Body Count: A Special Forces thriller set in the Vietnam War (The Scorpion Squad Military Thrillers Book 1) by Eric Helm

Author:Eric Helm [Helm, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2020-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

SPECIAL FORCES CAMP A-555

The rest of the morning passed pretty much uneventfully. Instead of the expected Caribou, the routine supply helicopter arrived about ten A M. with more barbed wire, ammunition, and two light machine guns, which proved that Gerber had been at least partially successful in getting the additional supplies. Sully Smith was noticeably disappointed by the absence of soap flakes but seemed consoled by the discovery of three cases of Bouncing Betty mines at the bottom of the stack of ammunition crates.

Around eleven, Lieutenant Minh led a fifteen-man daylight patrol out about five kilometers, advised by Sergeant Bocker. They made a broad semicircular sweep about the west half of the camp, more or less following the river and looking for signs of enemy activity but found nothing except a large number of blood trails going off through the jungle toward the Cambodian border.

In the camp, the men continued to strengthen the bunkers and walls, to set out the new wire to form a third perimeter and patch up the holes in the original two, to set out more punji stakes along the earthen walls and in the moat in front of the walls, and to repair and refit such weapons as could be repaired. Everyone was bone-tired.

Around noon, the Army C-7 Caribou transport finally arrived. It brought in over two tons of ammunition, four more .30-caliber machine guns, six BARs, two 60mm mortars, two 81mm mortars, two .50-caliber machine guns, and a collection of spare parts, extra barrels, and six cases of claymore mines. It also brought Captain Gerber.

A tired looking First Lieutenant Bromhead met him as the plane landed. As they talked, an RF work detail under the supervision of Sergeant Clarke and Sergeant Phuoc unloaded the aircraft and got the supplies safely stored in bunkers.

“Colonel Bates told me you guys took a pasting last night, and from the looks of it, he wasn’t kidding,” said Gerber. “I didn’t find out until this morning. I was out getting drunk and enjoying the company of a young lady, Sorry I missed the party out here.”

“Me too, sir.”

“How bad was it? Really?”

“Bad sir.”

“Okay. You better brief me right away. I’ve been ducking Crinshaw all morning. He’s going to be calling pretty soon, and I’d better have some answers for him when he does.”

“He already called. Twice.”

“Oh, shit. What’d you tell him.”

“I didn’t. Seems we’re having trouble receiving Saigon this morning. I believe Sergeant Lim has been indisposed with Captain Trang all morning. Sergeant Bocker is conveniently out on patrol, and the rest of us dumb peons just don’t understand the intricacies of ionospheric telecommunications.”

“Bullshit.”

“Yes sir. Exactly sir.”

“What about Luong?”

“We lost Luong last night.”

“Too bad about that. He was a good man.”

“Yes sir. A few of them are damned good, sir. Washington’s minding the radio.”

“How about Cavanaugh?” asked Gerber, suddenly realizing the lieutenant had avoided mentioning the junior commo specialist.

“He was out in LP-1 with Luong and some RFs. Up near the bridge.” Bromhead sighed. “They had a pretty tough time of it, sir.

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