A Soldiers Story

[bmgarcangel 0]

Walking around the small, make shift base camp from which Marines of the 1st Infantry division were preparing to launch the surprise attack against the city of Saigon to throw the enemy out, I felt for these men and myself, who were about to head back into the town once again. Just 1 day earlier, I'd been in the fighting near the embassy, under fire and all. It was my first time I've ever seen combat and as far as I knew it, I handled it well, or so at least West had told me earlier at the Hospital back at Bienhoa.

"Man, you handled it well, you knew what you were supposed to do, you remembered what you were trained to do and you did it." He had said to me that morning from the hospital bed. "Must people forget about that training and stumble in the wrong situations and well, that gets men killed. You were calm and thus handled most of it well."

[BoweryBaker 0]

Instead of must people forget, write most people forget. Carry on.... (I loved Grammar class.)

[bmgarcangel 0]

I need advice.,...i dont knw what to do next....

A Marines Story

Part 2: Retaking Saigon

Just yesterday afternoon I’d been picked up by the M-113 which drove me back to the make shift base camp from which soldiers of the 1st Marine Division would be heading out this afternoon to retake the fallen city of Saigon. I didn’t know about it, I’d already been through combat and it was hell, I’d lost a friend and a couple people from my squad were still missing somewhere in Saigon. Most of the guys on leave over in Saigon had gotten out pretty much ok, but a few had some trouble getting out, running into some obstacles, like West and me. West had been shot in the arm, but the medic took a look at him, fixed him up, and he was sent back to where Alpha squad, are squad, was preparing to go back into Saigon. He had it pretty bad, it went through some muscle and out the other side, tearing some stuff up, but he could still use it and that’s all that mattered at the moment because we needed all the soldiers we could get. But he could barely use it and personally…I think he shouldn’t be here at all.

“Hurts like a Son of a bitch, I can tell you that much Forest.†West said to me.

“Man, why the hell are they sending you back in. You can barely reload you gun much less pack your kit bag…â€I said as I back my ammo vest up with freshly loaded magazines. West was next to me, to my left, I’d already helped him back some of his stuff up and this one other dude, Cassidy, helped pack the rest.

Looking at his arm and rubbing near where it was shot with his right arm, he turned and looked at me, “Hey its me. I can still use it and that’s all that matters. As long as I can fire my gun I’m cool Forest.â€

Finishing up with the vest I put one arm through one of the armholes and then I put my left in, and strapped up the vest so that it would stay, turning to West, “What happens when you run out of ammo. Reload your damned weapon. Can you do that?†I looked down and grabbed my m16, making sure it was clean and ready to go.

“Look I can do it…†he said as he grabbed his gun and ejected the empty magazine already in it, holding it with his right hand he slowly picked up a loaded magazine and slid it into the gun. He then pulled back the loading mechanism with his left arm, his face emitting some pain. Then he turned the gun slightly to the right, looked into the chamber, and let go of the release, chambering a round. It took him around 39 seconds though…almost a minute. That could be fatal in the head of combat. “Forest, man, I can’t do it as fast but I can still do it and that’s all that matters.†He said as I started zeroing my sights.

“Yeah I guess….but you’d better do it when we’re not under fire because if you do it before then when we’re under fire you’re dead man. These guys are going to be charging our ass and everything, it’s going to be tough.â€

West looked up, “Hey you’ve only been in combat once so don’t start acting like you know it all. You know the basic deal, I know it to, but I have to fight, that’s just the way it is.â€

“I guess man. You’re just going to have to be carefulâ€

“Hey you’re alright, keep an eye on me and help me reload if I need it. Member I’m the crippled one.†He said as he got up, slipped on his pack and grabbed his m16 and crouched jus to the left of me as I finished up zeroing my sights. I slipped on my pack and grabbed my gun, inserting a fresh magazine.

“Yeah….damnit, I’m scared. I don’t know if I want to go back there now.â€

“Hey suck---“ Just then Sergeant Jones came crashing round the large tent.

“Alrighty soldiers, lock and load, we’re heading out in 5 minutes. Meet at the front of the encampment. Be sure you have some water and a couple C-rations, not to mention plenty of ammo. I don’t know if we’ll be able to get re-supplied anytime soon.â€

“Man, time go.†I said as we both got up and headed to the front of the camp. Ready for whatever came our way….at least I hoped I was.

[Sniper_Panther 0]

Nice triple post. BTW~ You are telling me I have no life. Look at you writing 10 page stories.

[bmgarcangel 0]

Im at school and basically the only thing i do thats related to computer games at the moment is posting stuff in an ofp forum about my story. Its for school ya dumb nut. At least i'm not always on my computer working on missions and addons and all this other shiiet....i was at a party last night and you were typing away to otehr ofp members...how sad is that?

[BoweryBaker 0]

I want to hear how his whole experience is affecting the main character.  The people, the war, everything. Just when things get boring, i want action to take place, then his personal thoughts again, in relation to what he's going through. Like that movie apocolypse now.  That's what i like reading, otherwise i get bored and skip the dialog.

[bmgarcangel 0]

Same...school i can't focus...home i can, i will work on it after work tomorrow if like...i want to, i might be doin other things man....hey hey

So like is it good so far?

Oh ya...i updated it once again

[BoweryBaker 0]

id be able to focus more in school if the walls were made of glass.  i want to go to a school where we're out in nature and everyones relaxed and we get to look at the grass and feel the wind blow.  Of course then again, I live in Arizona. Anyhow, if I were you id capture a good kodak moment with the use of words. Like think of it this way, if you could have seen the war yourself what might you see that history did not record or does not record?

[bmgarcangel 0]

As we walk down the street i look left and right, at the crumbling buildings and the burning smoke down the road. The guy in front of me puffed on his cigarette and blew it out, left to right, burning it down in just a minute or so. I looked down at my feet, watching them take one step at a time, left right, left right, left right. I looked at my right hand in the trigger hole, wondering why in the hell it was so damned simple to pull it and then shoot a man to death. It seemed so simple….and it was…..just as I looked up and slammed into the back of the guy in front of me.

"What the hell man!" he whispered as he fell over and then got back up, looking at me.

Guess we'd stopped. " Sorry man, didn't know we'd stopped."

"Well pay attention god damnit, you're gonna get us all killed."

[Sniper_Panther 0]

Im at school and basically the only thing i do thats related to computer games at the moment is posting stuff in an ofp forum about my story. Its for school ya dumb nut. At least i'm not always on my computer working on missions and addons and all this other shiiet....i was at a party last night and you were typing away to otehr ofp members...how sad is that?

I was only talking to your pathetic ass. Yes you were at the party with your laptop chatting away to AOL"ERs. Your just another one of those kids who get picked on at school then come on the internet bitching and saying i'm better then you!

Btw~ Your story sucks. I could make a 10x better story then yours using only 2 paragraphs.

[BoweryBaker 0]

This story sounds too much like porn.  I feel like I'm supposed to be turned onto the soldiers or something the way you go into detail about them doing boring stuff like smoking.  I don't like that.  Cut the fat off the meat and gimme something i can use.  This story lacks a $hitload of combat.  It's boring.  Try again. From the top.

[ThePara 0]

I'm not sure what the 1st MarDiv was doing prior to Hue, I do know for a fact they were not involved in the fighting in Saigon. The 1st MARDIV was in I Corps, while Saigon was in III Corps as I recall. The retaking of Saigon was by and large done by the ARVN, with the only american involvement being that of US MP's and advisors attached to the ARVN units.

If you want to set this in the fiercest fighting taking place in Saigon, it would have been the chinese sector of the city known as 'Cholon'.