We cleared the secure Navy base and prepared for the upcoming fight.
Jack rounds into the chambers, safety off. One last check to be sure the ready ammo is at hand. Look at the riverbank. Look at the trees. Look at the buildings. Crouch low behind the sandbags.
Flashes and incoming tracers from a small building – fire! Get that bastard!
The noise is intense. There is no distinct sound of any one weapon firing or of the incoming rounds. It’s just one giant cacophonous loud roar. Forget hearing or talking.
Sand is being kicked up from the sandbags near my face.
Reload, look, fire.
Paint chips are flying off the conn.
There! By those trees! Reload, fire.
It’s endless. The stack of loaded magazines for my M-14 is getting smaller.
Reload, fire, look.
Knell lower behind the sandbags. I could have sworn they were chest high.
Flashes coming from a small shack on stilts in the river. Where’s our ’79?
Good – he saw it. No more shack.
Silence.
Look, reload, where’s there a target?
No incoming tracers, no flashes ashore.
There’s the Hue University. Almost there.
Stand up. Look down at legs, look at arms. OK, two of each. Good, nothing’s leaking. Check around. Everyone seems to have made it through OK. I could have sworn the sandbags were chest high, now they’re barely knee high.
