by Matt Jackson
“Crescent Six, understood. Out.” So Battalion is piling on forces here. Other elements will probably be another rifle company. Wonder how big this is going to get? Captain Stubbs pondered. In the distance, the sound of aircraft could be heard, but not in his immediate direction, and they weren’t helicopters.
Simultaneously, an explosion impacted the center of the LZ. Captain Stubbs turned to his FSO, who immediately explained, “That’s not the artillery, that’s mortars. Theirs, not ours.”
Captain Stubbs scanned the ridge lines for telltale smoke from the enemy mortar position. “Crescent Six, Dog Breath Six. Enemy mortars on the western ridge line. Do you have it in sight?”
“Dog Breath, affirmative. Putting fast movers on it.” As the battalion commander explained his intent, another mortar round hit the LZ. Well, I wish you would be damn quick about getting them on it, Captain Stubbs thought.
Tugging on his shirt, the FSO said, “We have two fast movers inbound with napalm. Where do you want it?”
“On the damn mortar position on the west ridge line.” He pointed. “Tell the FAC to hit it and quick,” Captain Stubbs directed.
Above the ground fight was an OV-10 US Air Force Bronco aircraft. That aircraft was the go-between for the ground commander and the Air Force jets supporting the fight. The FAC, or forward air controller, was talking to the FSO and received the coordinates where the mortar was suspected. With that information, the FAC had little difficulty in spotting the mortar firing position. Rolling on to his back, the pilot looked up to see the ground. He entered a steep dive, maintaining visual contact with the enemy mortar. At one thousand feet, he fired a 2.75-inch air-to-ground rocket at the target, but the rocket was only a smoke round to show the fast-moving jets where the target was for them to drop their ordnance. The Bronco executed a snap roll and pulled out of his dive, climbing back to altitude. A minute later, the west ridge erupted in flames as two F4F aircraft made a low pass and dropped four napalm bombs. The mortar position wasn’t heard from again. Captain Stubbs’s two platoons in the LZ were still pinned down from fire in the bunkers, but at least the mortar was no longer a threat, and help was on the way.
Chapter 14
Pile On
“White One, Crescent Six, over.” The infantry battalion commander contacted Flight Leader as he lifted off with the second lift.
“Crescent Six, White One, go ahead.”
“White One, primary LZ is not, repeat, not secure. Move to alternate LZ, one klick to the east. Friendlies have secured it to some extent. Contact Doberman Six-One on three eight nine five Fox Mike and he’ll pop smoke. How copy?”
“Crescent Six, understand second lift to alternate LZ, contact Doberman Six-One for smoke.”
“White One, good copy. We’re going to put a third lift in and are requesting you to stay on mission.”
“Roger, Crescent Six, that will have to be approved through Lightning Bolt Six.”
“Request has been sent to higher. How soon can you execute?”
“Crescent Six, we have to refuel and rearm at Song Be for the next mission. One hour minimum. Over.”
“Understood, White One. Crescent Six out.”
Switching radios, the commander said, “Flight, this is White One. Primary LZ is not secure. Alternate LZ is one klick to the east and supposedly secured. Friendlies will pop smoke. No fire unless engaged.”
The flight continued heading for the valley, which was easily marked now by the fires on the west ridge as well as tracers crisscrossing the primary LZ. As White One turned to make his final approach, he called, “Doberman Six-One, White One, pop smoke.”
“White One, smoke out.” At first, nothing was seen. Then at the south end of the clearing, which was large enough to land the entire flight, green smoke could been seen starting to spread.
“Doberman Six-One, I have green smoke,” White One indicated.
“Affirmative, White One. Be advised we have secured the southern end of the LZ and part of the eastern side.”
“Doberman Six-One, understand only the southern end and part of the eastern side.” There was some apprehension in White One’s voice as he was at three hundred feet and beginning to decelerate as he crossed over the southern end tree line.
“Affirmative, White One, we have no one on the west side or north side.” Too late, as the tree line on the northwest side opened with automatic weapons just as White One touched down with additional elements, to include the company mortars and part of another infantry company. Aircraft started reporting hits.
“Lobo, northwest side, automatic weapons,” White One called to the gunships.
Immediately Lobo Six nosed over and entered a dive with the second aircraft right behind him. Door gunners and crew chiefs that had held their fire on the insertion to the alternate LZ returned fire on identified enemy positions. As each aircraft unloaded without touching the ground, since the grunts were anxious to get off, they immediately started pulling pitch to get out of the LZ. Standard operating procedures dictated that if an aircraft was shot down in the LZ, the crew scampered to the aircraft behind them to get out or joined the infantry in the fight.
White One called Crescent Six.
“White One, Crescent Six, go ahead.”
“Crescent Six, White One, lift complete. We are en route to Song Be for refueling and rearming. Have you heard back from Lightning Bolt Six? Over.”
“White One, that is negative. Understand you are en route to Song Be.”
“Affirmative, Crescent Six. Will stand by in case you get approval. White One out.”
White One and the flight proceeded to Song Be for refueling and rearming. The decision for them to conduct another lift for Crescent Six was above their pay grade as several of the aircraft had additional missions already scheduled for other units. In truth, no one was looking forward to going back into that valley.
As the aircraft were landing at the refuel point in Song Be, Lightning Bolt Six landed. Without leaving his aircraft, he could see that almost every aircraft had small-arms holes in the body. None, however, were leaking fuel and all appeared to be in flyable condition.
“White One, Lightning Bolt Six, over.” Everyone was monitoring the radios, and silent groans were raised.
“Lightning Bolt Six, White One.” To the Chicken-man crews, it sounded like White One was gasping for air, his nose was so far up Lightning Bolt Six’s ass.
“White One, I need three aircraft to support Crescent Six with immediate resupply. Who’ve you got?” Chicken-man crews already knew what was coming. Without asking for the damage assessment from each aircraft, White One made his decision.
“Lightning Bolt Six, I have three Chicken-man aircraft that I can chop to Crescent Six.”
“Roger, have them contact Crescent Six on four one five zero Fox Mike.”
“Roger.” Switching frequencies over to VHF, White One called the Chicken-man aircraft.
“Yellow One, Yellow Two, Yellow Three.”
“Son of a bitch, that mother…” Mike George mumbled under his breath. Each of the Chicken-man aircraft responded in order.
“Yellow aircraft, you are to contact Crescent Six on four one five zero Fox Mike for additional mission. White One out.” He didn’t even wait for acknowledgment of the message or ask for a damage assessment.
Chapter 15
Get It In
“Yellow Two, Yellow Three, come up company push,” Mike George told the other two. Company push was the company UHF frequency for communications between aircraft. Once everyone was up, he asked, “Okay, guys, what’s the status of your aircraft?” Although not a unit flight leader, Mike had taken charge of this gaggle as he was the most experienced pilot.
“Mike, I have a few holes but all is good. Need fuel and ammo.” It was Fender.
“I’m about the same,” said Sinkey.
“Okay, here’s what I propose. I’ll take flight lead as Yellow One. Fender, you’re Yellow Two, and, Sinkey, you take Yellow Three.
Crescent Six doesn’t need all of us talking to him. He’ll probably hand us off to a couple of companies, but stay on company push and keep each other informed. I don’t think we’ll see any Lobo aircraft with us. Let’s just play it by ear. As soon as you’re fueled up and ready, let me know. Any questions?” Mike asked.
No questions were raised, and each aircraft proceeded into the refuel/rearm point once the Masher aircraft departed. Individually, Chicken-man crews liked and got along with Masher crews, but the Chicken-man crews couldn’t stand the Masher company commander. Truth be told, not many people could.
Mike’s crew chief and gunner were hot-refueling the aircraft, which was normal procedure during an ongoing operation, as opposed to shutting down the engine.
“Hey, Mr. George, you want a cold soda?” asked Mike’s door gunner, Specialist Smith. “How about you, Mr. Reid?”
“Yeah, I’ll take one. Where did you have those stashed?” Mr. Reid asked.
“I have a marmite can under my seat,” Smith responded as he handed up two very cold sodas that were most welcome.
“Well, let me give you some money tonight to get some more for tomorrow,” Mike said.
“That’s okay, Mr. George, because I bet this is the first time Mr. Reid has been under fire and he gets to buy the beer tonight. Am I wrong, Mr. Reid?” Smith asked. The look on Reid’s face said he was not. “I didn’t think I was,” Smith said with a big smile.
“Now wait one. I flew a psyops mission the other day and we thought we took fire, so there,” Reid said, very satisfied with himself.
“Thinking you take fire and taking fire are two very different things. You’re buying,” Mike said.
“Who’s buying beer tonight?” asked Mike’s crew chief, Specialist Kelly.
“Mr. Reid is treating us tonight, right, sir?”
“Oh, thanks, sir,” Kelly chimed in.
As crew chiefs completed refueling their respective aircraft, Yellow Two reported, “Yellow One, we’re up.”
“Yellow Three is up as well.”
“Roger. Two, get us Arty clearance to Bu Gia Map.” He turned to his crew. “Okay, guys, hop in if you’re done and let’s get going.” A minute later, Mike started down the runway. “Yellow One is on the go,” he indicated, climbing out towards Bu Gia Map.
Shortly afterwards, he heard, “Yellow One, Yellow Two, you are clear to Bu Gia Map.” Mike acknowledged and began tuning his number one FM radio to Crescent Six’s frequency. Leading his flight towards Bu Gia Map, Mike could see a flight of F-4 Phantom jets heading towards the valley he had left earlier. A fight was still in progress. This is not good, Mike thought.
“Crescent Six, Yellow One, over,” Mike called over the radio.
“Yellow One, Crescent Six.”
“Crescent Six, Yellow One is a flight of three en route to your location. Over.”
After a pause, Crescent Six replied, “Yellow One, did you say a flight of three?” Mike could hear some anger in his voice.
“Roger, Crescent Six, Yellow One is a flight of three. Over.”
“Yellow One, where the hell is the rest of your flight?”
“Crescent Six, this is all of my flight. White One was sent on another mission. I was part of his flight and was told to bring three aircraft to your location, over.”
“Dammit, Yellow One, I need more than three aircraft.” Mike could tell that Crescent Six was pissed.
“Crescent Six, I don’t know what to tell you. I only do what I’m told. Now what have you got for us? Over.”
“Yellow One, wait one,” Crescent Six replied, annoyance in his voice. After a few minutes, Crescent Six came back. “Yellow One, here’s the situation. I have one rifle company in the first LZ and a company minus a platoon in a second LZ about a klick to their east. I need to get another platoon into the second LZ. Both elements also need a resupply of ammo and water. Both LZs are not secure, repeat, not secure. Over.”
“Roger, Crescent Six. What is the priority, over?” Mike asked.
After a pause, Crescent Six indicated, “Yellow One, the priority is getting the water and ammo in, over.”
“Roger, Crescent Six. May I recommend one aircraft resupply the rifle company minus a platoon with ammo and water and two aircraft resupply the other? We’re coming up on Bu Gia Map now and can pick up the resupply now. Over.” Again Crescent Six was delayed in responding to Mike. Mike switched to the company push.
“Flight, this is One. When we land, roll them back and prepare to take on ammo and water. They’re not ready for us at the LZs. When we go, Yellow Two, you follow me, and, Yellow Three, you break off on final and go into the western LZ which is the first LZ we went into. These are hot LZs, so you may be just making a fast pass over and kicking out. How copy?”
“Two is with you.”
“Three copies.”
With that, Mike set up for a long approach into Bu Gi Map. As he made his final approach, he saw that the artillery batteries were still firing. A CH-47 was sling-loading a load of artillery ammunition into the firebase. From the level of activity, Mike could tell that things were moving at a furious pace. As his flight of three approached, a yellow smoke grenade went off, getting his attention. Next to the smoke was a pile of small-arms ammunition, mortar rounds in boxes and water cans. A ground guide was waving for the flight to land at his location, which they did, rolling back the engines to idle position, thus saving fuel. The ground guide came over to Mike and opened his door.
“Sir, I was told you were coming. We have three loads to get in ASAP.” The kid was dirty and sweating, his face caked with mud, the result of clay dust and perspiration mixing together.
“Okay, load the mortar rounds onto this aircraft, and split the water and small arms between the three of us.” With that, the kid and two others started humping the supplies to the aircraft.
“Hey, Mr. George, Kelly and I are going to help the grunts get this load aboard, okay?” Smith told Mike rather than asked.
“Yeah, go ahead,” Mike responded. He could see the same happening in the other two aircraft. Crew chiefs and gunners un-assed the aircraft and pitched in to load the aircraft quicker.
“How much do you want to load, Mr. George?” asked Kelly.
“Everything they have. Leave nothing behind,” Mike answered. Mr. Reid was watching the loading as it began to stack up in the aircraft.
“Mike, that’s a fair-size load. Are we going to be able to get off the ground?”
“We may have to make a running takeoff, but we’ll be considerably lighter when we get to the LZ. We really don’t want to have to go back in there a second time if we pull this trip off. Let’s get as much as we can,” Mike said.
Finally, Kelly gave Mike an up.
“Flight, this is One. Look, we may have to do a running takeoff. Use the runway to build up your speed until you hit translational lift, and then we’ll join up together. Wait until I’m off before you start your takeoff.”
“Roger” was the response from Yellow Two and Yellow Three.
Mike switched to internal intercom. “Okay, guys, here we go. I have the aircraft. We’ll slide along until we hit translational lift and then get in the air and wait for Two and Three. Any questions?”
“Do you want me to take a piss before we go? That’ll lighten us up some, Mr. George,” said Kelly.
“Only do any good if we all do,” said Mike as he pulled up on the collective. The aircraft started to come to a hover, only to settle back to the ground. The aircraft was overloaded. Mike allowed the engine to come back to full power and did it again, but this time eased the cyclic forward and pumped the pedals.
“Cory showed me how to do this, and it’s paid off over the last year,” Mike told Reid.
“He’s gone now, isn’t he?” Reid asked.
“Yeah, he went home a couple of months ago. Let me talk you through this. Pay attention, you’re doing the next one,” Mike said, emphasizing next one. “Okay, we want to be right at max power, whi
ch we know won’t get us off the ground to a hover, but it will get us light on the skids. Wiggle the tail, which will break any hold the ground has on the aircraft, and apply forward cyclic to get the aircraft sliding forward. This works best if you’re on grass, but dry dirt is okay, just dusty. Once the aircraft gets so much speed, it’s going to come off the ground but will settle back down. Just keep it moving forward and building airspeed. Eventually, if you don’t run out of runway, translational lift will kick in and you’ll start flying,” Mike explained.
The aircraft was still on the ground but moving forward slowly at first. He held his power steady, and the aircraft picked up speed, sliding along the dirt runway. The aircraft started to lift off the ground, only to lose some engine power and settle back on the runway but with increasing speed. Each time the aircraft settled back onto the runway, engine power returned to full power. Again the aircraft tried to fly but settled back on the ground with increased speed. On the third attempt, the aircraft hit translational lift and started to fly, increasing its speed and slowly climbing to altitude. Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Mike circled around Bu Gia Map, watching the next two aircraft imitate his takeoff. As each aircraft became airborne, it slowly joined up with Mike until all three were in formation together.
“Crescent Six, Yellow One, off Bu Gia Map with a flight of three resupply inbound to your location, over.”
“Yellow One, contact Dog Breath Six on three nine five Fox Mike for the one-ship insertion and Doberman Six-One on three eight nine five Fox Mike for the two-ship insertion.”
“Roger, Crescent Six, QSY at this time,” Mike said, indicating he would be switching frequencies, and he switched to company push, which was on the UHF radio.
“Yellow Three, contact Dog Breath Six-One on three nine five for smoke and situation update.”
“Roger, One, three nine five.”
Switching to thirty eight nine five on his FM radio, Mike listened for Doberman Six-One but heard nothing. Finally Mike made the call. “Doberman Six-One, Yellow One, over.”
