Chapter 15: The Voice of God  060525

      Not long into Westmoreland’s visit, a new guy in B Company 2-28 named David A. was making his very first security sweep, just outside the perimeter, along with Staff Sergeant J. and the team’s RTO, Buck Sergeant G. Point man Guy C. was leading the patrol. New guy, David A., had been assigned to Guy C.’s position soon after he arrived the previous afternoon. When he arrived, his brand-new jungle fatigues were already bloody from riding to X-Ray on a blood-soaked Chinook. It had been evacuating the wounded. Before loading aboard, at Lai Khê, David A. had watched in horror as many of the Chinook’s walking wounded had helped others stumble down the off-ramp. When David A. arrived at LZ X-Ray to join his unit for the first time, my unit was already there. He was assigned to Guy C.’s squad. He arrived too late to take part in the big battle, so he and Guy C. immediately started digging in and talking nonstop. With only their entrenching tools, they dug their DePuy bunker, which took almost the entire night to complete.

      Now, as the tired David A. began his first full day in the field, I am sure he had no idea that he was about to earn his Combat Infantry Badge so soon. Here is how that happened. Since Westmoreland was nearby and walking the perimeter, someone sent David A. and members of his squad to investigate one of those treacherous oxcart trails. That’s when trouble found him. His fire team had walked only a little way down the trail when they surprised some sappers assigned by Triet to keep an eye on the American forces. When the firefight ended, David A. had earned his CIB and lost his newfound buddy, Guy C. This event occurred entirely within David A.’s first twenty-four hours in the field, while my squad was on patrol. I thank God that we had a commander who unilaterally took the initiative to enforce an order for us to stay off trails. Again, we crossed trails, walked beside them, and ambushed them, but we never walked on them. I was now leading my squad alongside a well-traveled oxcart trail, which skirted the bamboo ticket to my left. The twenty-five meters of jungle foliage between us and the trail, however, concealed our movement, and the wet jungle deadened the sounds we made. No one traveling that trail would have known that we were there. Another reason why we went undetected was that we slithered through the jungle instead of chopping our way through it.

      I am sure my patrol was still close enough to hear the sounds of David A.’s first firefight at the NDP. However, random shooting was common. If we heard shooting coming from that firefight, we would not necessarily have associated it with being an actual firefight. It could have been practice-firing. Furthermore, while on patrol for noise-abatement reasons, no news of a small firefight would have been transmitted to our ears by radio. Generally speaking, “command” rarely contacted us unless we called them first. So, I continued to lead my little band further and further into the virgin jungle, skirting the thicker stuff to my front, by going left this time and right the next time. This technique effectively canceled out navigation errors. Staff Sergeant B. walked along silently about ten meters behind me.

      About halfway to the first checkpoint, somewhere deep in the jungle to my front, I heard what I now believe was the shrill shriek of a blue pitta. It could be heard above a chorus of other jungle birds. There were also bands of gray langur monkeys hiding high in the treetops, being completely quiet as we passed by. I didn’t spend a lot of time looking up. I knew that most threats would come from stumbling upon a patrol or a base camp, rather than from tree snipers looking to ambush a small patrol like ours. So, that’s where I trained my gaze. We were passing through rather thick secondary undergrowth. It would have been tough for a tree sniper to look down and see me as we passed by. Besides, why would snipers try to ambush us in the vast expanse of empty jungle, given the low probability of us traveling that way in the first place? The answer to that question is, “They wouldn’t.” I used my peripheral vision to check for movement around me continually, and at the same time, I kept my gaze fixed on the front. There were always possible spots on the ground where threats could be looming. When I walked point, I had to switch my focus from spot to spot, always to my front. I just did what I had done in the George Washington National Forest of Virginia so many times before. Hour after boring hour, I would give my full attention to spotting “out of place” details or movements. I was hunting. I had also recently picked up a little trick from Walker, which helped a lot. Like him, I started draping a green towel around my neck to periodically wipe the sweat and rain from my eyes so I could see more clearly.

      I quietly announced our arrival at the first checkpoint. With little ado, Sergeant B. nodded. I then shot a new compass bearing. It was on an azimuth, which would take us almost due north. I don’t remember whether Sergeant B. allowed the men to pause for a smoke. More than likely, he did. The rain had now stopped completely as we started the second leg of our journey. It would be almost a mile to our next checkpoint. It was an easy walk. The route took us up a gentle incline, where the undergrowth thinned slightly. The thinner undergrowth allowed me to travel in a much straighter line toward our second checkpoint. I could sight in my compass on objects that were much farther away. This longer distance saved time since I did not have to stop and reshoot bearings as often. The sky cleared, and the sun above us was brilliant. Shards of almost liquid sunlight pierced the canopies of giant jungle trees. These brilliant columns of light streaming from above to the jungle flooring below created the sensation that I had just entered the interior of some grand cathedral. If not for the present circumstances, I am sure that this little spot of earth could have fooled even an angel of God into thinking that he was walking through the Garden of Eden. Thirty meters to my front, a mongoose hopped from spot to spot. While watching the mongoose, the same peaceful feeling came over me that I had experienced months ago, as I sat along the riverbank. I know now that it was the peace associated with the rising of the Holy Spirit in my soul. He knew something that we didn’t know. He knew if we were left to our own devices, we wouldn’t live long enough to reach our second checkpoint. And He had known this since before the beginning of time.