Read Online Run Between the Raindrops by Dale A. Dye - Free Book Online
Authors: Dale A. Dye
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Hue. It’s no time to be wandering around looking for Hotel Company. Steve is parked in the portico of a house that’s been recently holed by the 106 crew that saved the day. He offers the last cigarette in the C-ration four-pack and I suck smoke into lungs already clogged with concrete dust. The cigarette is stale as usual, probably from rations packed for grunts in Korea. There’s just enough light for him to look over my interview notes. He asks a few probing questions of his own as if I’d missed something in talking to the Lieutenant and that doesn’t improve my mood. Take the fucking notes, write the story when we get back to the rear, and make the guy a hometown hero. It is what it is.
“You’re beginning to see it, aren’t you?”
“See what?”
“You'll know. When you see it, you’ll know.” And then he rolls up in his poncho. I’ve got the first watch tonight and in the morning we might split. Whatever he wants me to see better show up soon. One or both of us might be dead before this time tomorrow.
Mostly to keep from nodding off, I wander out into a garden area where Alpha Company grunts are setting up the night watch in the last glimmers of grey light. There is just time for a final smoke before the glowing ash will make me a sniper target. It starts to drizzle again and the grunts meet the weather change with a barrage of bitching. Seeking shelter under a large banyan tree, I squat next to a grunt on watch with his M-79 blooper in hand and a string of extra rounds close by. We’ve never seen each other before, but that doesn’t stop us from falling into a whispered conversation.
Grenadier wants to talk. He hasn’t been in the Marine Corps long, just a little over a year with four months of that in Vietnam. There is nothing much in common between us, but it doesn’t keep him from chatting like he expects me to be interested. He’s anxious to tell me about his family and girlfriend somewhere in Iowa. It’s too dark to see his face and oddly out of character for me, but I find myself actually wanting to know this guy as we whisper into the night. I’ve never even been to Iowa and can’t imagine anything that would take me there, but Grenadier has me convinced I should pay him a visit when we get back to The World.
MACV Compound
God knows snipers have enough targets around this area. Can I afford to fire up a smoke? Is the high worth the hurt? Looks like about 15 more minutes before the sky will be light enough to make it safe. A smoke is likely the last thing I need with the croupy, phlegm-filled lungs everyone is developing due to the wet air and rock dust. I’ll wait. A pre-dawn smoke might be comforting but a sniper round full in the face would roach the buzz completely.
It was relatively quiet last night and everyone is hoping that situation might maintain with the new day. A freshening breeze comes up as the sky grays around the edges with first light. The morning is gloomy with low clouds and the breeze carries mist into Hue from a weather front out at sea. The air is cold and most of us are miserable with chills when the word comes to saddle up and move.
We stumble toward the MACV Compound, moving like zombies in the dawn haze. Steve heads directly for the Compound gate, anxious to find the battalion commander who might provide some sort of contextual sitrep. The CO is inside somewhere. We know he moved forward to set up his command post almost immediately after Alpha Company cleared the area around the compound. We’ll shift to Hotel Company 2/5 today but it’s no big drama. We can move between units easily. The way things are going, outfits in Hue are unlikely be more than shouting distance from each other as they operate. There’s little room in a city fight for broad-ranging maneuvers. We are both anxious to reunite with the Horrible Hogs of Hotel Company, a stout, reliable outfit—a gang of hard-ass survivors who will welcome a couple of familiar
“You’re beginning to see it, aren’t you?”
“See what?”
“You'll know. When you see it, you’ll know.” And then he rolls up in his poncho. I’ve got the first watch tonight and in the morning we might split. Whatever he wants me to see better show up soon. One or both of us might be dead before this time tomorrow.
Mostly to keep from nodding off, I wander out into a garden area where Alpha Company grunts are setting up the night watch in the last glimmers of grey light. There is just time for a final smoke before the glowing ash will make me a sniper target. It starts to drizzle again and the grunts meet the weather change with a barrage of bitching. Seeking shelter under a large banyan tree, I squat next to a grunt on watch with his M-79 blooper in hand and a string of extra rounds close by. We’ve never seen each other before, but that doesn’t stop us from falling into a whispered conversation.
Grenadier wants to talk. He hasn’t been in the Marine Corps long, just a little over a year with four months of that in Vietnam. There is nothing much in common between us, but it doesn’t keep him from chatting like he expects me to be interested. He’s anxious to tell me about his family and girlfriend somewhere in Iowa. It’s too dark to see his face and oddly out of character for me, but I find myself actually wanting to know this guy as we whisper into the night. I’ve never even been to Iowa and can’t imagine anything that would take me there, but Grenadier has me convinced I should pay him a visit when we get back to The World.
MACV Compound
God knows snipers have enough targets around this area. Can I afford to fire up a smoke? Is the high worth the hurt? Looks like about 15 more minutes before the sky will be light enough to make it safe. A smoke is likely the last thing I need with the croupy, phlegm-filled lungs everyone is developing due to the wet air and rock dust. I’ll wait. A pre-dawn smoke might be comforting but a sniper round full in the face would roach the buzz completely.
It was relatively quiet last night and everyone is hoping that situation might maintain with the new day. A freshening breeze comes up as the sky grays around the edges with first light. The morning is gloomy with low clouds and the breeze carries mist into Hue from a weather front out at sea. The air is cold and most of us are miserable with chills when the word comes to saddle up and move.
We stumble toward the MACV Compound, moving like zombies in the dawn haze. Steve heads directly for the Compound gate, anxious to find the battalion commander who might provide some sort of contextual sitrep. The CO is inside somewhere. We know he moved forward to set up his command post almost immediately after Alpha Company cleared the area around the compound. We’ll shift to Hotel Company 2/5 today but it’s no big drama. We can move between units easily. The way things are going, outfits in Hue are unlikely be more than shouting distance from each other as they operate. There’s little room in a city fight for broad-ranging maneuvers. We are both anxious to reunite with the Horrible Hogs of Hotel Company, a stout, reliable outfit—a gang of hard-ass survivors who will welcome a couple of familiar
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