Search and Destroy by Dean Hughes

Author:Dean Hughes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

CHAPTER 8

DURING THE NEXT THREE DAYS Rick asked himself over and over whether he could stand to go back to the jungle. At least a dozen times he decided he’d have to ask for a transfer out of Charlie Company, but the thing was, going back to the 173rd didn’t sound any better, and he didn’t have the option of asking for a desk job or a return to the States. It was easier to let inertia carry him into another patrol than to make a decision to leave. As it turned out, the next mission was frightening but uneventful, and he got through it all right. After that, it was easier to keep going than to leave these guys he was getting acquainted with. And even though he hated to admit it, he found himself depending on Kent.

Three months dragged by. Rick had arrived at the beginning of the hot, dry season, in February, when the heat had been terrible, but April and May were worse. It was close to the end of May now and Rick had 268 days to go, but the number could have been a thousand, the way it sounded in his brain. At least he could feel good about his developing skills as a “Lurp.” The pattern had stayed pretty much the same. The men on his team would insert into the jungle, stay three or four days—unless they made contact—and then return to camp for about four days. Since the disastrous mission when Sparks had been killed, not all that much had happened. A couple of ambushes had produced a total body count of five NVA for the two-four team, but most of the insertions had led to nothing but exhausting hikes up and down mountains, with no success. Everyone was getting uptight about that. Prestige in the company came to those who got kills. Whiley and J. D. were itching for action, and Zeller seemed frustrated by the cold Areas of Operation the team had been pulling. Another man had been transferred to the two-four—an experienced guy named Roger Haws, better known as “Bulldog.” He carried a collection of ears he had cut off NVA kills. The day he arrived, he’d shown them to Rick with an eerie delight in his pale eyes, and said, “I only got seven. I need a few more to make a good necklace.” Rick had laughed and told Bulldog he was impressed, but he didn’t touch the ears, and he didn’t have much to do with the guy after that.

Rick hated humping the hills. Sometimes he wanted to make contact or spring an ambush just to get extracted sooner. But when his team got its kills, he didn’t like to look at the Vietnamese who lay dead in the kill zones. He’d tell himself he was only doing what he had to do; he wasn’t the one who had thought up this war. But he didn’t feel the way the other men did. When a team

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.