CHAPTER 32

“All that the eye can see Miss Walsh,” said Curwin Losmun as he gestured out the door of the chopper. He was very emotional as he said, “it all used to belong to the human race.”

From everything that Patty could see, the only thing that seemed to live here now was the trees. She had heard how big they were. She had even seen some of the pictures that the Rangers were taking on their cell phones. None of that compared to looking, in person, at how big those damn things were! It gave Patty an amusing thought and she was almost afraid she had insulted her host when she did. She explained, “I’m sorry Curwin, I’m not making light of your situation. I was just thinking, Green Peace is going to have a field day with this.”

More laughter came over the intercom when she said it. Patty tried looking up towards the cockpit and said in her headset, “think that’s funny, do you Cliff?” By the sound of it, both of the pilots were laughing. At least the crew chief, who was in plain sight, on his little gun thingy, only gave a slight nod.

The strange part was, Curwin laughed too and he explained, “I thought the same thing when I was in London, don’t worry yourself.”

That made Patty wonder about something and she had thought about it a lot while staying with the Losmun’s. She had just always been afraid to ask and it was no different now. Patty held her tongue though. She was riding in a Blackhawk, talking on vox, and had an entire US Army flight crew listening in. She was going to ask though, eventually. Now she had finally made up her mind and it was only a matter of timing at this point.

The funny part was that Patty was pretty sure that Curwin knew it. He was as sharp as they came and he was looking her dead in the eye. It was almost like he was reading her thoughts and he found it amusing. When he spoke again, it was back to his original schedule. The irony of that was, now it was Patty doing the mind reading. She liked Curwin and his wife. They were, fundamentally, good and pleasant people. Compared to most in the politics business, they were practically saints but, as Patty very well knew, they were not being hospitable out of the goodness of their hearts. They had a story, they wanted it told on Earth, and she was their only chance.

That was also another reason that Patty had listened to them so intently. It was not because of the story they told, per se, because the ins and outs of that story sounded like so many others in the past. There were even groups back home that had similar tales. It was unfortunate but, the simple fact was that this kind of story was not selling right now and Patty was pretty sure no one would buy it for the time being. What interested her the most about it, was the fact that no one else had even tried to record it. Patty was pretty sure that she was not Curwin’s first mark. There were other reporters here and some he would have had more access too than her. Patty really was wondering why she had been chosen by him.

“My people,” Curwin told her as the chopper began to bank with all of the rest in it’s formation, “are not as unified as we once were. It’s sad really.”

Suddenly, Patty forgot all about Curwin and his plight. She was now wondering more about her own personal safety. She saw the black columns of smoke off in the distance. Then she saw a flash, followed a few moments later by a boom that was loud enough to be audible over the helicopter she was in, and it was followed by more black smoke. Patty asked into the intercom, “Cliff, what the hell is that off to our left?”

The Nightstalker did not even have to ask for clarification and, he seemed to be ready with an answer, “don’t let it bother you Patty. The IAF are pounding the dog shit out of suspected mortar positions. They’re making double sure none of the choppers get hit on landing.”

“Oh,” Patty thought about it, “that’s good.” Then she thought about it some more, “I think.” As the chopper fleet came in for a landing at the clearing, Patty could see why they were not taking any chances. Two burned out Lynx helicopters had been pushed off to one side of the field. Patty could also see the impressions of charred soil and burned craters as well. Patty might not be some kind of military strategist but, she did not have to be in order to realize the size of the little chopper fleet that she was riding in. It must have been a rather juicy target for those crater making guys out there.

The crew chief gave them last second instructions just before the Blackhawk touched down. Patty took off her headset and gave the guy a thumbs up just before popping her safety harness and scooting over to the other side of the chopper. When they had first told Patty about the disembarkation, she had thought it was normal. Then, after seeing the field with a birds eye view, Patty had thought that maybe it had something to do with the danger involved. Now, as she jumped out of the right cargo door and ran low past the spinning blades, she saw that neither were the reason.

Troops were loading up on those very same helicopters, even as passengers and supplies were being unloaded off the other side. Patty knelt at the edge of the field and watched those helicopters take back off again. It surprised her because she was positive that they had not even been on the ground for an entire minute. The reporter might not admit it to anyone else but, the soldiers ability to do that was as impressive as hell. She imagined someone trying that at a civilian airport. It would turn into a total pooch screw inside of five seconds.

As the choppers flew off, Patsy finally raised up off her knee and found that she had company. Phil Conner was standing behind her and had been so quiet and unassuming, as the man usually was, that Patsy had never even noticed that he was there. He nodded to the reporter and Patty nodded back as she said, “nice for you to come out and meet us Phil.” What Patty really meant was, “so I get another spy and honor guard.”

Conner surprised Patty when he pointed to a group of soldiers that were clumped up nearby, “not here for you Miss Walsh. We got new guys.”

“Oh,” Patty had not even realized. They had come off another helicopter and there had been so many soldiers walking around, back at Seau-Neaut, who would have noticed a few more? Of course, the one thing that Patty did notice was Phil’s reaction to these new arrivals. For one thing, he did not even get close to them. He just stood there with Patty and Curwin. She asked him, “well aren’t you going to go over there?”

“In good time Miss Walsh,” Phil replied with a silly little smile. “I’m waiting for them to wander closer to cover.” She did not get it. Phil was still busy watching the newbies as he explained, “one of those morons is going to try and salute me and I’m not getting capped by a sniper because of it.”

Patty’s jaw dropped, “has that, uh, happened before?”

“No,” replied the army major. It was something of a relief but, as Phil pointed out, “I don’t want to be the first.”

Suddenly Patty felt a bit self conscious and she began looking off into the far off hills, at the tree line, and then wondering what was going on in places she could not see. “Is that really a problem?”

The new arrivals were now wandering towards the clump of sandbag bunkers that was the command post. Phil was thinking that there might be hope for them yet. He then answered the reporter, “let me put it this way Miss Walsh. We’ve had two choppers nailed, with the direct hits, right on this very eL-Zee. Pretty good shooting for what is allegedly an indirect fire weapon. Somebody is watching something around here. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

As the Army major walked off, Patty asked her traveling companion, “what did he mean by all that?”

“I think,” Curwin replied as he was taking in the sights of the firebase, “what he was basically saying is we might want to find another place to loiter around.”

As Patty and Curwin did that very thing, Phil caught up with his “FNG’s” and sure enough, one of them did try and salute. She was a young second Lieutenant by the name of Sayers. Phil knew that would make her the West Pointer. It also meant she should know better and not because they were in a war zone. Phil had expected them to be stupid about that. Her problem was that she was standing right by a Captain by the name of Washburn. If anyone of this crew were supposed to salute, it should have been him.

Phil slapped the girls hand down and said, “standing orders people. No salutes while you’re in the Hurt Again.” The Sayers girl looked flustered and Phil could care less. “We’ve got an area for you to get squared away and in processed. There’s a Sandbag Hilton down that way, with a big sign that has Foxtrot November Golf stenciled on it. Sergeant Major Lewis is waiting on you.” As the group wandered off, Phil snatched up Washburn, “not you Captain. That’s only for enlisted and children.”

Sayers stopped and looked back at the Major, “permission to speak sir?”

Phil had no time for this nonsense so he told the girl, “I said enlisted and children. Trust me Lieutenant, you qualify. Now go.” Phil motioned for the Captain to follow him and as they walked towards the CP, he asked, “so exactly who’s ass did you kiss to get here?”

Ted Washburn snorted a laugh, “hey you know Phil, all that time I was working for you at the Pentagon, I did have crossed rifles on my uniform, in case you didn’t notice.”

“Oh I noticed Ted,” Phil replied, “I also noticed who your dad is.”

The young Captain was not so happy when he replied, “so does everybody Phil. You know, the funny part is that people like to think that having a Senator for a father is supposed to be a boon for your career. I beg to differ.”
“Whatever,” Phil replied as they reached the command post. “All your being here tells me is, you’re dumber than I thought.” Apparently the Captain thought it was funny. Phil made it clear that he was not joking. He also led the kid in and introduced him to the commander. Bob was looking almost stereotypical of a task force commander too. He was hunched over a map board and listening to people report in. Phil noticed who was actually doing the reporting and was kind of surprised as he asked, “the radio’s are working?”

“For now,” Bob replied as he suddenly noticed the Captain standing behind Phil. The guy was hard to miss. His uniform was clean and not covered with animal skins like everybody else up here. Bob almost laughed at the kid but, he was too busy feeling sorry for the boy. Bob also realized he did not have time to do it ether. He sized the kid up and then said, “after you learn how things work up here, you’re getting the S-1 shop.”

That was a staff job and quite probably the most boring of all four! Ted wanted to protest, “sir, I heard you were short a company commander? I thought that maybe…”

“That was your first mistake son,” Bob shot back, “stop thinking right now and maybe you’ll live to see the end of this operation. There’s no time to get you up to speed for a company command. I know why you’re here Washburn. What you need and what this task force needs is two different things and the task force is more important.” When the boy looked stunned, Bob gave him a hint, “dismissed.”

After the Captain was gone, Phil took his helmet off and told his boss, “you do know who his father is, right?”

“How many times have you told me that already?” Bob answered his own question after that, “enough times. Why is it that the replacements we’re getting all seem to be dog and pony shows like that kid? That other one, what was her name?”

Lenny Price was sitting quietly over in a corner and sipping on a coffee. He answered the question, “Sayers. She graduated third in her class at the point. Not exactly a dog and pony, there.”

“Yeah right,” Bob was unconvinced, “the girl is just out of IOBC and she’s already got her eyes set on the chairman’s job. I call that a little too ambitious for our situation.”

Phil was busy checking the hard copies of the incoming reports when he heard that. He was kind of reluctant to say anything but, he thought about it and then noted, “I kind of thought of easing her into Vega’s slot.”

They had now found positions for all of the excess officers. Vega had not been all that happy about it either. She had replaced the late Lieutenant Stevens in Delta Company. To be fair to the girl, nobody wanted his job after what happened to him. Phil was finding out exactly how superstitious people could be in these circumstances. Still, Vega had been a pain in the ass long before they gave her a platoon.

Bob was obviously aware of it and he told his Major, “hell no. Vega might be a problem but, she’s our problem. She’s also been up here long enough to know what’s at stake. I’m thinking a platoon might be exactly what she needs. Besides, with all the shake up in Delta, I’m not sending them out anyway. All Vega has to do is make sure her holes stay manned and she’s well capable of that.”

“Oh that reminds me,” Phil replied, “Walsh came in with the drop.”

Bob went back to looking at his maps, “yeah I know already. I’m the one who sent word back that she could.”

That actually surprised Phil. Not only had he missed that but, it was contrary to how his boss had been dealing with the woman. It made Phil wonder about Bob’s night in Cheau-Gan. The rumor mill was sure as hell working overtime on that one. That was why Phil decided to probe a little, “Curwin Losmun was with her.”

Bob snickered, “so, it’s his country. I’m not going to stop him.”

All conversation stopped when the sergeant manning the radio said, “touchdown!”

After a moment of silence, Bob took a deep breath and said, “here we go.”