Episode 4 - AN Khe

Preparations for the bush.

Two days later, I landed in AN Khe and took a jeep ride to FSB Action. My new plt was gathered on top of a bunker getting resupplied and checking maps. It was a whirlwind of activity. The Lt. looked me over for the briefest second and then told a Spec. 4, I think it was Louis Duperone, to get me settled in and to check my gear.

My ruck was dumped out and quickly resorted and repacked. A pile of stuff remained. Louie informed me I didn't want to hump any more than I had to. I abandoned the discarded gear and we went to find the LT, who only wanted to know if I had the correct and necessary stuff.

That's when a guy with a sack full of frags came by asking if anyone needed any. It really struck me how I was in the company of unknown men who needed frags. I reached into the sack and took a couple. The Lt. gave me a funny look and Louie grinned real big. We were on our way to being buddies.

My ruck weighed over 80 lbs. Most of the weight was water, medical gear and ammo. Add on the rifle, aid bag, helmet and the frags in my pockets and I was suddenly over 100 lbs heavier. Tomorrow looked like it was going to be a rough day.

That night we went into the bunker to sleep. It was basically a pit dug in and piled with sandbags, there was no light and it was as as dark as a coal mine. Midway through the night a rat ran across my face and I disrupted the tight packed room by jumping up and stepping right on the Lt.'s face. I stumbled out and joined a few others sleeping on the top of the bunker. Rats in Nam were big nasty things. I couldn't understand how anyone could sleep in a hole with rats.

My new bed turned out to be located right under the barrel of a 50 cal. machine gun. I found this out when it opened up during a mad minute, when every weapon on the perimeter was to fire randomly for one minute to discourage enemy infiltration. This of course scared the crap out of me again. I didn't get much sleep that night so I was bone tired when morning finally came.

Shortly after sunrise we loaded up on tracks, mostly APCs, and followed tanks out of the relative safety of the FSB and into the bush. I felt scared, woefully under-trained, and physically unprepared for the extremely difficult and demanding tasks ahead.

After numerous false stops where the tanks worked out on the jungle, we were told to get ready for insertion. The tanks began firing and this time we were to slip out the back and silently hide in the bush. The tanks and APCs moved on and did the stop and fire trick several more times. The idea was to make the enemy think it was just another stupid armor patrol. If they did suspect troops got off they wouldn't know where we were.

The jungle was quiet at first, until we were accepted. As the bush came back to life around us we saddled up and moved out. Since I was so loaded down, it was all I could do to just move forward.

I remember my lunch that day: canned spaghetti eaten off the jungle floor where I had spilled it.