"At 12 kliks away and with this heat, I want to be sure we take our time and get there in good shape," Lieutenant Corso briefed his squad leaders as Sergeant Bennett calculated silently that it would take at least two full days to travel 12 kilometers. His squad wasn't going to like this. "There shouldn't be too many snipers, but they suspect some, though, because some helicopters going into Danang took some fire there last week. That means we better be ready with whatever they throw at us, but I'm sure this platoon can handle it. That's why I told the Colonel we'd take on the mission. Have your men here at six in the morning."
Sgt. Bennett started walking back to his squad's area knowing what they would have to say. It was getting harder and harder to keep up morale among the men. It used to be only the ones with less than 30 days to go developed a bad attitude, but now almost everyone was down on being in Vietnam from the day they arrived. They said it was getting worse as the war dragged on, and by 1971 American troops had been here six years without much accomplished. He looked at the setting sun and thought about how his friends and family would be looking at the very same sun in a few hours when it rose in Flagstaff. As he passed "D" Company's area, there were several soldiers gathered around a pair of men arm wrestling on the ground, yelling and goading them on. A few beds down there was card game going on.
When he got to his platoon's tent, he saw the men in his squad gathered around Seebach's bed, no doubt speculating on what was coming up. He passed on all the information he had been given. "So the Lieutenant volunteered us," Seebach was the first to speak. "Sporting of him."
"Trying to get himself some brownie points apparently," said Corporal Art Clark.
"But we're the ones that have to get out there and get our asses shot off so he can get his promotion quicker," said Melinowicz.
"And so what if there's some NVA gooks in that village?" asked Seebach, a corporal. "It's not going to make any difference. Leave them alone and they'll leave us alone. If they come and try anything, then we'll blow them away."
"Yeah, that whole Quang Tri area doesn't count for anything anyway," Clark said. "There's hardly anybody left there. Those people got put in camps a long time ago."
"The thing is we can't let them rebuild the area and use it as a base of operations," Bennett pointed out calmly.
"We've got to stop them now."
"We ought to just go hide out in the bush like we've done before," said Voinovich.
"We can't," said Benavides. "This time the whole platoon is going, not just the squad."
On previous occasions when the squad had been sent on patrol, they had simply stayed in a safe place away from any possible action and had radioed back to the base camp giving false reports on the ground they had covered and the enemy they had killed. Bennett was well-liked by his men because he went along with it, even at the risk of serious disciplinary action. Other squads were known to do the same thing. They would just go out and relax and maybe smoke some marijuana.
"Somebody just needs to quietly slip a grenade under that dumb Louie's tent tonight and we won't have to worry about anything," Charlie Estes said. "Just like happened to that lieutenant in Bravo Company last April."
"Yeah, it looks like it's going to have to be either him or us," said Clark. "He's just been too gung ho, volunteering us for risky details. Me and Seebach here are too short to be doing this. He's leaving August 16 and me just five days later. This is nuts, man."
The next morning it was no time before the heat and humidity caused a steady perspiration and discomfort. Seebach came up to Bennett, "I've talked to some of the guys and they definitely don't want to go on this bullshit mission. They're ready to go over the hill. What do you say. You want to come with us?"
"You're not for real, are you?" asked Bennett.
"Damn straight. Why go through this? Humping in the bush, bad rations everyday, maybe get your ass shot off, mud, mosquitoes. I tell you if we come back in one piece from this little trip, they'll come up with some other brainy idea for us."
"Yeah, but you know you'll get caught eventually."
"Not necessarily. I've heard of guys who've taken off and never been heard of again. They probably went off, found them a nice little mama, and started their life over again."
"I don't know. Sounds pretty crazy to me."
One hour later the platoon stopped for a break. The heat was already taking its toll on them. Seebach, Clark, and Benavides sat with Bennett along with Melinowicz who shared a Park Lane cigarette he had bought in Danang on his way back from R&R in Thailand. Bennett wondered how Clark was doing. It was rumored that Clark had become hooked on heroine although it was never discussed openly. It didn't seem to Bennett that Clark was addicted, but it was clear that he had been using the stuff.
"Come on, Sarge," Clark said. "You're coming with us, ain't you. We'll make it. We'll just go on back to the States. It may take us a little longer but we'll make it." Bennett just stared at the ground.
"You know you've always been good to us," said Melinowicz. "Looked out for us; never made us do anything stupid."
"You won't squeal on us if you don't go with us, will you?" asked Benavides.
"They'll be on my case right away. I'm responsible," Bennett answered. "It'll also leave us with that many fewer men in case of a firefight."
"We'll be having to make a decision pretty soon on what we're going to do. We don't want to wait 'til we're there," Seebach said.
As they started walking again, Bennett thought about it. He knew that what he said and did would have a great influence on the men who wanted to desert. He was sympathetic to their desire to want to exit from the war and in fact was seriously tempted to go with them, but he was also aware of all the pitfalls and problems that could come up. Of course, even if they were caught and had to spend time in Ft. Leavenworth at least they would be sure to be alive. Then again he wanted to take seriously the oath he had taken to defend his country and uphold its honor. He cringed at the thought of betraying his duty to carry on a job his country needed done. Of course as a draftee, it wasn't like he had been given a choice.
At the same time he had always taken pride in being supportive of his men. One time for instance, when Private Kellner had contracted a bad case of jungle rot, the captain had not thought it serious enough and had denied him permission to go back to the dispensary in Danang. Sgt. Bennett had gone to the captain and told him that Kellner was a good soldier, was not malingering, and that he thought he was genuinely ill. With that the captain let Kellner go to Danang. Clark and Seebach were less than twenty days away from their date of departure while he and Melinowicz had less than six weeks. It would be a shame for any of them to go back home dead now. Near noontime the platoon ran into thick jungle they had to cut their way through. They could have gone through a more accessible route, but the Lieutenant didn't want them to be detected. The sweat made a permanent respite on their pores, which made their progess the more excruciating. In an hour they were relieved when they finally came to a valley.
They then saw two Vietnamese walking through the valley and quickly hid in the bushes to spy on them. The Vietnamese were too far away to be able to tell if they were young or old; couldn't even be sure they weren't women. Shots rang out from the left and the Vietnamese started running. Shouting came from the same place as the shots. It looked like someone from 2nd squad had jumped the gun. The Vietnamese continued straight across the valley to the right. The platoon waited a full fifteen minutes to see if there were any more Vietnamese coming and then proceeded to slowly cross the valley. They knew they would be open for the enemy to tear them apart with fire in the open ground. The Lieutenant was smart enough to have them move one squad at a time. Even after getting across safely, they had to worry about an ambush just as they entered the edge of the jungle ahead. Eventually the entire platoon got across without incident. Apparently the Vietnamese had just been civilians traveling from one village to another. They hadn't been carrying rifles.
They continued on their trek the rest of the day and when they were only a kilometer away from the village they were going to, Seebach came up to Bennett, "We got to split off now. The guys are ready. You coming with us?" Bennett didn't say anything, just kept walking. He wished Seebach had simply gone on and never told him anything. He wouldn't know anything and wouldn't be required to tell on them. "Well, you coming?" Seebach asked again. "Let's go," Bennett finally replied and quickly stepped off with Seebach to the right. They were well enough away from the rest of the squad to not be heard. Being on the platoon's right flank, they would not have to worry about running into any other squad. The other three men were waiting about fifty feet away. They all double-timed it from there for about a half-mile to get away as fast as possible. The platoon wouldn't miss them for at least a half-hour when they got to the night's rest camp, but the deserters weren't taking any chances. They kept moving toward the coast until it was too dark to see.
They got to the coast late the next afternoon. They whooped and hollered and went into the water with all their clothes on. The breeze off the South China Sea cooled them off and let them sleep soundly. It was a desolate part of the coast. The next morning they headed southward along the coast counting on finding at least one village before coming to Danang. They figured they could buy a boat from a fisherman in a village. They walked along the beach relaxed and at times even sang songs together. They didn't worry about being seen by the enemy or about encountering Americans in the villages ahead.
At 8 they came to a small village. They walked by it without seeing any boats but finally came to an old man in a sailboat on the other side of the ville. It was hard to understand him but they finally were able to get his boat in exchange for the M-60 grenade launcher and two of the guys threw in their fairly new helmets in the bargain. They immediately got into the boat and happily headed westward.
. . . . . . . . .
Five men walked from the beach near Border Field State Park, California, a couple of miles from the Mexican border. They walked slowly, tired. They wore raggedy old army clothes like many homeless people who get the clothes from Army surplus stores. They walked along the highway indifferent to the cars passing by. After six hours they arrived in San Ysidro and walked slowly through the streets. People tried to stay away from them. They arrived at a McDonald's. It was July 18, 1984. The soldiers approached the entrance. Ahead of them a man with a rifle went in. He was oblivious to them. The man started shooting at people inside the restaurant. The five soldiers outside then fled as fast as they could. They couldn't believe what they saw. They decided they didn't want to come back home and went back to their travels. 21 people were dead at the restaurant when it was all over.
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