One Long Night

This is a true story of a night I spent in Viet Nam.

I met the 4 man team on the LZ as we had for the past three nights. It was still early dusk and I took the time to inspect their gear. No heavy packs, just weapons, half ammo load, 782 gear and water. I wanted to be able to move fast and quiet with only the most needed items. We weren't even taking any poncho liners or ponchos. They may come unsecured and catch or drag. Next I rechecked my AN/PPS-6 radar set. I had 2 batteries and the external cables for them. I would carry this and the batteries. I secured it on the pack board and rechecked the straps to secure it all. Nothing loose or dangling. And then I did the same to the AN/PRC-25 radio. The ammo and weapons were for personal protection only. My real weapons were the radar set and the radio.
The Arty FO came out as I finished the inspection. Together with the team we all went over our maps. We were going to hump into a predesignated pos and I wanted to be sure that we all understood our routes in, out and 2 escape routes, primary and alternate. Our protection was the night and our thorough understanding of what was expected of each one of us. When we cleared the wire it was all indian country and we had no friends at all in our AO.
I was teaching the 4 Scout/Snipers how to operate and use the radar set. And the only effective way to do so was in the bush, using Charles as live targets. Live fire is the best motivator to learning that I have found. I would be taking the team to a specific place and setting up a defensive perimeter around the radar set. Then for 2 hours each I would have each member of the team on the set with me. If we were able to locate Charles, or for that matter, anyone moving in the area, we would be calling for an artillery mission. I had worked with tonights FO before and he understood how I worked and basically what I was doing. If I called he would be there, no BS about requesting permission up the chain of command.
After the mission brief I held a Q and A period until I knew that each man understood our mission, our routes, our radio freq's and call signs. We had all been in this AO for several weeks and the area we would be working is one we were all familiar with. I wanted to set up on a small rice paddy dike that had unobstructed line of sight of main routes leading from the hills into a good sized vill. We have been having problems with VC tax collectors visiting the vill for food, intimidation and intelligence. I was hoping that we would be able to intercept a tax raider party and do some intimidation of our own.
The area was a wide expanse of open rice paddies with little cover for an effective ambush site and many routes into the vill. Ambushes couldn't be set on every route, but with my radar set I could cover the whole area and drop arty on top of anyone I suspected was VC or NVA. The five of us acting with the FO at Battalion rear could be much more effective that a hundred men in a dozen seperate ambushes.
But because of our small number we were entirely vulnerable if we were dicovered. Our protection was the dark, our small number and the fact that Charles didn't know we were there or how we were doing what we were doing. As far as I knew, Charles didn't know about me or the radar set. He just knew that he had been hit several times by the mighty damn damn. They had no warning and no idea where it was coming from. But I had to be making them as paranoid as hell. If they found us it would all be over but the crying and body bag trip home.
As soon as it was dark enough for me I got the KT (killer team) saddled up and made one last round checking each man and had one of them check me. I had been doing this for several months and learned that I could leave nothing to chance. We moved out in a line and after clearing the wire went totally silent. Communication was in your face hand signals and as little voice as possible. Then only whispers in the ear. I chose a route that made a wide circle to the other side of the perimeter before we turned toward our intended pos. It took about an hour of slow careful movement to reach it.
We set up our perimeter, only about 10 yards across, and then I began to set up the radar set. I had picked a position where one rice paddy dropped about 5 feet into the next. It gave us a below ground line position, better concealment. And, it allowed me to cover the AO from the foothills to the vill. But it also gave me a blindspot. I had never found any activity from that direction before so I accepted this as an acceptable risk for the position and concealment. Brother, did I almost blow it.
I set up the tripod and then the TR unit. I used my compass to orient the TR unit. Then I connected the battery cables and turned on the set. I made an immediate sweep to clear the area and felt my guts knot up. I had a target of about 10 to 15 people moving on the dike that was immediately above our position. I had 2 escape routes out, but they were both dangerously close to the dike that the movement was on. I changed mode and found that they were about 300 yds away and moving towards us in a straight line.
If we were to try and run we would have a very high risk of being found. If that happened we would have either a set firefight, a loosing proposition, or a running battle, even worse. I alerted the rest of the team and began to break the set down. I decided that they did not know we were there and that the worst thing that we could do was expose ourselves. I decided to hide and let them pass. But the only place to hide was in the rice paddy. It had about knee deep water in it and grass growing over the banks. I deep sixed the equipment and scattered the team along the bank in the water and grass.
We submerged in the water and pulled as much of the grass over us as we could. Unless they dropped down into the water and walked the bank, there was very little chance that they would see us. It took them about 15 of the longest minutes of my life before they reached our hiding place. To this day, I don't know why they chose to stay up on the high dike and not drop down to the better concealment of the lower paddy. I guess God was with me that night. Either that or they were so arrogant as to believe that they had no opposition. They passed without stopping or discovering any of us.
I kept the team in the hide position for about an hour. I was afraid that they would finish what they were up to and return along the same route. When there was no further sign of them I pulled the team out of the water and reestablished our perimeter. We froze in position for an hour while I tried to get the radar set and the radio working. But the water had put them both out of action. With our position jepodized, our main weapon usless, and our communications cut, I decided it was time to didi. I repacked the equipment and reformed the team.
It took somewhat longer to get back inside the wire. I took the escape route furtherest from the route the VC had used. But we finally reached our rally point before entering the wire. I popped a jack off (pop flare) and after getting the 3 2 3 light blinks I allowed the team to reenter the wire.
The mission was blown, but I felt that I had accomplished the major objectives. I had kept the radar set a secret to use later, which I did the next night, but more importantly, I had pulled the team through a hell of a bad situation. The next week I picked up movement along the same route, but I was in a different position. I dropped 81 mm mortars on them and next morning a patrol sent to sweep the area found 1 body and several more blood trails. I don't know if these were the same ones that almost found us, but I didn't find any further movement along that particular dike after that.
Up to that time I had been in firefights and had experienced the emotional high that can only be known by someone in a firefight. I had never had a team member wounded, let alone KIA. This was the closest that I had ever come to getting nailed. I had a long day to think about it and finally feel my own mortality.
The next night I went out with my teeth chattering and guts tied in knots. I had thought that I was being as careful as possible up to that time, but I became almost obsessive about how I prepared a mission and a team. And I never took anything for granted. Years later I saw Murphys Law in writing. "If anything can go wrong, it will." That night I had learned that Murphy was 100% on the mark.