Into Cambodia - Keith Nolan [20]
One of the GIs pumped a quick burst into him.
Such was Echo Recon's contribution to cleaning up the mess that had begun an hour before dawn, when the NVA had begun mortaring the position they shared in the jungle with Charlie Company. Next had come the enemy's automatic rifle fire. Rappaport, like everyone else, had found himself as low as he could get in the brush around their poncho shelters, M16 to his shoulder, shooting his ass off amid the noise and confusion, piling up expended brass and empty ammunition magazines around his elbows. In the smoke of gunpowder and the sun's first rays, enemy muzzle flashes had been visible among the trees. It was easy to kill someone trying to kill you, but now–afterward– standing among six fresh corpses, Rappaport wasn't sure how he felt: The dead enemy looked too damn young.
Rappaport was proud of his platoon, sick of the war.
The sergeant first class who was adding those six dead NVA to the tote board was as removed from what the body count meant to the grunts turning out the dead men's pockets for intel as the major tracing a grease pencil across an acetate-covered map in the air-conditioned headquarters was from the reality of the ten-kilometer hump that line represented to the grunts. The grunts had no idea where they were or for what goal they dripped sweat; they simply trudged through the clinging wait-a-minute vines and smothering heat until the platoon sergeant passed word to drop their rucksacks. Only in the command bunker did these movements come together in orderly terms: Specifically, the 1st Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division had been deployed into the Dog's Face region of western War Zone C. Cutting the enemy infiltration trails west of the 11th Armored Cavalry AO, they were additionally taxed to root out the complexes already established by the 95C, 272d, and 273d NVA Regiments of the 9th NVA Division. Division base camp was located at Camp Gorvad, Phuoc Vinh; the division support headquarters was at Bien Hoa; and the incumbent division leaders were Maj. Gen. Elvy B. Roberts (Commanding General), Brig. Gen. Robert M. Shoemaker (ADC for Maneuver), Brig. Gen. George W. Casey (ADC for Support), and Col. Morris J. Brady (CO, Division Artillery).
Individually, these men had personalities of different shades, but collectively they were all highly respected professionals. Each was a“cav sandwich,” meaning they wore the horsehead shoulder patch on both sleeves to denote their current assignments and a previous combat tour with the unit, in their cases as battalion and brigade commanders. The division was structured around three infantry brigades: 1st Brigade (Col. William V. Ochs), 2d Brigade (Col. Edward C. Meyer), and 3d Brigade (Col. Robert C. Kingston).
The 1st Brigade under Ochs was headquartered at Tay Ninh base camp, and manned a series of mobile firebases across War Zone C. Colonel Ochs was a West Pointer whose credentials included infantry duty at the end of the Korean War and a previous tour as an ARVN adviser. However, he was neither very aggressive nor demanding of his subordinates and, for this reason, General Roberts would relieve him of command on the heels of the War Zone C campaign. A pleasant, relaxed southern gentleman, Ochs commanded the usual three infantry and one artillery battalions (individual battalions were opconned between brigades regularly), and afforded their commanders much latitude: 2-7 Cavalry (Lt. Col. Robert Hannas), 5-7 Cavalry (Lt. Col. Sanders A. Cortner), 2-8 Cavalry (Lt. Col. Michael J. Conrad), and 2-19 Field Artillery (Lt. Col. Thomas E. Fitzgerald).
Lieutenant Colonel Conrad of the 2d of the 8th Cav lived in the trenchers with his men, and he fought his battalion hard and fast from hasty firebase to hasty firebase through War Zone C. Lake beds were scattered across the AO like irregularly shaped puzzle pieces; flooded with an inch or