The Wrong Side of Honor

by Marshall Ginevan

  “I’ll waive the separation physical and I have a year to get a government plane ride back to the States.”

  “It’s still two fuck’en hours of work.”

  “Been to lunch yet?’

  “No.”

  “Go to lunch. I’ll be back at 3:00. Pick up my pay at 4:00.”

  As Ray turned and walked out the sergeant yelled at him, “You sorry motherfucker.”

  HEADQUARTERS BUILDING

  27 June 1975

  Colonel Henry Waldrop sat at his desk at 8:00 a.m. looking over the latest messages. One message was dated 10:30 the previous morning. He skimmed the message, then went back through and read it in detail. Tossing the message on the desk, he picked up the phone and called Mack Klevenger.

  “Just received a message on Ray Metson. We’re to put him on International Hold and send him over to Bangkok. They’re going to go General Court-Martial on a murder charge.”

  “He wasn’t at breakfast this morning, so I’ll have to go find him. You want me to coordinate this with Personnel?”

  “No, I’ll call them.”

  An hour later Colonel Waldrop, Mack Klevenger, and the personnel sergeant stomped into Carl Lavinder’s nearly empty office. Carl looked up from behind a stack of boxes.

  “Is this you’re sleaze-bag bullshit, Carl?” Colonel Waldrop yelled, sticking the message out in front of him.

  Carl stood up and read the message. “No, sir. This comes from the JAG Office at Clark.”

  “Don’t get cute,” he snapped. “I know where the fuck it’s from. Did you tell Metson to take his discharge yesterday?”

  “No, sir. I haven’t talked to him since last week. I didn’t know –-”

  “Go back to sleep. You’d be too stupid to think up something like that.”

  “What happened?” he asked, still looking confused.

  “Yesterday, this message came in to the Comm Center, but didn’t get delivered to my office until this morning. Yesterday afternoon Metson suddenly decided not to extend and took an in-country discharge. He became a civilian as of midnight.”

  “Sir,” the personnel sergeant said. “If we back date the International Hold, maybe we can void his discharge and –—”

  “NO! No, you can’t! That is illegal as shit!”

  “Shut up, Carl,” Colonel Waldrop said. “Explain this again, Sarge.”

  “Colonel,” Mack said, shaking his head no. “Don’t even think it. We’ve lost jurisdiction. It’s dead.”

  “Mack, this is embarrassing as hell. We should have had that hold on him yesterday.”

  “So, we fucked up and he’s gone. It’s dead.”

  Carl stood with his arms crossed across his chest shaking his head no.

  Colonel Waldrop turned and walked out cussing to himself.

  SECURITY POLICE BUILDING

  28 June 1975

  Colonel Suwit walked into Mack Klevenger’s office and sat on the couch. “Good afternoon, Captain,” he said.

  “Afternoon, sir. How are you today?”

  “Oh, I’ve had better days.”

  “Do we have a problem?” Mack asked, showing some concern.

  The colonel shrugged, and then asked, “What’s the closure status as of this morning?”

  Mack pulled up a notebook and started flipping through the pages. “Bomb dump is closed and all munitions personnel are gone. All the fuels are gone and those people are gone. I’m down to fifty security police and another twenty-five scattered throughout the rest of the base.”

  “Plus the officer strength.”

  “Plus the officers. Colonel Waldrop, Captain Wilson from transportation, myself, and Lieutenant Donevant.”

  “And the schedule for the pullout?”

  “Ten of the support troops go out this afternoon along with half of my cops. That will leave us with forty on-base overnight, plus the officers.”

  Colonel Suwit made note of that and nodded.

  “Tomorrow I send out ten more support troops, twenty cops, and Captain Wilson. Last night here we’ll have just eighteen military personnel on-base.”

  Colonel Suwit finished writing in his notebook, stuffed it in his shirt pocket, and rubbed his hand over his face.

  “That woman that Ray killed… well, the downtown police didn’t hear about it. I took care of the body. The problem that I hadn’t counted on was that she was the military commander in the Village.”

  “She was the commander in the Village!?”

  “Yes. Her people knew she was going to kill Ray and Eddie and that she wanted to do it on her own. They saw us take her out to the truck and drive off with her that night. Now they think she’s being held prisoner.”

  “Held prisoner? Where?”

  “Here. You’ve got a jail cell. I’m sure they’ve also figured out that you’re pulling out. I’m reasonably certain they’ll try to hit us either tonight or tomorrow night.”

  “Oh, shit! I don’t need an attack now. I’m out of people and we only have twenty-five M-16s and five .38 revolvers.”

  “What about ammo?”

  “Basic load for each. Ninety rounds per M-16 and just eighteen rounds per .38.”

  “Well, don’t sweat it. My people will be out in force until all of you are gone. Also, the Army over in Warin is on standby. As soon as they get word of the attack they are ready to move.”

  “Getting help from the Thai army in Warin makes me feel a lot better.”

  “No, they won’t be coming onto the base. They’ll be raiding the Village. I’ve left word in the Village that if they attack the base that their Village will be burned to the ground and they’ll all go to a prison camp.”

  “Damn, Colonel, you play rough.”

  “Yes, Captain. I play just like Ray Metson played. People here understand that form of justice. And another thing. Have your people keep their weapons with them. I want the armory open and empty from now on.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  THAI RESTAURANT

  29 June 1975

  Eddie walked into the Thai restaurant and sat down with Mack and Colonel Waldrop. Over half of the base population was eating breakfast there and there were several empty tables.

  “How did you sleep last night?” Mack asked.

  “I used to dream that I’d wake up and see that Vietnamese woman standing there with her automatic pistol pointed at my head. Now I dream that some Vietnamese without a face is standing there pointing an automatic pistol at my head,” Eddie said.

  “Yea, I have dreams like that, too,” Colonel Waldrop said.

  “You do?” Eddie asked.

  “Yea. And I wake up every morning and my legs are tired from all the running away I’ve been doing all night.”

  They all laughed.

  “It was a real quiet night,” Mack said. “I really don’t think we’re going to have much of a problem.”

  “We don’t have much to have a problem with here, Mack,” Eddie said, shaking his head.

  “Yea, no shit,” Colonel Waldrop added.

  Each of the base officers was now carrying a four inch .38 caliber revolver. It wasn’t for protection, but because they no longer had any place to store the weapons.

  A few minutes later Colonel Suwit walked in and joined them at their table.

  “Well, what’s the latest on our problem?” Colonel Waldrop asked.

  Colonel Suwit shrugged and said, “Nothing. Haven’t heard a thing.”

  “If you haven’t heard anything, then there must not be anything going down,” Eddie said.

  “Maybe not, but let’s keep our guard up anyway. Is that C-5 coming in today for the last of the equipment?”

  “Yes, sir,” Colonel Waldrop answered. “Equipment should be out by noon, most of the troops by 4:00.”

  “Good
. The less there is sitting on the ramp, the less reason they have for coming here.”

  “Sure hope you’re right,” Mack commented.

  The rest of the day was typically hot and very busy. Most of the remaining personnel were loading equipment and securing gear. The giant C-5A Galaxy landed just before noon and within twenty minutes most of the remaining base equipment was loaded. In just over thirty minutes on the ground, it was again rolling on the runway.

  The C-130 arrived at 4:00 p.m. and loaded most of the remaining personnel. By 4:30 it, too, was lifting off the runway for the last time.

  The base was now a ghost town as darkness settled over what had been a 24-hour a day fighter-bomber base with a population of over 5,000. The almost continuous roar of jet engines was now replaced with an eerie silence. The heavy stench of the downtown area covered a base that once smelled only of burnt jet fuel. And the once constant glow of base lights was now only a soft glow of wood fires reflecting off the clouds of smoke that drifted over the vacant parking ramps and revetments.

  Eddie strolled the darkened streets, walking past the empty darkened buildings. An attack on this place within hours of the last Americans leaving just doesn’t make sense, Eddie thought. But he reached back and felt the heavy revolver tucked in his belt. Of course, it doesn’t make sense. What better reason to do it.

  It was just after midnight when Eddie walked into the courtyard at Colonel Waldrop’s trailer. “Thought I heard voices,” he said.

  Colonel Waldrop and Captain Wilson were sitting on wooden stools drinking beer.

  “What’s the matter, Lieutenant? Can’t sleep?” Colonel Waldrop asked.

  “Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing,” Eddie answered laughing.

  Captain Wilson said, “Mack left a few minutes ago to check the perimeter. I guess he couldn’t sleep either.”

  The three sat talking for a few minutes. Eddie stood up to excuse himself when they heard a muffled explosion. Over on the perimeter, on the opposite side of the base, they saw a large orange glow.

  “What the hell is that?” Colonel Waldrop asked.

  “Barrel flare,” Captain Wilson answered. “If they tried to get through the fence line they may have set it off.”

  Eddie stood looking at it for several seconds. “That perimeter is guarded by Thai Air Force Security Police, isn’t it?”

  “Yea,” Colonel Waldrop answered.

  “If the bad guys were coming through we’d have heard some shooting by now. It’s probably the Thais playing with their new toys.”

  “Well, they better quit playing, ‘cause they ain’t gett’n any more of those kind of toys. Not from us, anyway,” Colonel Waldrop said as he sat back down on his stool.

  Eddie left and returned to his room for the night, but he got very little sleep. The silent night was long and dark, especially with the promise of a sneak attack by the Vietnamese Communists.

  THAI RESTAURANT

  30 June 1975

  7:00 A.M.

  The eighteen remaining American military personnel met for their final breakfast at Ubon. The tables were pushed together to form one large table. M-16 rifles were leaned on chairs and setting on empty tables. The faces around the table showed that few of them had gotten much sleep during the long night. But they were all in a good mood, joking and laughing.

  Colonel Suwit came in, accompanied by Ray Metson, to join the group for breakfast.

  “Colonel, what happened on the perimeter last night?” Eddie asked.

  Colonel Suwit laughed. “Mack wanted to show me how a barrel flare worked. Why? Did it scare you?”

  Mack received several cold stares from around the table.

  “No, sir. Not really. But Colonel Waldrop was lacing up his tennis shoes and Captain Wilson had his gun out yelling that he would never be taken prisoner.”

  “Hey, fuck you, Donevant,” Colonel Waldrop called out with a big grin. Everyone laughed. “But if I hadn’t been holding Wilson’s bullets we’d have probably had a casualty from that barrel flare.” The laughter continued.

  “We’d have had two casualties,” Wilson added. “With you tripping over your shoelaces trying to run out that gate.”

  “What’d Donevant do?” Ray asked.

  Colonel Waldrop eyed him with a grin. “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?” Mack asked.

  “No. He just stood there. But he sure smelled bad when he left.” There was another roar of laughter.

  After they had all eaten their breakfast and things had settled down, Colonel Waldrop and Colonel Suwit stood up.

  “We have a presentation to make this morning,” Colonel Waldrop announced. “Lieutenant Donevant, come to the head of the table and stand at attention.”

  Eddie looked a little embarrassed. He had been ordered to be in uniform, the same as the other officers, and he assumed it was because they were flying out in a military aircraft. He slowly walked to the front of the table and came to attention.

  “By order of General Bellford, which order we received only yesterday afternoon, First Lieutenant Eddie Wayne Donevant is hereby promoted to the rank of Captain in the United States Air Force. Congratulations Captain Donevant.”

  The surprise on Eddie’s face was genuine. He had really been expecting to face severe disciplinary action for his unauthorized trip into Cambodia.

  Colonel Suwit and Colonel Waldrop each removed a lieutenant bar from his collar and replaced it with the double bars of a captain.

  The guys at the table stood and cheered while several took pictures. Eddie felt that this was really a good day for him.

  A few speeches were made and then they all loaded up in several small pickup trucks with their luggage and drove around the runway to the terminal building. It was just coming up on 9:00 a.m. and the temperature was already hovering near 100 degrees.

  UBON TERMINAL BUILDING

  10:00 A.M.

  “Hey, here it comes,” someone called out. “The last flight from Ubon.”

  Most of the guys stepped outside the air conditioned terminal building to watch the old Air Force C-47 “Gooney Bird” make its approach and landing from over the city. As the old twin-engine tail dragger settled onto the runway in front of them, Eddie called to Ray.

  “Hey, Ray. What do you see?”

  Ray Metson stopped talking to Mack to give the plane a critical look.

  As the plane rolled on down the runway, Ray was shaking his head. “No fuck’en way, pal.”

  Eddie turned to Mack and said, “Get ‘em all inside and load ‘em up. It’s going down now.”

  Colonel Waldrop turned and asked, “What’s going down now?”

  “The attack. That’s not our Gooney Bird.”

  “What the hell are you talking about. Udorn is sending their C-47 down –—”

  “That’s not Udorn’s C-47. Theirs is clean with windows complete with curtains. That old piece of junk is one of Air America’s cargo ships.”

  Eddie glanced around, then yelled, “All right, everybody back inside. Those with weapons lock and load. That bird is full of bad guys.”

  Mack was undecided and Colonel Waldrop was saying, “Oh! Come on,” but Colonel Suwit was now yelling, “Move! Move! Move!” and wildly waving everyone back into the terminal.

  Colonel Waldrop was still standing outside looking at the plane when the plane started turning around on the runway. Colonel Suwit grabbed him by the belt and arm and shoved him into the building.

  Mack was now beginning to assign firing positions and Colonel Suwit was on the phone giving orders.

  Colonel Waldrop grabbed Eddie by the arm and said, “Donevant, if you’re wrong over this call, I’m personally going to take everything I have on you - and it’s a shit load - right up the Air Force Secretary and demand a Court-Martial.”

  “Henry, if you live
for one more hour, you can thank me for saving your wimpy, spineless butt.”

  They glared at each other for a few long seconds, and then turned away.

  Colonel Suwit announced that the Thai Air Force security police were sending a truck load of guys across the flight line. Other patrols were also coming.

  Outside the rumble of the large radial engines was getting louder as the plane pulled up on the parking ramp.

  Eddie looked out the door as the plane pulled up in front of the building. “Ray, get out there and park him. We need those engines shut down.”

  Ray immediately walked out in front of the plane, directed the plane to turn on an angle, and signaled the pilot to shut the engines down. At the rear of the plane a large cargo door swung open and one man in a dark green flight suit stepped onto the ground.

  Ray walked back toward the building. As he reached the wingtip, he looked over his shoulder and called the man in the green flight suit, “Bring your manifest paperwork in.” The man looked a bit confused, but Ray continued walking back to the building.

  “Good show, Ray,” Eddie said, as he continued to watch the man dance nervously at the back of the plane. For several minutes, nothing happened.

  Colonel Waldrop walked up to Eddie and muttered, “You stupid son-of-a-bitch.”

  Eddie glanced at him and said, “Go on out there and invite him in. You can inspect the plane while you’re at it.” Waldrop stepped back from the glass door. “Go on, Colonel. Show a little leadership. Step out there.”

  At that instant, a grenade exploded outside the door and blew the Plexiglas window in, knocking Eddie and Colonel Waldrop back onto the floor. Mack and Colonel Suwit grabbed them and dragged them back behind the concrete wall as automatic weapons fire began to pour through the now open doorway.

  A twenty-man assault team sprinted off the plane and immediately split into two groups. Ten made a frontal assault on the flight line door while the other ten jumped over the four-foot chain link fence and came around the building toward the street-side door.

  The attackers were seasoned and did not simply rush in the door. Two men sprayed a burst of automatic weapons fire inside while two others tossed in two grenades. Several shouts of “GRENADE” were heard before the two explosions. Still, the security police held their fire behind the counter and concrete pillars.