I am sitting on a rock outcrop, overlooking three thatched huts, not ten minutes walk from the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Everything seems normal, normal is bad. Twenty two fucking hours, the humidity is oppressive. I can't smoke or even take a dump. I am waiting for a squad of NVA (North Vietnamese Regulars), who are supposed to be escorting Major General Hue Quan Tu. My mission is to kill him. Funny, I am only three clicks from the Army Base Long Binh, the largest American Base in Southeast Asia, just east of Long Thanh, and not thirty miles from Saigon. My customized M-14 is a 7.62 tuned sniper weapon. An MK2 scope, 800 yards, one shot, one kill. I am fucking slimy, wet and cold, the morning mist is beginning to rise. The C-Rats peanut butter and crackers suck, but I am hungry. They were packed in 1952! Just 16 years ago.
I guess I should tell you, I am "Loong", (little one), long ago nicknamed by the NVA. They have never seen my face, only the report of the shot a split second after it plunked into it's target. Do I have a score? Yes. They say there is a bounty on my head. Hanoi Hannah says so anyway. Because of my stature I move easily among them. I am 5'4" and am 120 lbs soaking wet. The villagers love me, I bring them "Tide" in small boxes, wrigleys chewing gum, and cigarettes when I visit. It is time for me to tell the story.
06:44 Three NVA Regulars enter the village and set up an ambush, three sides of heavy machine guns and one side of rocket launchers and mortars. How silly they are, my scope sees it all. Villagers are awakened, they are to enter the rice pattys like a normal day. Through my scope I can see their fear. "Cong Ma" (the Ghost) Loong is near. Through my scope I see the villagers looking into the jungle nervously. They don't want the NVA there, they sure as hell don't want to meet Loong.
07:14 Two NVA enter the village and head strait for the chieftain's hut. I see them leave moments later and search every hut in the little compound. The villagers are on their knees their hands in the steeple prayer position, they are begging for their lives and swearing allegiance to the north and Ho Chi Minh. I can see movement to the east. Silently I squeeze the bipod around the barrel of the M-14, and watch with shallow breath.
07:17 Five men enter the open end of the village, four with rifles, loaded down with grenades, smoke, radios, and water. The fifth, it was the fifth, was wearing an officers pistol and pith helmet. Walking regally, in the midst of the four. My finger is in the trigger guard, the butt firmly against my shoulder. The little man's chest in my cross hairs. "Thwack", and in a split second, I am moving through the jungle. I am on my way to Long Binh. The round was true, his chest had blossomed red through my scope. I knew they were giving chase, but I also knew my path. Two clicks (kilometers) away there would be an ambush set up waiting on them.
10:05 I present my ID to eat in the mess hall of a Brigade headquarters. I am starved. While I eat, a Major comes to my table with coffee. "Hey little man, how's it going?" "Stuff's happening over the hill, " I reply. "The Command is aware of that." He hands me a pack of Marlboros, "see you around". I finish my meal and sit outside on a bunker inhaling deeply on my cigarette. I knew I had to report to the flight section. I guess there is a bird going to Can Tho, and I need to be on it. The message had been Written in grease pencil on my cigarette celophane, how cloak and dagger. I had been to Can Tho many times and always thought the Commander there was an asshole. I loved to pull his chain. A two day beard, muddy fatigues (now called BDU's or Battle Dress Uniforms), and in need of a haircut. Fuck him, I wore no rank, no name tag, and no insignia. I was assigned to JUSMAGMACV/G2 (Joint United States Military Advisory Group, Military Assistance Command, Viet Nam/Intelligence). He had tried to complain about me, him being a Colonel and all, but it went nowhere. Carrying my weapon in a sniper's sheath I stuck my thumb out and within minutes was at the flight section where a U-21 was being run up on the tarmac. The U-21 is a civilian Queen Air, fast and comfortable. Twenty seven minutes later we were on final approach to CanTho. The U-21 taxied slowly to the north end of the runway where asshole had his Group Headquarters. Hello Can Tho!
I guess I should tell you, I am "Loong", (little one), long ago nicknamed by the NVA. They have never seen my face, only the report of the shot a split second after it plunked into it's target. Do I have a score? Yes. They say there is a bounty on my head. Hanoi Hannah says so anyway. Because of my stature I move easily among them. I am 5'4" and am 120 lbs soaking wet. The villagers love me, I bring them "Tide" in small boxes, wrigleys chewing gum, and cigarettes when I visit. It is time for me to tell the story.
06:44 Three NVA Regulars enter the village and set up an ambush, three sides of heavy machine guns and one side of rocket launchers and mortars. How silly they are, my scope sees it all. Villagers are awakened, they are to enter the rice pattys like a normal day. Through my scope I can see their fear. "Cong Ma" (the Ghost) Loong is near. Through my scope I see the villagers looking into the jungle nervously. They don't want the NVA there, they sure as hell don't want to meet Loong.
07:14 Two NVA enter the village and head strait for the chieftain's hut. I see them leave moments later and search every hut in the little compound. The villagers are on their knees their hands in the steeple prayer position, they are begging for their lives and swearing allegiance to the north and Ho Chi Minh. I can see movement to the east. Silently I squeeze the bipod around the barrel of the M-14, and watch with shallow breath.
07:17 Five men enter the open end of the village, four with rifles, loaded down with grenades, smoke, radios, and water. The fifth, it was the fifth, was wearing an officers pistol and pith helmet. Walking regally, in the midst of the four. My finger is in the trigger guard, the butt firmly against my shoulder. The little man's chest in my cross hairs. "Thwack", and in a split second, I am moving through the jungle. I am on my way to Long Binh. The round was true, his chest had blossomed red through my scope. I knew they were giving chase, but I also knew my path. Two clicks (kilometers) away there would be an ambush set up waiting on them.
10:05 I present my ID to eat in the mess hall of a Brigade headquarters. I am starved. While I eat, a Major comes to my table with coffee. "Hey little man, how's it going?" "Stuff's happening over the hill, " I reply. "The Command is aware of that." He hands me a pack of Marlboros, "see you around". I finish my meal and sit outside on a bunker inhaling deeply on my cigarette. I knew I had to report to the flight section. I guess there is a bird going to Can Tho, and I need to be on it. The message had been Written in grease pencil on my cigarette celophane, how cloak and dagger. I had been to Can Tho many times and always thought the Commander there was an asshole. I loved to pull his chain. A two day beard, muddy fatigues (now called BDU's or Battle Dress Uniforms), and in need of a haircut. Fuck him, I wore no rank, no name tag, and no insignia. I was assigned to JUSMAGMACV/G2 (Joint United States Military Advisory Group, Military Assistance Command, Viet Nam/Intelligence). He had tried to complain about me, him being a Colonel and all, but it went nowhere. Carrying my weapon in a sniper's sheath I stuck my thumb out and within minutes was at the flight section where a U-21 was being run up on the tarmac. The U-21 is a civilian Queen Air, fast and comfortable. Twenty seven minutes later we were on final approach to CanTho. The U-21 taxied slowly to the north end of the runway where asshole had his Group Headquarters. Hello Can Tho!
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