Nightmares
By R.A. Camaro

About an hour down the old road they stopped at a gate where two MP's were standing by a jeep, and a Sergeant E-7 ordered the young MP Sergeant out of the truck and place himself in the driver's seat and started down the road. He glanced at Tom and asked, "Do you think it will rain?"

Tom answered quickly, knowing this might help him relax, by saying, "No, too cloudy out; might snow, though." They both chuckled awhile.

At about 1730 hours they could see some small buildings ahead. The driver announced, "You'll find out what's going on when we have a briefing session this evening."

As the truck pulled up, Lieutenant Miller and a captain stepped from a small buildi ng on which was a sign marked HEADQUARTERS. Ed told them, "Unload your gear and find a bed in the building at the other side of the truck, and that will be all until further notice." No salutes were given by anyone to anyone.

"There will be a briefing at 1 830 hours in the building to the north of the barracks." The Lieutenant and the Captain turned and reentered the building as soon as the men began their work. "Captain," Ed started, "may we go through the mens' files before the briefing?"

"Certainly, Lieu tenant," was the reply. The Captain pulled out the files as he sat down. "PFC Dave Johnson, RA 17330154; nickname 'Cowboy'; specialties--weapons, foreign and domestic; karate; airborne qualified; born Ridgeville, Ohio; 19; fired expert in all small arms. Any questions?"

Ed shook his head negatively.

"PFC William Davis, RA 13754301; nickname 'Reb'; specialties--airborne radio technician; can drive 5-ton and small vehicles; karate; born Flat Rock, North Carolina, age 21; fired expert in 45, M16, and M14 sniper rifles. Questions?"

Ed shook his head again, saying, "Next."

"PFC Anthony Williams, RA 11741335; nickname, none; specialties--demolitions; airborne; kung fu; born New York, New York, age 21; fired expert with 45 automatic, M79 grenade launcher, sharp shooter with M16." The Captain evidently assumed by now that if t he Lieutenant had any questions, he would have asked.

"Next, " said Ed.

"E-2 Kenneth Munser, US 55621748; nickname, none; specialties--combat engineer, demolitions; fired expert with M60 machine gun, M14 sniper rifles, 45 automatic; born Cape May, New Jersey, age 18."

"Next."

"PFC Ronald Tillman, RA 30115734; Nickname 'Rocky', after Rocky Marciano; Negro; specialties--former Golden Gloves contender; fired expert M60 machine gun, 45 automatic, M16; Born Cleveland, Ohio, age 19; can also throw knives with expert skill."

"Next."

"SGT E-6 Marc Grossman, RA 15234203; nickname-none; 18 years service; home Anahein, California, age 40; specialties--combat experience, small arms instructor for the past 2 years, former airborne."

"Next," continued Ed.

"Lieutenant Edwar d Miller, 01735261." Ed interrupted, "That's enough. I know the rest of the file." "All right, Lieutenant; it's almost time for the briefing. Let's walk over to the briefing room." As they entered the room Ed heard the Sergeant order the men into the brie f ing room. In this room was a blackboard with the words "long range reconnaissance patrol" written in large letters. Under that phrase were the words "reconnaissance, S & D, prisoners, ambushes, security." In front of the blackboard was a table with three c hairs. The rest of the room contained more tables and chairs, a map table, and a projector. Standing by the door against the wall were two Buck Sergeants. The Captain motioned Ed to the frontmost table, and the two of them sat down. At the same time the r est of the men came in and were told to sit down. After all were seated the Captain began to address them.

"You men have been waiting to ask questions but have received no answers. Well, now is the time for you to learn. My name is Captain Chester Bell, an d you have been chosen to form an LRRP unit. First you have requested transfers to Vietnam; second, you have requested transfers to Vietnam; second, you each have special skills that are important in an LRRP unit. You will be one of many such units traine d.

"As you can see on the board behind me, LRRP is 'long range reconnaissance patrol whose duties are reconnaissance, to find out what is in the area such as enemy units, how many men in a unit, what kinds of weapons do they have. Any booby trapped or open areas or if we were shelling in a certain area, what damage did we do.

'S & D', search and destroy. If we know what is out there, we will send you out to destroy it, such as a bridge the enemy uses or an ammo dump the enemy has.

"'Prisoners'. We need infor mation about the enemy. The best source is the enemy, so you go out and capture them. 'Ambushes'. if a certain path is used, you'll be sent out to set up an ambush or to go out and harass the enemy units by hit-and-run tactics. "'Security'. You may be ass igned to pull security at certain times where other units are not as qualified or are short-handed.

You'll also receive special privileges for being with this unit. No KP or extra duty. If you're not on a mission, you'll be issued camouflage uniforms and special weapons and go through special training.

"Now you have a decision to make. If you wish to withdraw, you may. You'll still be sent to Vietnam but a different assignment. No questions asked, But you may not ask to come back to this unit. You'll only do as your assignment. It will not be in your record except to say LRRP request denied. Now, how many wish to leave?"

A long pause occurred; no sound was made. The men were looking at one another, wondering if the next man would leave. Finally the Captain te sted the men by saying, "Those who wish to stay please raise your hand at this time." Hands rose, one at a time, until all hands were raised. The Captain continued, "Put them down, gentlemen. Now that I know for sure that you are all accepting this assign ment, you must understand that everything from now on that you learn is Top Secret unless told differently. By the way, everyone in this training program is upped one grade, which includes the Lieutenant here." Applause followed the Captain's remark.

"This is now First Lieutenant Ed Miller who will be your team leader and will be going through this training for the first time right along with you. The three Sergeants and myself and any other personnel here are in charge and out-rank you until the end of thi s training program. Is this understood? Lieutenant? Sergeant? Men?"

They all shook their heads in "yes" replies. "Very good, gentlemen. Now, in the first building on the way in the compound is the mess. Let's eat, for tonight we begin briefing.

Dismissed!

T he men filed out and returned to the barracks to clean up for chow, introducing themselves and each asking the others how they felt about their assignment. Most thought that everything sounded too good for the Army to say that they were "special" and not h aving to be assigned any duties except their mission. Especially no KP! And they would each get a promotion to boot! They reached the mess hall and found field mess gear and "real" food...steaks, porkchops, three vegetables and also mashed potatoes. Two k i nds of pie completed the menu, and one of the cooks even asked them if the food was all right. All this could make a man very nervous about his assignment. Did they know something which they did not? Was this their last real meal? They pushed these though ts from their minds and devoured the food, which was quite delicious. Then they were asked if they wanted more. They ate until they were sated, thinking this was, indeed, the last good meal.

Slowly, they meandered back to the barracks and stretched out upon their bunks. Even Lieutenant Miller had gorged himself and had lain down in his quarters about 2000 hours. The Captain had ordered the men to report to the briefing room at 2030 hours. The men filed into this special room and were all seated when the Cap t ain entered and began by asking, "Did you enjoy that meal? Don't worry, it isn't your last one. Close, but not quite. All right, now to business. Monday at 0800 you will begin training. Don't worry. The next four days won't be wasted. You have been assign e d new gear and clothing. You will find a refrigerator in your barracks. There are four cases of beer in it. Make it last till Monday because this compound turns dry; no alcohol after 0800 Monday. As of now, no passes, no phone calls, no outgoing mail. If y ou make it to the fence, you will find a man and a dog patrolling plus a mine field. So forget it. You'll find cards and a pool table in the fourth building here. We have your clothing sizes from your records. Your new clothing should be here in the morni ng. Try it on or forever hold your peace. Any questions now?"

One voice asked, "Just what will our training consist of?"

This was Bill Davis.

"Well, son, mostly a term which we have in combat called CYA, which is 'cover your ass'. What we are going to do is teach you how to stay alive, I hope. We do this by putting you through situations that we have gone through or have received detailed information about. We have built an entire Vietnamese village here complete with booby traps. Only instead of real explosives, we use smoke bombs and trip flares. You'll also be firing blanks so as to protect each other. You'll learn about being captured and how to react. You mostly learn how to functions as a team no matter what happens. Each of you must remember that if one of you makes a mistake, you'll all pay the consequences. "You will also learn some of the most needed phrases in Vietnamese.

"Good night, gentlemen. See you in the morning. Lieutenant, do you have anything to say to the men?" Ed stood up saying, "Yes, just from your files I believe that we have some of the most qualified men to produce a well trained unit. Dismissed, Men!"

As Ed started to leave he began thinking what a stupid \rdblquote statement he had made. They were all certainly qualified or they wouldn't be here. He was sure his men would think he was like the officers he hated so much, a "pompous ass", not caring about the individual, but he knew that he would be able to change that feeling before they went overseas.

Ed and the Captain sat in their quarters and read through the training schedule that would require the next three weeks, day and night. The first week would cover weapons, booby traps, demolition, and hand-to-hand combat. The second week would con centrate on team efforts, assault, ambush, night procedures, patrols and helicopter loading and unloading. The third week would be the history of Vietnam, identification of personnel and units, maps of Nam, language, and handling of prisoners.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Note: The author is now in search of a publisher for the full-length version of Nightmares. If you know of a publisher who might be interested, or if you are a publisher and you're interested, please contact By R.A. Camaro. --Al Colombo