Into Cambodia - Keith Nolan [238]
This they did, and as the Sheridans and ACAVs found passage in the muddy, grassy flats around Susan, Cobras dived in ahead of them to pump rockets and minigun fire into the far tree lines. K Troop fired continuously as they advanced.
Captain Speedy stood in the cargo hatch of his track, reloading his empty Ml6 magazines from another can of 5.56mm bullets, as his TC pulled long bursts into the trees with his .50-cal. The pop-pop-pop of AK47s snapped back at them from the trees. The crewmen could hear the singing of passing rounds, but they were still far enough away from the trees so that the NVA rocket-propelled grenade gunners had to lob their projectiles at them.
Mud and smoke erupted in front of the command ACAV. Sergeant Bailey, the track commander, a dependable rural kid, stopped shooting long enough for another crewman to get a bandage tied across his slashed nose. They ground on into the wood line at a firing roll. The NVA had faded away before them, save for one foot soldier who'd been blasted apart by a Cobra minigun and would have fallen apart if his comrades had picked him up to carry him away. K Troop retired to FSB Susan as the mede vacs began to come in.
By the evening of 26 June, the lead elements of 3-11 ACR, including the howitzer battery, had moved to FSB Koropey. The rear elements razed FSB Susan and closed into FSB Schulcz, which occupied the high ground overlooking the “T” formed by Route 7 and the Rome Plow road, which ran south to Katum. As such, the CP of the 3-4 Cav, opcon from the 25th Division to the 11th ACR, had been obliged to displace from Schulcz, a move that squadron commander Knotts could make no sense of. Since 3-4 Cav had held the road juncture for several weeks, he expected 3-11 ACR would conduct a simple passage of lines as 1-11 ACR had previously done, then 3-4 Cav would close up shop and follow them out. That was not to be, and Lieutenant Colonel Knotts commented with some annoyance:
As we approached the magic day, I was left with the impression that movement would be as I expected. It certainly made sense since 3-4 Cav knew so much about that AO with the “T.” When the order was received from the 11th ACR, I was totally surprised. What I had expected would really be not much more than a road march all of a sudden became a road march plus a sector change. The 3-11 ACR would take over the spot by the “T” occupied by Laager Schulcz, and 3-4 Cav would move elsewhere but still in Cambodia. I was totally puzzled. Finally, it struck me that under the plan that surprised me, the last squadron to leave Cambodia would be 3-11 ACR, while in the simple plan 3-4 Cav, 25th Division, would be the last to leave. It seemed to me that someone in 11th ACR realized that the history of the Cambodian Incursion would state that 3-4 Cav was the last out of Cambodia. With a change in the operational plan, which HQ 11th ACR could do, history could be made to say that the last was a squadron of the 11th ACR. An organization I held in extremely high esteem dropped about seven pegs that night.
During the last night that the Three-Quarter Horse spent in Cambodia, 27-28 June 1970, Captain Schulcz of C Troop suddenly woke up on his cot behind his track. A flare popped in the distance. Everything was deathly quiet. The troops were supposed to lob M79 rounds around the laager, so, alerted by the stillness, Schulcz went from APC to APC, waking people up. The men were near the end of their tether, emotionally spent from the sniping, mining, and ambushing along the evacuation route, as well as feverish from some jungle flu nearly everyone had picked up. Earlier that evening, the squadron had been informed by division headquarters that they would be joined the next morning by forty-four correspondents who would ride across the border with them. Right on time all forty-four showed up aboard three Chinooks. C Troop secured an LZ in a clearing of grass, and Lieutenant Colonel Knotts noted, “…the Chinooks approached