Patrol
by Ken Hornbeck
L
anding in a chopper is very exciting. As you get closer to the ground
you start to hang out on the skid. Holding onto the frame behind the
pilot or peter pilot, weapons in one hand and get ready to jump off.
Chopper pilots never liked landing. So it was a good five or six foot
jump to the ground. First you hit the ground and than your ruck pushes
you face down into the ground. We stay in a defensive posture until the
chopper takes off.
After insertion it gets so quiet. You run to the tree line, take cover,
count noses and listen for signs of being compromised. After a radio
check with the chopper, we begin to orient ourselves with the terrain and
set out taking the course of action of the mission.
Walking through the jungles can be pretty hairy when you only have four
to six guys. Today we had six. We had landed in a dried up rice paddy
not far from the foot of the mountains. We would have to hump about two
klicks to get the real hard terrain. Our mission was just a short
daylong recon of the area. Up the ridgeline and circle around a few
klicks and check out a small hidden hamlet. Flyovers by choppers
indicated there was no activity. We all felt good about that. This was
going to be a milk run so to speak. Being in the jungle, on a recon, not
knowing what to expect is never a milk run.
We found the hamlet within an hour or so. It was abandoned but there
were signs of real recent occupation. We followed a trail that
looked like it was fairly fresh. Walking point at times as these can
give you pucker factor. Heading out very cautiously and having my
slackman not too far behind gave me a feeling of safety, he was covering
my back. I focused on looking for booby traps and other sighs of
presence of the enemy while searching for a likely place for an ambush.
Finally we came to a clearing and decided to circle along the tree
line. Checking the map we weren't that far from our exfil LZ. As we got
closer to the pickup point we stayed in shadows of the tree line.
We made contact with the chopper and gave a heading and our coordinates.
We would pop smoke when they were ten minutes out. With experience you
just could tell the time it would take for them to reach you and they
understood distance by minutes. As the sound of the chopper was closer
we could see it. We contacted the pilot once again and told him we were
ready to pop smoke and for him to identify. He transmitted back to us
that he was going to do a fly over and circle around. He was coming in
low and fast. The pilot told us us to pop smoke. We were hiding in the
tree line next to a dry rice paddy. so it wasn't too hard to throw the
smoke grenade put into the open.
He flew over our position and came back and he identified our green
smoke. As the chopper came around we all got ready to run out to the
LZ. We ran to one of the dikes in the rice paddy and hid there until the
chopper came in for pick-up. Then it happened. We were all lined up
ready to run out and jump on the chopper when it landed. I was just
talking to my buddy, then all of sudden a shot went between us. We
looked at one another in surprise. Then looking back at the tree line, i
didn't see anything. Must be a sniper. The chopper was now landing for
pick-up, and than another shot rang out. This time all i could see was
the red mist of blood coming from my friend's head. I threw my body on
top of him and roll over with him on top of me. Another shot hit him in
the back. It going through his rucksack and his body must have made it
miss me. The doorgunner started to spray the tree line with his M-60.
Rolling over again seeing he was dead i tried to pick him up. Seeing
what had just happen; a couple of the other guys came back to help. We
threw his body on the floor of the chopper and the pilot took off.. The
doorgunner kept firing away until we got out of the AO and to altitude.
The cool air within the chopper felt refreshing over our soaked
clothing. But the ride back was very quiet. We all lit cigarettes and
just sat there and just stared at the blood soaked body that just a few
minutes ago was smiling and talking to me. The blood was beginning to
spray around inside of the chopper and we were getting it all over us.
As we landed back at base the medics were already at the helipad as the
chopper pilots communicated ahead that we had a casualty. After they
took him away to the MASH tent we all gathered our gear and headed back
to our debriefing area. We went over the mission with our commander and
first sergeant. We were distracted by the strangeness of it. It was a
simple mission that went awry at the last minute when they were
extracting us.
As we left the HQ shack we walked in silence to our hooches. We sat down
on the cots and someone broke out a bottle of booze. I lit up a
cigarette and we sat looking at each other, with blood soaked clothes.
As i stared the cigarette in my hand i noticed it was covered in blood,
my friend's blood. We passed the bottle around and then someone
suggested that we shower and change our clothes before going to chow.
After eating we returned to our hooches to clean our weapons. Some
started playing cards. I layed back staring at the ceiling thinking it
could have been me the sniper hit. I wondered if there was anything i
could have done different to get a better outcome. But as always, it
seems that it's better to forget right away. Your emotions get numb and
in a guilty way you feel relieved that it was him instead of you. You
have another day and are closer to going home. I will never forget him
but i can't remember his name.
Ken Hornbeck
D/1/501: Vietnam 1969-'70