The river was a good four hundred meters away, and it was impossible to miss. The jungle between the swept river bank and the side of the cliff we’d made our way over from was dense but impossible to get lost in because of the ever present penetrating sound of that river. The continuous rain, even though it wasn’t that dense, added to the swollen water flow to create a jumbled rushing sound in the distance, no matter where we were in the Valley. My exit from the packed down area where I’d been confronted by the three officers of Kilo Company had been so quick and determined that I’d ended up walking point once more, and I didn’t feel like slowing to let someone else take over. I knew in my heart of hearts that I’d rather walk point for a Marine company in hell rather than face those three officers again.
Just before reaching the edge of the jungle growth, Nguyen eased out from inside a seemingly dense stand of bamboo just ahead of me on the right side of the barely distinct path, abruptly letting me know that I wasn’t really walking the point at all. He dropped to his knees in the center of the path, facing the direction of our travel. I held up my right fist, indicating to everyone behind that we were silently stopping. I went down on hands and knees, creeping to Nguyen’s side.
Jim,
“Dance To The Music” was released in January, 1968…..However, you already made reference to the movie “The Green Berets”, which was released in the US in July, 1968, and also mentioned that Junior had already seen the movie…..So…. “Dance To The Music” wouldn’t have been a new release by the time Junior heard it on Fusner’s radio…. Junior would have had to have been in the Valley a reasonable time after seeing The Duke in “The Green Berets” to have mentioned it. An anachronism within a conundrum!
Happy Thanksgiving….
Ah, the action all took place after those dates Doug, so I don’t understand the comment.
Happy Thanksgiving to you too though…
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim, thank you for this chapter coming out so quickly. Don’t know how you can churn out the chapters and answer all the comments. Considering all you and your men have been through your name must have been well known in the rear area. Rank or not I am surprised Morgan was not instructed to follow your lead or smart enough to recognize combat experience since you are still alive. Your recount is so vivid it feels like I served with you. Thanks for another great chapter.
The battlion commander hated me, as did Morgan and many of the other officers.
The arty officers knew and liked me and felt sorry for me and us out there.
The air officers were outstanding. But the Marine officers in the rear were
so remote and guarding their remoteness. They didnt’ really want to know or believe
what we were going through out there and they proved that time after time.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim,
I haven’t commented in a while, just enjoying the well crafted story.
A couple of things no one else seemed to mention.
“He who pays the piper calls the tune” I believe was the origin of saying “if you want to avoid bad consequences you have to pay the piper” The people of Hamelin didn’t pay the piper for ridding them of rats, he lured their children away.
The Doors released Light My Fire in 1967 and Feliciano released his cover in 1968 so you could have heard both during your time over there.
Once again, a great read, thank you. I eagerly await each installment. I also made a rebuttal on Amazon.
Tim
Tough backgroiund on that comment and attributed to all kinds of people…checking the Internet.
Didn’t know that back then though and this one was dredged straight from memory.
Thanks for the hawk eye and close attention.
Semper fi,
Jim
Were you ever promoted upon returning. Or discharged for medical reasons (early).
Just curious.
Vern, I returned to the U.S., spent a year in and out of hospitals in San Francisco and Camp Pendleton.
Served on disability while I awaited medical review. The review came in
and I was discharged for medical reasons honorably in 1970.
That discharge allowed me to continue in the Corps until the expiration
of active service three days after their ruling.
It was all one strange odyssey after I got home…
Semper fi,
Jim
Had a feeling it must had evolved something like that. Thank you for the response and for the story you’re telling.
Thanbks Vern for the conclusion and support in that conclusion.
Semper fi,
Jim
I’ve been keeping quiet, and just reading. But when people that have not walked the walk start making snide remarks about those that have, I gotta speak up! I was very lucky being in a transportation company, hauling supply’s into the central highlands. An ke, pleiku, dak to, hauled troops into Cambodia in may of 70. We got shot up some. Just doing our jobs! Got a cousin was in Nam same time as me, Air Force cam Ron bay, air craft mechanic came back telling everyone about the shit he was in. He don’t talk to me, so I don’t talk to him! Cause I know!!
Interesting comment Dale. It is a funny line that has to be taken with veterans back here.
Some tell stories that they make up to cover the real ones they can’t tell.
Then there are those that tell other people’s stories after never having been in the shit themselves.
A lot of veterans want to have been in combat but never got the chance or would take the chance…
and the feel ‘left out’ or not one of the ‘real’ guys.
The code is not to call out anyone telling stories. What good does it serve?
The guys who’ve really been in combat know, one and all, that combat is not a place of true refined
or describably heroism as portrayed in Hollywood or by others who have no clue.
Heroism is enduring, getting through, trying to take care of those with you in hell because they are all you got,
not because it is the right thing to do.
There is no right thing to do.
There’s living and there’s dying and the real story of your life or death
there will never truly be known or told by anyone. My assembly of what happened to me has to be part fiction simply because nobody can remember that well or have those detailed records. All I can do is do the best I can reassembling the sequences
and stories within the stories as best I can before I am gone.
Thanks for the depth of your comment and the questions it raises.
Semper fi,
Jim
Damn. I don’t know if this will make any sense. I’m not the writer you are, but here we go.
I’ve read every chapter and ever comment thrown at you.
Your reply hits hard!
To me it summarizes all of what in that “Valley of Death” was all about. There are no rules. Its about survival.
As you stated “There’s living and there’s dying” and the real story of life and death will never or told by anyone.
Do you not realize you are not only telling it, but your masterful writing brings the sounds, the smell, the emotions, the gut wrenching fear of what’s next along with moments of of wanting to just lay down and say fuck it, don’t mean nuthin’ to all of us in a way far superior than anyway a God Damned Hollywood movie could ever portray.
I served in those years. Wasn’t there but if I was I co only hope today it would have been with a leader like you. There is no roadmap for NB what you and your men went through.
Semper Fi
Keep putting the reality out the. Don’t need no damn movie screen. Your written words are a movie
Another segment up there as we write Jack. As soon as Chuck can get it up there, that is.
Thank you for the entry as it was very meaningful to me…and to others who are reading along on this site.
This kind of writing cannot be that popular with the public because the public is beaten down with
mythology that is much more pleasing and self-congratualing. Rambot works for them and
‘what’s his name’ who wrote it is an international star becuase of that.
Semper fi,
Jim
Don’t mean nothin” Lt let em sing all gave some some gave all.in silence we who know weep for those who can’t Semper fi my friend
Thanks for those meaningful words and your deep abiding support…
Semper fi,
Jim
as an era vet, this brings up something that has been on my mind for a long time. what is the hierarchy among veterans? who determines what that is, and the value of his service? most obeyed their orders and reported for duty, wherever that was. i enlisted in the navy in 1970 for four years, as my draft notice was imminent. i had no connections, but somehow got stateside duty for all four years. compared to combat or in country, i feel my service was less valuable than that of others. it was far from heroic, but still, i think it was honorable and important to me. a tremendous sacrifice for all who served. i am an american legion member to support veterans, but not active because i was not in the shit, like you and so many others were.
Semper fi
gene.
There is no hierarchy and I think all veterans know that. The problem of the kind of service we performed really only comes up
when combat is concerned. Nobody wants to go do that once they know what it is, and most don’t survive it unless surviving it
other than death is considered real survival. But so many veterans want to come back and be known as combat survivors because of
the mythology laid down by movies and television productions, not to mention many books. The term ‘hero’ has been so cheapened
over the years that merely putting on the right set of clothes or taking a certain job can transform one from a regular guy into
a societal hero. So, there are many stories told by people who didn’t serve in combat, which takes away from those who have in that
it makes what they did rather ho hum…or worse, turns their true agonizing stories into bullshit while the bullshit thrives. This is the
phenomenal world we returned to from the real world we went down into. It’s a phenomenal world of one big ball of deception and that’s really
hard to come home and get used to. The phenomenal world of deception is actually a better world than the real one…as so well illustrated in the movie The Matrix. You want that truth? You’re not ready and you can’t handle the truth. That’s from the Nicholson movie and equally appropriate. I didn’t really expect that many people would believe my story, and many do not. It’s not really a believable story…except for those who lived it or a version of it. That’s my audience and I am glad to serve them.
Semper fi,
Jim
“I hadn’t seen Sugar Daddy or Jurgens since the ambush, and I wondered if the lack of the (out post) was the reason.”
Change “out post” to “outpost” (This was previously fixed but popped up again in the current version.)
Thanks for the editing help. We are doing better and going back to fix old editing problems.
Wordspell can be a bitch, like here. It does not like outpost. It likes out post, so it changes it in the end.
The funny part of this new electronic A.I. worled? Our printer at work is so sophisticated that it has its own form of wordspell
so when you feed in the data to print out it changes the spelling inside the printer!
Semper fi,
Jim
James, whether fiction or not, having been there in 69 as a 18 year old medic with the First Infantry Division, stationed out of Lai Khe as a field medic. I lost several men while there and for a long time struggled with the thought if I had been older or had more training could I have done something more to save them. You remind me of my first LT I had, Looked out for his men even though our Company Commander was like Capt. Morgan, LT was wounded and medivaced out and the captain evenually got his own. The story you are telling is one everyone should read especially the wives of those who served so they can maybe get a better understanding of what a lot of us went through. My time wasn’t as bad as yours but at the moment all hell was breaking lose I felt like it. Keep up the good work, I look forward to each new chapter. God Bless you and your efforts
Thanks Michael. I must continue for all of us who were in the thick of it at the time.
War changes due to a variety of factors but some things will always be the same.
Semper fi, and thank you…
Jim
Keep writting, holding my breath for the next chapter, my dad was a WWII marine, invasion of solomon island, 1st Marines, didn’t get to fight long wounded by a gernade in a fox hole, purple heart, Tried to inlist in 1970 but medical kept me out. Dad always said he was kinda glad I didn’t get to see what war really was like. Your story is bringing it to life for me, all the good the bad and the ugly. Keep up the great work and S.F.
thank you Bob, that comment came in at just the right moment as I put the finishing edit on the next segment…
Semper fi, and thanks…
Jim
Great read. Outstanding. I wasn’t there, but your story shows that human nature doesn’t change. The archetypes are all there: the doers who get the job done, even if they need to throw out the rule book; those who can’t put the rule book aside even when sticking to it doesn’t make sense; those who scheme endlessly to avoid doing anything at all; those who are incompetent and don’t know it, but are always ready to take the credit and foist off the blame; the glory seekers who are willing to fight to everyone else’s last breath; and the majority just trying to get by as best as they can. As much as the details vary, things never really change. I’m looking forward to the next installment–keep it up!
Thanks for the support and the lengthy comment here Ben. I am working away today and hope to have another segment up tomorrow.
Semper fi,
Jim
Remember James this is your story and keep on writing your story the way it was. Don’t worry about negative reviews because in the large scope of God’s purpose for you those reviews are not important at all. God Blessings are on you and that’s the Greatest Review you can ever get.
Praying for you always,
Nancy
I understand Nancy.
The trolls are out there and I fully comprehend how many men who did not serve resent those
who did and see some sort of value in dragging us down.
It’s just harder to take in real life than it is in conjecture and in logic.
They gain some life by drawing it from others. It’s the anonymity thing that bothers me most.
The people who leave their identities and don’t like the work I don’t mind at all.
They are ‘real’ in my opinion, at least.
Thanks for the support as I continue on…
Semper fi,
Jim
James remember this was meant for you and us we needed this .Some can never understand and never will my brother
Thnaks for that Stephen. I am continuing on….into this night, like the ones before…
Semper fi,
Jim
Nguyen…..how often have you shaken your head and thought about everything that happened….and what the odds were of you finding such an ally out there when you so desperately needed one….and such an unlikely ally….for what seemed like an eternity…all the chess pieces were on the other side…except you and a single pawn….and then one by one…they start crossing that line…because you refuse to give up…just keep telling the story Jim….in your own way, you are re writing history that flows against the river of novels that tell the stories of endless heroics….your story is full of the real heroes….like those that ran through the jungle with you for ten minutes at a time…and then laid there, eyes, ears, and lungs wide open..drawning in every sight, sound and deep breath possible…waiting to do it again…whether or not you realize it yet Lt..you’ve got an “up and running, well oiled machine’ on your hands now…nothing better than a Rifle Company of Marines with an edge to them….Charley made a mistake in not commiting everything he had to wiping you out early on…..now he’s gotta face a team…….. a little disjointed here and there…but the edge is sharpening minute by minute…..love it….Semper Fi….
Goldsmith, you drive me ever onward. Sometimes hard.
I got a crummy review again today on Amazon.
The guy remained anonymous (AdventureBob) and said it was a good story but total fiction
because he was there and knew better. No credentials, no Purple Heart,
nothing at all to go on except he gets to leave a shitty remark and there’s nothing I can do about it.
Yes, it should be a small thing, after all, the first novel is well-advertised as fiction for obvious reasons.
But it’s hard to persevere when crap heads who also obviously never fought down in that valley
cast such sharp-edged stones that will stay on the site forever.
Your remarks came through at just the right instant.
I cannot thank you enough on this site or at this time…
this next chapter is for you….
and somewhat because of you….
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
Just countered the negative review on Amazon
Now that was unexpected and nice Tomas.
Unfortunately, those ‘troll’ types an cause no end of havoc and why they are
allowed their anonymity is not understandable.
It’s okay for writing articles or junk you don’t want to
be pursued over, but when you are writing to criticize you should be in the
clear with your identity in order to allow for any comeback.
You can’t really reply to people hiding behind a moniker like AdventureBob
and operations like Amazon should know better.
Thanks a million for wading in because I really can’t do it myself.
Semper fi,
friend,
Jim
Just keep telling the story James fuck the asshole on Amazon he probably wasn’t even over there,i would kick his ass myself if i could find him.