felt a special
kinship to this place. I was going to miss it. We
packed up the five-ton trucks and trailers and headed north. It turned out to
be a long, dusty trip. The barracks at Tay Ninh were exactly like the ones at
Cu Chi. All we had to do was move right in. That's exactly what we did. The
move to Tay Ninh was a major surprise. Finding everything there just like it
was at Cu Chi was a greater surprise. It was like moving from one tent to
another across the street. After we got moved in, we became acquainted with
bunker line guard duty the next 10 days. Word was
out that we were going back out to look for Charlie. Before that happened
though, we received word that a new CO was arriving. His name was Capt. Dial,
a West Point graduate, tough as nails and ready to fight at the drop of a
hat. From what I heard he was a
good officer. Mac
wanted me to take it easy and take over the re-supply function. I told him
that prospect was ridiculous, that my place was out in the field with the
platoon. I had only 45 days left in Vietnam and I didn't want to spend it
putting supplies on a chopper. Little
did I know that in about a week this situation with the re-supply would piss
off the new CO so much that he ordered me to take the job. He wanted someone
who could do a good job and I was it. So that's what I did for the next 35
days, at least until the Tet Offensive started in the last week of January. I
had less than two weeks left and the enemy decided to attack every major
American installation in South Vietnam. The City of Tay Ninh was spared. For
some reason the VC decided that attacking Tay Ninh would take too many men
that he could use elsewhere. So when Charlie didn't attack Tay Ninh, we kept
wondering when he would. Everyone around the perimeter was on pins and
needles. The fact that he didn't attack surprised everyone. When I was ready
to go home Feb. 1, the Tet Offensive wasn't ready to let me go. I had to wait
another five days before they found an airport where I could catch a plane
home. Ben Hoa Airport finally opened up. I heard
that one of the men from the weapons platoon was killed yesterday when a
rocket came in the perimeter where the platoon was camped out. I later
learned that it was Gerard. The
experience of war would leave an indelible mark on me for years to come. The
men who I met and fought alongside for the last year would also leave their
marks on me, emotionally as well as mentally and physically. You find out
later in life that the friendship you had in the bush isn't quite the same in
civilian life. Comrades in arms are special, the friendship lasts forever,
until we meet our other dead friends, the ones who are the real heroes. The
experience of Vietnam is next to the birth of my children as the best thing
in my life that I will never forget. How could anyone ever forget something
that was so traumatic and life consuming as war is? To go as far as we did
together and be able to work and live and even die together - it was a
memorable experience never to be forgotten. My plane
back to the States took the milk run. I thought we'd never get home. After we
arrived home we were released from the receiving center in Oakland,
California. I then caught a flight back home to Indiana and a 30 day leave.
The transition from trauma and fear one day to passive and complacent regret
the next, I could never figure out the difference for quite a while. I stayed
in the Army until 1973 and couldn't adjust to the fact that I'll never see
the emotion that I experienced in Vietnam. I left the Army only regretting
one thing, that I didn't stay to retire. I've made a lot of mistakes in my
life and in some strange way I learned something from them. I didn't have the
opportunity to relive the fraternity of my "foxhole" buddies in the
civilian world but did rekindle a friendship 30 years later with one from
Vietnam. I'll remember the others too. Some have contacted me later from
computers and email. Some have even read this book and contacted me. I will
remember them all with affection and admiration throughout the remainder of
my life. |
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GO TO CHAPTER THIRTEEN
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IN HELL WITH DRAGONS |
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