Rex
They were the cutest little mixed-breed puppies you ever saw. They were tied up to a stake in the middle of a Viet Cong base camp. A fire was still going and a pot of water was boiling over the fire. We suspect the VC had been about ready to cook the puppies. The VC had just bugged out, and we had almost caught them; missed them by five minutes or less.We rescued the puppies.
There were four of them. Each APC in the company took one as a pet. My squad, 2nd squad of Bravo Company named our puppy Rex. He was white with brown spots and carried himself with nobility. When we moved out on the APC, Rex would stand up on the front of our APC just under the barrel of the fifty-caliber machine gun, just as if he owned the world. Rex looked like a little hood ornament up there on the front of the Armored Personnel Carrier.
Our driver, Mitchell, really got attached to Rex; I guess we all did, but when the squad went out on foot patrol the driver would stay with the APC and do cleaning and maintenance, which gave him more time to play with Rex. We all took turns feeding Rex and taking care of him. I’ll just go ahead and say it; we all loved Rex. We didn’t know how we were going to do it but we were planning to try to sneak Rex out of the country when the next one in the squad was finished with his tour of duty. I can’t remember who was up to get out of Nam next, I just knew it wasn’t me. Yes, we had plans to save Rex.
We had been moving around for a while East of Saigon looking for more VC base camps. We received orders to dig in for a while and set up a perimeter and stay in the area East of Saigon. A long-term perimeter consisted of digging ramps down into the dirt and pulling the APCs in so that the ‘50’ would be level with the ground. The APCs would be positioned in a circle. A foxhole would be dug between each APC and a bunker would be built out of sand bags over each foxhole. Then we would string several rolls of barbed wire, with cans and bells hooked to them, around the outside of our perimeter. Last, we would run wire out from each bunker, and attach a Claymore mine to it.
The Claymore was a plastic curved mine that was command detonated. It was full of C4 explosive and had steel balls packed into the convex side. There were stories of how the VC had learned to sneak in and turn a Claymore around then make a noise. When the Americans would detonate the Claymore, they would take out some of their own.
After we got the camp set up, we had to go out on foot patrol. We all rubbed Rex’s head for luck and started out on the patrol. We were only out for a couple of hours, but upon our return, we heard the sad news. Rex was dead. Mitchell explained through his tears that he was repositioning the APC and didn’t see Rex behind the APCs right track. He showed us where he buried Rex. I am not going to tell you that we all cried for Rex, we could not even cry for the buddies we had lost in battles, but I know I had a tear in my eye, and suspect that every squad member did as well.
Live and learn; learn and live. War is hell.
There were four of them. Each APC in the company took one as a pet. My squad, 2nd squad of Bravo Company named our puppy Rex. He was white with brown spots and carried himself with nobility. When we moved out on the APC, Rex would stand up on the front of our APC just under the barrel of the fifty-caliber machine gun, just as if he owned the world. Rex looked like a little hood ornament up there on the front of the Armored Personnel Carrier.
Our driver, Mitchell, really got attached to Rex; I guess we all did, but when the squad went out on foot patrol the driver would stay with the APC and do cleaning and maintenance, which gave him more time to play with Rex. We all took turns feeding Rex and taking care of him. I’ll just go ahead and say it; we all loved Rex. We didn’t know how we were going to do it but we were planning to try to sneak Rex out of the country when the next one in the squad was finished with his tour of duty. I can’t remember who was up to get out of Nam next, I just knew it wasn’t me. Yes, we had plans to save Rex.
We had been moving around for a while East of Saigon looking for more VC base camps. We received orders to dig in for a while and set up a perimeter and stay in the area East of Saigon. A long-term perimeter consisted of digging ramps down into the dirt and pulling the APCs in so that the ‘50’ would be level with the ground. The APCs would be positioned in a circle. A foxhole would be dug between each APC and a bunker would be built out of sand bags over each foxhole. Then we would string several rolls of barbed wire, with cans and bells hooked to them, around the outside of our perimeter. Last, we would run wire out from each bunker, and attach a Claymore mine to it.
The Claymore was a plastic curved mine that was command detonated. It was full of C4 explosive and had steel balls packed into the convex side. There were stories of how the VC had learned to sneak in and turn a Claymore around then make a noise. When the Americans would detonate the Claymore, they would take out some of their own.
After we got the camp set up, we had to go out on foot patrol. We all rubbed Rex’s head for luck and started out on the patrol. We were only out for a couple of hours, but upon our return, we heard the sad news. Rex was dead. Mitchell explained through his tears that he was repositioning the APC and didn’t see Rex behind the APCs right track. He showed us where he buried Rex. I am not going to tell you that we all cried for Rex, we could not even cry for the buddies we had lost in battles, but I know I had a tear in my eye, and suspect that every squad member did as well.
Live and learn; learn and live. War is hell.
posted by 7horses | Tuesday, June 21, 2005
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