Beef Slices with potatoes - little slices of beef in a can with potatoes - not one of the worst meals, but not the best. Ham and eggs were the worst. Some people actually liked that crap and would mix their jelly with it.
We all woke up right after the sun came up because it got too hot to sleep. Third platoon was coming back to their holes. We got our gear together and went back to our own lines. We found out we were going on a company-size patrol and that we had about forty-five minutes to eat and be ready to move out with or rifle, flak jacket, helmet, ammo, grenades and enough water and food for a day. I ate my beef slices and potatoes, drank a cup of coffee and got all my gear together for the patrol.
Second platoon moved out first, then the CP (Command Post - Captain, company radio man, and the executive officer First Lieutenant.) and after the CP, First Platoon. I was in the next to the last squad.
As we were moving through the jungle, PFC Anderson was telling and showing me which plants and trees to grab if I started to slip or fall. Some of the trees were covered with thorns, from one to three inches long. If I began to fall and grabbed one of these trees, I would rip my hand open and probably end up falling anyway. He also explained what we were looking for on this patrol - enemy bunkers and making sure there weren’t any NVA in our area of operation.
I was amazed at all the different plants and how thick the jungle actually was. I couldn’t see the sky except when we passed by a bomb crater, which was pretty regular. We climbed up and down two fingers of the mountain that was our perimeter. We didn’t find any sign of the NVA, but I didn’t really know what we were looking for. It took us nearly all day to complete the patrol. I ate my C-ration while we walked and stopped a lot. I was hot, sweaty and tired by the time we got back to the company perimeter. I found out that we had covered a about a thousand meters of jungle on those two fingers of the mountain.We stood watch on our own lines that night. Nothing happened. I kept expecting to be hit by the NVA, but I was told the company hadn’t made contact with the NVA in about a month since they had left the flatlands around DiDoe where they were ambushed in a cemetery and killed two hundred NVA.
I stood second watch that night. It was a very beautiful dark night, the stars were crystal clear bright and looked as though I could have plucked them from space. I was a little calmer than the night before and began to notice more beauty.
