Now And Then

Now

A/N: late dedication to @lydiarse for the amazing cover

I walk down the dirt path with a loose grip on my rifle. The humidity of the country is starting to get to all of us – I’m surprised Charlie can’t see us by the reflection of the sun off of our sweat-covered bodies.

            “Matt – Hey, Matt!” My buddy Reggie calls from behind me.

“Yeah, Reg, what’s up?” I call back, turning my head slightly to look at him.

“You know what the deal is, man? What are we doin’ out here?”

“The hell am I supposed to know, dude? It’s probably just another patrol or something, dude, but keep it quiet just in case.” I turn my head back forward and scan the trees. Clouds are rolling in overhead, which is a sign of another one of the torrential storms that frequent Vietnam. It makes working out in the field a huge pain in the ass, and going on patrols that last multiple days are complete hell.

“Down! Get the fuck down!” Lieutenant Matt calls out. We all dive behind whatever kind of bush or tree stump we can find. “Stick! Stick, get up here!” A guy who got here just around the time as me jogged up from behind Matt. “Take someone with you and go clear out those trees.” The Lieutenant says, pointing down the road with his gun.

Stick turns back and looks at the guys he can see. “Kev! Kev, c’mon, man!” I get up from the rock I’m behind and jog up to him and we start down the path, rifles up and at the ready. I snap to the left, moving a clump of leaves up with my foot,  and circle the cluster of trees.

“Clear!” I call back, moving back onto the path.

“Clear over here too.” Stick calls, joining me back on the path.

Just as the rest of the guys get back up to us, it starts pouring. Those little pellets of rain that sting you as they fall down and come down so fast that there’s almost no empty space in the air at all. “I don’t like this,” Matt says under his breath. “Alright, guys, let’s go back. Charlie obviously isn’t around here, so –“ He’s cut off by gunshots hitting the ground all around us.

“Get down!” Reg calls out and starts spraying back at the trees. I run down the path and slide into cover behind a rock, resting the barrel of my rifle against the top. Stick gets behind a log across the road from me and everyone else digs in somewhere behind us.

“Watch for movement,” I say and slide the safety off on my gun. We keep our sights trained on the trees for a good fifteen minutes and nothing moves.

“Who’s got smokes?” Matt calls out,  to which a chorus of guys respond. “Pop them in the trees and let’s get out of here.” I yank the pin out of my smoke grenade and chuck it towards the trees. After a few seconds it pops and a cloud of smoke fills the air, followed by the other guys’.

We slowly walk backwards, our guns still trained on the forest. Just as me, Stick, and Dusty are about to cross over the crest of a hill gunfire erupts, both from behind our smokes and from our right. I spot an enemy and lock my sights in, but I don’t shoot. I lead in front of him for a few seconds before I hear a scream from beside me. “I’m hit!” Dusty screams, and I lower my rifle and run to help him. Reg comes running up the hill to give suppressing fire while Stick and I carry Dusty to safety at the bottom of the hill.

“Reg! Reg, come on, man!” I call behind me as we regroup with the other guys. Within seconds he’s back with us and we’re all hauling ass, except for whoever we passed Dusty off to.

“Charlie at six o’clock, on the hill!” Someone calls out, and we all turn. A lot of the guys open fire, but I spray at them to try and suppress. “Three o’clock! They’re coming from the side, man!” The same guy calls out, and I turn to engage. Me and one of them lock eyes, both of our guns raised, both of us with a shot lined up on the other’s head. He doesn’t move his finger to the trigger and neither do I. A smoke grenade rolls in front of me and pops and I run back while Matt gives the order to retreat. I follow Stick or Reg or someone back to the group and we book it into the forest and back towards the FOB.

They’re humans too. They’re probably retreating and tending to their wounded, wondering why we have to do this to them. They have soldiers that are against the whole thing, too – soldiers that don’t want to kill.

            Just like us.