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“Chicken-man Two-Seven, yeah, I think that will work. Let me set it up. Gambler Six out.” Reid looked back at the Vietnamese colonel, who had been monitoring Reid’s conversation with Gambler Six and now flashed Reid a toothy grin and a thumbs-up.
Addressing the crew, Reid explained what was planned for the return trip. No one said anything. Not a good sign. If soldiers weren’t complaining about something, they were thinking. Sometimes it wasn’t good to be thinking about your immediate future. As the aircraft refueling was completed, Reid motioned for the ARVN colonel to get in the aircraft so Reid could reposition to pick up the sling load of ammo. The ARVN colonel approached the aircraft and stood on the skid next to Reid’s door.
“I no go.” He paused. “You lighter for this load.” The colonel was avoiding eye contact. What the hell is he afraid of? Reid was thinking. As the colonel moved away, Reid shook his head and moved the aircraft over the load, which consisted of small-arms ammo and hand grenades. After he’d completed his hover check and was satisfied that the aircraft could handle the load and that the load was stable, Reid had Gordon take the controls and start out for Firebase Six.
“You take the aircraft. Give you a chance to fly a sling load. Have you flown one since you’ve been in county?” Reid asked.
“I have the aircraft. No, all this is a first for me,” Gordon said, watching his torque gauge.
“Nice and smooth. Don’t want it swinging under the aircraft,” Reid instructed. As Gordon executed the departure, Reid said, “Just like that. Nice and steady power. Good.”
Approaching the firebase, Reid gave the senior advisor on the firebase a call.
“Gambler Four-One, this is Chicken-man Two-Seven, over.” This was the first contact Reid has had with anyone on the firebase since the colonel had spoken in Vietnamese with Dai-uy Nguyen.
“Chicken-man Two-Seven, Gambler Four-One. Understand you have a resupply of ammo for me. Over.” Small-arms fire could be heard in the background.
“Gambler Four-One, that’s affirmative. It’s a sling load that I’m going to drop as I pass over your location. I’ll be moving slow and hope to drop it in your lap. Over.”
“Sounds good, Chicken-man. Be advised, we do not, repeat, do not, control the north half of the firebase. They do, so make your drop on the south side.”
Reid and Bellem exchanged wide-eyed looks with each other.
“Four-One, did you say they control the north half?” Reid asked with some apprehension in his voice. No one said anything about that.
“Chicken-man Two-Seven, that’s affirmative, over.”
“Roger, understood. I’ll make my pass at treetop or lower over the south side from east to west. Will that be satisfactory? Over.”
“I have good copy, Chicken-man. I’ll put a panel out for your target. Over.”
“Roger, Chicken-man is two minutes out,” Reid said. He turned to Gordon. “Okay, I have the aircraft. Do you understand what we’re going to do?” Gordon nodded his head with his eyes fixed to the front. Addressing the entire crew, Reid said, “Guys, be on your toes. This is liable to be a hot LZ.”
“You have the aircraft.” And Gordon looked over to see that Reid had in fact taken the controls.
“Roger, Mr. Reid,” Patterson responded.
“I’m good, sir,” Craig answered.
“Gordon, when I say execute, be ready to stomp the manual release on the cargo net in case the electrical release doesn’t work. We’re going to release just before we get to the panel he’s putting out so the momentum will carry the load to the panel. Understood?”
“Got it,” Gordon answered.
“You guys back there ready?” Reid asked Patterson and Tonjes.
“We’re good, sir,” Patterson responded, Am I the only one shitting bricks right now? he wondered as he raised his gun.
“Guns up,” Tonjes answered, asking himself, Why did I volunteer for this?
“Okay, one minute out, slowing up, be ready,” Reid said, beginning a rapid deceleration as he cleared the tree line, aiming for the orange panel the advisor had put out. The deceleration caused the sling load to swing forward as its momentum was still moving at eighty knots.
“Taking fire!” Craig yelled as they cleared the wire perimeter and his gun commenced firing. Patterson’s gun joined in the crescendo as well. Green tracers streaked in front of the aircraft’s nose. Small hammer blows could be heard coming from the tail boom. Scanning the ground, Patterson spotted six people attempting to turn and point a large-caliber weapon towards the aircraft. Before they could fire, Patterson engaged, killing all six.
“Execute!” Reid hollered as the load suddenly dropped from beneath the aircraft. Not waiting to see if the electrical release functioned properly, Gordon stomped on the mechanical release. Shedding almost one thousand pounds of additional weight, the aircraft rapidly began to gain altitude, which Reid had anticipated and immediately converted to airspeed. Once they were well over the trees, Reid executed a power climb to two thousand feet and told Gordon to take the controls.
“I got it,” Gordon said, and Reid began to breathe.
“Head back to Dak To and let’s check the aircraft over for holes when we get there.”
