- Forum Clout
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The air was thick with dust, the familiar smell of gunpowder greeted me as I drew a heavy breath I was just an 18 year old private, taken from my Kansas family farm to fight a brutal war in Vietnam.
Sargent Mullen was hunched behind a half collapsed concrete wall that was once an orphanage. “Tommy, get up here!” He yelled at me, “cover the left flank! Delta squad, move up!” The first shots rang out as delta squad left cover some 300 feet in front of me. A sniper had set up in a nearby building, but the echos of nearby mortar fire and the collapsing city made it impossible to pinpoint “where the fuck is that zip, Tommy light em up!” I angled my heavy m249 over a large concrete slab that still had children’s paintings on it and let loose, putting bullets in every window I saw. I could hear the chatter of my squadmate’s m16’s peppering other buildings.
Sargent Mullen yelled out “cease fire! Cease fire!, Eyes on target?!” Nobody answered, as nobody had seen the sniper. An eerie silence fell as everyone scanned the horizon around them. All of a sudden, it came. A loud report echoed through the ruble, then another. Two of my squadmates now lie in the open, rolling on the ground in pain. As the man next to me jumped up to drag them , Sargent Mullen screamed “no, fall back!” but it was too late. The sniper had used my injured comrades as bait, the man who went to rescue them was now dead in the street.
“Fuck, fuck! 3’o clock, fourth story! Fire!” screamed Mullen as he grabbed my pack and pulled me up “Alpha flank, delta keep firing!” We ran as fast as we could to the bottom floor of the snipers nest. We slowly made our way up the floors, each man being as silent as possible. We reached the fourth floor and quietly peeked around the corner, that’s when we saw her. The sniper was a small Vietnamese female with a modified Soviet era rifle.
As I raised my gun, I accidentally stepped on a discarded cake. The woman popped up instantly and had a knife an inch from my throat before I could even react. I suddenly realized that Sargent Mullen had grabbed her arm, saving my life my a fraction of a second. Sgt Mullen twisted the woman’s arm and threw her backwards into rubble, as we all made a circle around her with our guns drawn.
“jesus sarge, how old do you think this zip is?!” I asked in shock as the young woman lie bloodied and scared before us. “late twentys, wha” replied Mullen, clearly trying to hide his own emotions. “it is what it is Thomas..” he trailed off. I knew he couldn’t just let this woman go.. she had cherry darted 3 men. “Where are the rest of the VC?!” demanded Mullen. The young woman would not reply. “Where the fuck are they, where are they?!”
Mullen slapped the woman several times as tears started to run down her cheeks.
Mullen suddenly got a smile on his face as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of earbuds. “oh, I’ve got just what you need honey..” He put the earbuds on her and duct taped them in. He clicked play on his walkman and an episode of Nice Podcast Stupid began to play. “ahhhh nooo nooo” the young woman began to scream. Her body began to convulse, her eyes rolled back. Large patches of her hair began to fall out, her fingernails began to crack and her jaw chattered uncontrollably. “noooooo no moore noooooooo” she managed to scream as if she was choking on her breath. With a smile, Sgt Mullen removed the earbuds. “hah, a minute thirty. You made it further than anyone I’ve ever seen, young lady.”
We all looked at each other, knowing it was about to be the end of the line for this young woman.. looking into her fearful eyes, we knew fate had given us all bad hands this day. “WHERE ARE THE VC?!” mullen’s booming voice broke our thoughts. “we need to know where they went!” the young woman hesitated, but as Mullen brought the earbuds back to her ears she broke “Nooo more! Nooo! They in ho chi men! They move weapon to Saigon!” We all raised our weapons, ready to finally end this.
The young woman wept, holding her knees to her chest. All of a sudden Sgt Mullen gestured for us to stop. He lifted the woman’s chin and looked into her eyes “whats your name?” “..its-“ he cut her off. “you know what, that’s not important. Do you know how to hold a toilet brush?”
I rotated out a week later, I never saw Sgt Mullen again. I still think about that young woman and what we did to her. I still see her flailing, trying to get the earbuds out. I still hear her screaming “play video, but no audio! Make no sense aaah!” The woman that shot at us that day had died there. What was left, an empty husk. A minute thirty with that kind of torture changes you forever. Sometimes I think I may have died there, too.
Sargent Mullen was hunched behind a half collapsed concrete wall that was once an orphanage. “Tommy, get up here!” He yelled at me, “cover the left flank! Delta squad, move up!” The first shots rang out as delta squad left cover some 300 feet in front of me. A sniper had set up in a nearby building, but the echos of nearby mortar fire and the collapsing city made it impossible to pinpoint “where the fuck is that zip, Tommy light em up!” I angled my heavy m249 over a large concrete slab that still had children’s paintings on it and let loose, putting bullets in every window I saw. I could hear the chatter of my squadmate’s m16’s peppering other buildings.
Sargent Mullen yelled out “cease fire! Cease fire!, Eyes on target?!” Nobody answered, as nobody had seen the sniper. An eerie silence fell as everyone scanned the horizon around them. All of a sudden, it came. A loud report echoed through the ruble, then another. Two of my squadmates now lie in the open, rolling on the ground in pain. As the man next to me jumped up to drag them , Sargent Mullen screamed “no, fall back!” but it was too late. The sniper had used my injured comrades as bait, the man who went to rescue them was now dead in the street.
“Fuck, fuck! 3’o clock, fourth story! Fire!” screamed Mullen as he grabbed my pack and pulled me up “Alpha flank, delta keep firing!” We ran as fast as we could to the bottom floor of the snipers nest. We slowly made our way up the floors, each man being as silent as possible. We reached the fourth floor and quietly peeked around the corner, that’s when we saw her. The sniper was a small Vietnamese female with a modified Soviet era rifle.
As I raised my gun, I accidentally stepped on a discarded cake. The woman popped up instantly and had a knife an inch from my throat before I could even react. I suddenly realized that Sargent Mullen had grabbed her arm, saving my life my a fraction of a second. Sgt Mullen twisted the woman’s arm and threw her backwards into rubble, as we all made a circle around her with our guns drawn.
“jesus sarge, how old do you think this zip is?!” I asked in shock as the young woman lie bloodied and scared before us. “late twentys, wha” replied Mullen, clearly trying to hide his own emotions. “it is what it is Thomas..” he trailed off. I knew he couldn’t just let this woman go.. she had cherry darted 3 men. “Where are the rest of the VC?!” demanded Mullen. The young woman would not reply. “Where the fuck are they, where are they?!”
Mullen slapped the woman several times as tears started to run down her cheeks.
Mullen suddenly got a smile on his face as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of earbuds. “oh, I’ve got just what you need honey..” He put the earbuds on her and duct taped them in. He clicked play on his walkman and an episode of Nice Podcast Stupid began to play. “ahhhh nooo nooo” the young woman began to scream. Her body began to convulse, her eyes rolled back. Large patches of her hair began to fall out, her fingernails began to crack and her jaw chattered uncontrollably. “noooooo no moore noooooooo” she managed to scream as if she was choking on her breath. With a smile, Sgt Mullen removed the earbuds. “hah, a minute thirty. You made it further than anyone I’ve ever seen, young lady.”
We all looked at each other, knowing it was about to be the end of the line for this young woman.. looking into her fearful eyes, we knew fate had given us all bad hands this day. “WHERE ARE THE VC?!” mullen’s booming voice broke our thoughts. “we need to know where they went!” the young woman hesitated, but as Mullen brought the earbuds back to her ears she broke “Nooo more! Nooo! They in ho chi men! They move weapon to Saigon!” We all raised our weapons, ready to finally end this.
The young woman wept, holding her knees to her chest. All of a sudden Sgt Mullen gestured for us to stop. He lifted the woman’s chin and looked into her eyes “whats your name?” “..its-“ he cut her off. “you know what, that’s not important. Do you know how to hold a toilet brush?”
I rotated out a week later, I never saw Sgt Mullen again. I still think about that young woman and what we did to her. I still see her flailing, trying to get the earbuds out. I still hear her screaming “play video, but no audio! Make no sense aaah!” The woman that shot at us that day had died there. What was left, an empty husk. A minute thirty with that kind of torture changes you forever. Sometimes I think I may have died there, too.
would never make
