Camp Holloway Discussion Forum Archive 01 - 11/11/00 to 05/06/01

The rest of the story...

So, we had just got blown out of an LZ and as you could imagine, we were in a surly mood. We were circling out of firing range while Lt. Shelton and Red were arguing about Red sticking around in his wounded Duck. An Air Force spotter shows up, then a flight of A1E Skyraiders. These guys are beautiful. They are going into practically a vertical dive and dropping 500 pounders right in "chucks" back pocket. But, the NVA has really dug in and their firepower takes out one of the A1E's. He never pulls out. We are in deep shit. If they can shoot down the A1E's, what are we doing here? Blue wins the argument with Red since he is the flight leader. So we head for an emergency strip just on the other side of the border. Red gets his ship down alright and we are standing around looking at the mess, when Blue gets a call from the Green Beret Colonel at Dak Pek. I thought this is bad. I've heard Blue rip some Majors and Colonels before. This is not going to be pretty. Blue says it's stupid to go back in there and get shot down and put more guys in the barrel over there, but the Colonel is smart. He dosen't yell at Blue. He tells Blue that those are his boys over there and he would consider it a personal favor if we would give it one more try. What a bow shot!! Blue is putty in his hands. We all figured that those guys would either be KIA's or POW's by morning. So Blue tells the Colonel that he will personally make one try with an all volunteer crew. If he gets shot down, then that's it - no more tonight! I'm thinking, "right!" the whole crew is going to beg off. Not likly! This is the 119th! So I'm putting on my "chicken plate" and thinking , this is my last day in this life. What the hell - I love these guys. I turn around and there are 3 guys lined up begging me to let them take my place because I'm too short. That's why I love these guys! John Dick was the first one in line. I can't remember the other 2. So the whole crew stays intact and we kick the tires, light em up and head back into Laos. It's getting dark fast. When we get there it's pitch black, so we get the 409 in between two lines of Crocs and we head into the LZ. The Crocs have their navigation lights on and we shut ours off. It's a sneak attack!! As we drop in the shit hits the fan once more. I think Animal is at my 4 o'clock coming in real tight, putting shit right outside my door. I'm thinking, lighten up guys, I've got enough problems with the bad guys!! Blue bellies up and yells for me to guide him down because he can't see a thing. Great!! Blue thinks I can see in the dark because I'm an expert shot or whatever. So I says bring on down, I'm a little busy, besides I can't see shit either. So we come down slowly and CRUNCH!! What the hell is that?! I strain my eyes and yell we just impailed ourselves on a blown off tree stump. We are hovering about 6 foot off the ground and we are blind. Blue says I'm turning on the light, see what you can see! I'm a little busy but go for it. Now, get the picture?? We sneak into the LZ and now we are going to light ourselves up like a big lollipop on a stick!! On comes the light, I look down and I can't believe my eyes - there they are directly below us hugging the gound with their arms over their heads believing that they are going to die any moment. Sorry guys, but I got work to do. To be continued.

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