Praying for Slack: A Marine Corps Tank Commander in Viet Nam by Robert E. Peavey

Author:Robert E. Peavey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2009-05-02T10:30:00+00:00

WE WAITED UNTIL AFTER SUNDOWN before we took up a position on the battalion's line. There wasn't any need to make it any easier for Mr. Charles to plan an attack. That procedure, which we had initiated early in the operation, kept the N VA from seeing exactly where the tanks were located. As it got pitch dark we cranked up the tanks and guided them to positions around the perimeter.

Our tank was located on the western side of the position, with the railroad berm behind us and the river off to our right about a hundred meters away. These two geographical boundaries gave our battalion a strong tactical advantage because it allowed us to concentrate our tanks along the two sides of the perimeter most vulnerable to attack. But our very strong position left us no room to maneuver. If the NVA overran us, we had no place to fall back to. It was a last-stand position. If we couldn't hold, it meant a "Go tell the Spartans" ending. We had to stop them at the perimeter or die trying, as the Greeks had done at Thermopylae.

The last helicopters that passed overhead had made sightings and passed the information on to our infantry CO. They could all see we were surrounded. We were long overdue for an attack, and now Charlie had us right where he wanted us. This was certainly the night we were going to be hit. Embesi explained that, in the face of such an imminent attack, the CO had decided not to send out any listening posts. He wanted every man on the perimeter.

It was highly unusual not to have any LPs, patrols, or ambush teams outside the perimeter at night. LPs, composed of one or two men, provided an early-warning system for the battalion. Their unenviable job was to sneak out about two hundred feet beyond the perimeter and warn the parent unit, via radio, of anything they saw or heard. Their chance of survival was based solely upon their ability to stay awake and, above all, to keep quiet. They had to hope that an attacking force didn't stumble upon them during the night. They had to position themselves so that they were not in a direct line of fire from the battalion at their rear. Tonight, however, the battalion CO decided not to risk sending anyone out. We were going to get hit hard, and the CO didn't want to risk any more men.

Embesi and I had the first watch. The grunts loaned us a starlight scope, the first such device I had ever seen. The scope, which was a handheld device, looked like a very large riflescope with a single eyepiece. By amplifying ambient light, it provided the user a ghostly green image of whatever it was pointed at, even on the darkest nights. They were very rare, only a few people had them, but the grunts were happy to lend us theirs because our height above the ground increased its effectiveness.

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