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Salley picked up one of the radio’s handsets. “Gambler Six, Gambler Four-One, over.”
“Gambler Four-One, Six here, go ahead.”
“Gambler Six, I have a downed aircraft on the perimeter with three crew members that I need evacuated. They’re in good shape, but I want to try and get them out of here. Can I get another aircraft to come in and get them? Over.” Salley hung his head, waiting for a response. It was obvious that he was tired, having been in this fight since early this morning.
“Gambler Four-One, understand you have three crew members to get out. Where’s the fourth? Over.”
“Gambler Six, he didn’t make it. Over.”
“Okay, Four-One, let me see if I can get a bird for you. What’s your situation? Over.”
“Gambler Six, we hold the south half of the base camp. They hold the north half. They’re in the perimeter and using some of our bunkers for cover. The air strikes have prevented them from reinforcing, but if you lose the air support, they’ll probably overrun our positions. Over.”
“Four-One, what about your artillery? Have they seized the guns? Over.”
“Six, we removed the breechblocks before they could get to them. We will evacuate those as well. Over.”
“Roger, Four-One, understood. I’ll see about getting a chopper in there to extract that crew, and we’ll try to lay on another flight of fast movers. If your situation changes, let me know right away. Six out.”
Salley turned to Gordon and explained what they were trying to work out for the crew to get out of there. When he was done, Gordon asked, “So what happens with you and the other advisor if they overrun this place? Are you guys going to get on that aircraft with us?”
“No, sir, that’s not the plan. If we can’t hold here, we’ll go out through the wire and head out through the jungle towards Dak To or Firebase Five. We’ll stay with the ARVNs for as long as we can. It’s our job,” Salley explained, a resigned look on his face. “I best get outside and check on the ARVN company commander. He’s a pretty tough dude. We lose him, we’ll be in a world of hurt. Oh, if anyone in a green uniform comes running in here, shoot ’em. They all know they do not come in this command bunker except those two. I’m serious. If things start to fall apart, some may panic and think it best to take you prisoner and attempt to surrender with you as the bargaining chip. Understood?”
All three crew members looked at him. Damn, this is some serious shit, Craig thought, again regretting having volunteered.
As Salley left the bunker, Gordon turned and told them to get to the openings and start shooting. Gordon positioned himself at the opening closest to the doorway between the rooms, from where he could observe the entrance to the bunker. He hoped no ARVN came running in.
Combat action remained relatively quiet—relatively being the operative term as small-arms fire continued, but not in a thunderous fashion. Brian returned to the command bunker and explained that the ARVNs were holding their own thanks to the most recent air strike having hit potential reinforcements pretty hard. While he was talking to Gordon, a radio call came in.
“Gambler Four-One, Gambler Six, over.”
“Gambler Six, this is Brave Cannon Four-One. Gambler Four-One is on the perimeter, over.”
“Brave Cannon Four-One, how you holding up? Over.”
“Gambler Six, we’re holding our own. No change to the situation. Over.”
“Okay, Four-One, here’s the plan. I have two Cobra gunships joining up with three choppers to come in with ammo and picking up that crew. They’ll be there in about five minutes. Be ready for them, and try to get those breechblocks on the choppers.”
“Gambler Six, any chance we can get wounded out on those three choppers? Over.”
“Four-One, let’s get that crew out, and if the others get in with the ammo okay, I’ll see if I can get them to come back and get your wounded. Over.”
“Roger, Six, I’ll put out a panel for the birds. Over.”
“Brave Cannon Four-One, good luck. Six out.”
Tossing the hand mike back to the ARVN radio operator, Brian looked up to see all three crew members looking at him.
“Did you guys get that?” Brian asked. All three nodded, but no one said anything. We’re not going to get our wounded out of here, Brian was thinking. I best go brief Sergeant Salley and my guys and let them know what’s going to happen.
The crew returned to the firing ports to watch for approaching NVA and contemplate their immediate future, which at this point wasn’t looking so bright. The common theme with each, though, was confidence that another Chicken-man aircraft would come and get them out of there. Chicken-man crews did not leave people behind. The loss of an aircraft sometimes happened, and it was just their turn to go down. The loss of Reid was also troubling, and they would have to come back and retrieve him in a day or so once this firefight was over.33
Returning to the command bunker, Salley told everyone to get ready as choppers were inbound to get them. The ear popping sound of a UH-1H could be heard above the firebase.
“Gambler Four-One, Gambler Six, over.” Gambler Six was in another UH-1H at three thousand feet above the firebase, coordinating both the fast movers and the flight of three UH-1H aircraft.
“Gambler Six, Four-One, over.”
