Yep, we arrived at Alpha 3 dodging sniper fire, mortars and RPG's. The team we relieved headed out with mortars chasing them.
Inside the bunker we had to set up quickly. There were six cots over which we had to hang mosquito nets, duffel bags had to be unpacked and everything hung on nails, foodstuff had to be inventoried and accounted for and..........someone had to head out to the tower.
We cut for low card and I lost. I pulled on my flack jacket, put my steel pot on my head, slung a bandolier of loaded magazines over my shoulder, picked up my rifle and headed for the door. I paused, wondering if I would see the world from the top of that tower.
It was only 30 yards, an easy run. When I hit the bottom of the tower I still had 35 feet to go, though, straight up. I climbed as fast as I could to gain the safety of the sandbags at the top. The rungs of that ladder, hammered in by the French 15 or more years in the past held and I threw myself on the floor.
Alpha 3 was a firebase built by the French during the French-Indo China War. It was situated less than 100 yards south of the DMZ, surrounded by a minefield and concertina wire and had two ways in and out. To the South there was a 10 foot wide road through the mines. To the North was another path, again about 10 wide through the mines and lined with Claymores.
On the deck of the tower were a periscope binocular, meant for daylight observation without exposing yourself, and a Starlight scope for nighthttime observation. There was also a standard issue Military two way radio and a dozen grenades piled in one corner.
I stood up and looked around. To the North, at about 150 yards the jungle started with a ridgeline rising up another 500 yards behind that. To the West, South and East there was defoliated desolation for approximatelly 500 yards. Beyone that was the standard jungle vegetation and a couple of villages.
Within our compound, inside the mines and wire, an area the size of two football fields, were three bunkers, two towers, one blown up and burnt to a crisp, and .......nothing else. Just dirt.
Most disconcerting was the fact that the six of us were the only people there. WTF? If I'm going to be standing in a 35 foot high tower 100 yards south of the DMZ in 1968 I would really like to see at least a couple of hundred infantrymen manning the perimeter. Holy fvcking SH!T! There was nobody, just the six of us.
"Hello, Mom? I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I am alive and well. The bad news is that our position could be overrun in 5 minutes and I will be a crispy critter. Been nice talking to you, Mom. Bye."
Inside the bunker we had to set up quickly. There were six cots over which we had to hang mosquito nets, duffel bags had to be unpacked and everything hung on nails, foodstuff had to be inventoried and accounted for and..........someone had to head out to the tower.
We cut for low card and I lost. I pulled on my flack jacket, put my steel pot on my head, slung a bandolier of loaded magazines over my shoulder, picked up my rifle and headed for the door. I paused, wondering if I would see the world from the top of that tower.
It was only 30 yards, an easy run. When I hit the bottom of the tower I still had 35 feet to go, though, straight up. I climbed as fast as I could to gain the safety of the sandbags at the top. The rungs of that ladder, hammered in by the French 15 or more years in the past held and I threw myself on the floor.
Alpha 3 was a firebase built by the French during the French-Indo China War. It was situated less than 100 yards south of the DMZ, surrounded by a minefield and concertina wire and had two ways in and out. To the South there was a 10 foot wide road through the mines. To the North was another path, again about 10 wide through the mines and lined with Claymores.
On the deck of the tower were a periscope binocular, meant for daylight observation without exposing yourself, and a Starlight scope for nighthttime observation. There was also a standard issue Military two way radio and a dozen grenades piled in one corner.
I stood up and looked around. To the North, at about 150 yards the jungle started with a ridgeline rising up another 500 yards behind that. To the West, South and East there was defoliated desolation for approximatelly 500 yards. Beyone that was the standard jungle vegetation and a couple of villages.
Within our compound, inside the mines and wire, an area the size of two football fields, were three bunkers, two towers, one blown up and burnt to a crisp, and .......nothing else. Just dirt.
Most disconcerting was the fact that the six of us were the only people there. WTF? If I'm going to be standing in a 35 foot high tower 100 yards south of the DMZ in 1968 I would really like to see at least a couple of hundred infantrymen manning the perimeter. Holy fvcking SH!T! There was nobody, just the six of us.
"Hello, Mom? I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I am alive and well. The bad news is that our position could be overrun in 5 minutes and I will be a crispy critter. Been nice talking to you, Mom. Bye."
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