“2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 2nd/18th Infantry, 1st ID.

III Corps Tactical Zone with a focus on the area around Loc Ninh.

Primary divisional mission is to stop enemy infiltration into the Saigon area, the Division will conduct extensive reconnaissance-in-force and ambush operations in the Iron Triangle and Trapezoid jungle areas as well as in the vicinity of An Loc.

Bravo Company will operate out of Firebase Gela approximately 17 km northwest of Lai Khê.”

Second time out… two squads, PHQ and an M60 team (joined by the Asst Gunner from the other team as his buddy is still in hospital) from 2nd platoon to conduct a search & destroy in the foothills and scrub jungle north of Lai Khê. The area is MIKE threat, and has been deemed a Free Fire Zone by division. Intel suggest that the area around an old abandoned farm may be used for the storing of supplies by the Regional Viet Cong cadre.

Once more, Sgt. Ducote found his team on point, and quickly uncovered a hidden cache on the ridge. Sadly, Corporal Tucker, a new guy with 11 months of his tour left, yanked the old US ammo cans out of the hole under the tree without checking properly and detonated a large booby trap. Luckily the blast didn’t hit anyone else, as the team was well spread out, but Corporal Tucker was killed instantly by the explosion.

At almost the same time, on the other low ridge the Platoon captain had a brush with death, when a snipers bullet pinged off his helmet as he stood on the slope of the hill. He then threw himself down the slope and into cover in the tree filled depression in the ground… and pretty much stayed there for the rest of the day refusing to come out. Must have been concussion…

However the rest of the platoon now carried on the mission and Sgt Ducote now came under fire from the main hill. This was all long range rifle fire, but a lot of it. It failed to score any hits but forced the Sgt to get his men down the ridge and into cover in the jungle. As they did, just as the cleared the ridge slope, a VC team in the treeline they were approaching popped up and let rip with SMGs at close range, targeting the M60 team supporting the fire team. With no cover the VC bullets pinged and ricocheted around… but failed to hit any of the M60 team! In response the Pig gunner let rip, not even bothering to seek cover. Not only did he pin down the entire VC team but almost cut one VC soldier in two with his sweeping burst.

On the other flank, the other US forces now made a very cautious advance and got into a long drawn out firefight with two VC teams and a VC RPD team. Corporal Garcia, with his teams M79 somehow ended up on point and exposed to fire from all the Viet Cong forces. Hiding behind one tree, Garcia led a charmed life as bullet after bullet hit the tree and Garcia remained unhurt. In response he returned fire and after two rounds that went astray, most likely due to the withering fire he was subjected too, his third round landed among a VC team, killing one and causing the others to take cover.

At this time the rest of the US soldiers began pouring automatic fire on the VC teams and first one of the RPD team was seen to fall, then the RPD itself went silent as its gunner was wounded and the remaining enemy soldier dragged the wounded comrade into the jungle.

A long drawn out firefight continued, with the US on one flank unable to advance due to the large enemy numbers on the hill in front of them, and on the other flank the firefight finally came to a sputtering finish but many of the US soldiers found themselves low on ammo. Sgt. Ducote repeatedly suggested that the fire support be directed on the hill so he and his men could advance up the hill with the M60 in support… but the captain remained pinned down in the trees out of sight, though his RTO ran through fire to cross the open ground and get into a position on top of the hill, unfortunately the captain didn’t go with him and as the Platoon Sgt was leading one fire team in the firefight, the supporting mortars and heli support remained uncalled…

This meant that one flank couldn’t advance, as the open ground around the crest of the hill would have been suicide. So the engagement degenerated into a sporadic bout of cautious firing, especially with so many US soldiers yelling that they were low on ammo. At this point one of the men on the hill, standing next to the RTO suddenly pitched forward and was dead before he hit the ground. The enemy sniper had struck again and this time had killed his target but the Platoon Sgt got a bead on the sniper and emptied his clip at him with return fire, and he managed to score a hit… the sniper fell from the tree dead.

This seemed to signal an end to the fighting, the fire died off and after a while it seemed the VC had left the area. Although the platoon found three enemy corpses, they had also lost two of their own killed in action. With two months of the tour gone, the platoon has lost five men killed. But over next few days after the fighting, the M60 gunner arrived back from hospital, and came in on a flight with a new guy too. The platoon is a little understrength, but as they moved a couple of guys around and Sgt Ducote got the FNG, the squads all look reasonably OK with four men in each fire team and both M60 teams back to strength.

However… the captain has a lot to prove to his men now.

Figures all 20mm Elhiem Miniatures.