Into Cambodia - Keith Nolan [50]
All he could tell Weeks and Kruger at this point was that they were to close up shop and, by morning's light, have the entire battalion on the road for Tay Ninh, where they would come under the operational control of the 1st Cavalry Division. In the meantime, Weeks was to report to Colonel Pendelton at II FFV. That was it, and all Weeks could say was, “General, we don't have any maps of that area.” Greene gave him his own 1:100,000 sheet. Weeks left it with the sergeants who worked in the operations track so they could draw strip maps from it, showing the roads and towns on the way to Tay Ninh so the company commanders would at least have some idea if they were going the right way during the coming road march.
A helicopter arrived for Major Weeks, and it was a twenty-minute chug up to Long Binh. Colonel Pendelton, behind his desk in his air-conditioned office, was typically blunt: “Look, I can't tell you where you're going. Go be prepared to fight–not to pacify. Tell me what you need.”
Weeks jotted down a monumental list of vehicle parts on a yellow scratch pad, then caught a chopper back to the 2-47 CP. Claybrook flew in a bit later, and they reined in their line companies from the field: Capt. Denny Muehlstedt had Alpha Company, Capt. Sam Landreth had Bravo Company, and Capt. Rudy Kaldi had Charlie Company. Captain James had Delta Company, which was their support and heavy weapons section; Captain Gallagher ran the Headquarters & Headquarters Company; and Captain Hughes commanded their attached 105mm howitzers–B Battery, 2d of the 4th Field Artillery from their own Go Devil Brigade.
Chinooks brought in rubberized fuel bladders and each vehicle topped off with diesel, while mechanics and track crews tinkered and cursed to get their dust-caked machines ready for a long haul. Pallet after pallet of artillery and mortar ammunition had recently been slingloaded in, and ammo trailers were filled to the brim. The extra rounds were stacked inside APCs. With folded cots, ammunition, rations, and assorted military and personal gear strapped everywhere, the vehicles looked like rolling general stores.
When it got too dark to see, the GIs kept working under the illumination of their own artillerymen, who had their tubes cranked to maximum elevation, and an hour after midnight the first company hit the dusty trail. The rest followed, twenty meters between vehicles, until their old position was just a trampled space littered with broken equipment and trash. The paved highway became strung with a loud procession of armored personnel carriers, ammunition and fuel carriers, jeeps, and wheeled artillery pieces jostling along behind trucks. At each stop, company commanders dismounted with their strip map in one hand and a flashlight in the other to check road signs. Drivers climbed from their hatches to inspect road wheels and tracks, and bleary-eyed grunts stood along the shoulders, stretching and lighting cigarettes and thinking, what's even going on, man?
That question was also being asked by A Company, 2d Battalion, 34th Armor, 25th Division, better known as the Dreadnaughts, whose rear was colocated with the Panthers at Bear Cat. They too had been alerted during the late afternoon after the company, under Capt. Marvin Tieman, had rolled back to base camp. Major General James W. Sutherland, deputy commander, II Field Force Vietnam, had just departed after briefing the captain. Then Captain Tieman gave the battalion the poop. They were going back to Tay Ninh the next day. Everyone perked up at that idea. Tay Ninh had been the battalion home for most of the war and it would be nice to be back in familiar surroundings.
The next morning, while the lead elements of 2-47 Mech closed in on Tay Ninh and their last company lined up along the road leading out of Bear Cat, A/2-34 Armor also prepared for the movement. At eleven o'clock word was received