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smiled; a battle Marine had been born.
    Thirty-one Marines had escaped from the NVA assault and had formed up about five hundred meters to the east of the night lager
     site. All of the AMTRACKs had been lost to RPGs. The infantry sergeant’s eyes reflected his shock at the quick battle. There
     hadn’t even been enough time to remove one of the backpack radios from inside the command AMTRACK. They were without any means
     of communication and the NVA were still very close.
    “What do you think we should do?” The infantry Marine look over at the engineer gunny.
    “E and E … escape and evade…” He smiled. “There still are enough Marines here to kick a lot of ass!” The gunny pointed to
     the east. “We can make it back to Lang Vei and men get reenforced so we can come back and get our wounded and dead.”
    The infantry sergeant hadn’t even thought of coming back to the site. “You’re right … let’s get the fuck out of here!”
    The NVA commander stood smiling in the center of the burning AMTRACKs. He had won a complete victory. The monsoon arriving
     when it had was a perfect cover for the last couple hundred meters of their assault on the American camp. He had struck with
     two of his companies and the force had been overwhelming. Five Marine AMTRACKs were burning and his men were lining up the
     Marine dead for him to view.
    A lieutenant approached the NVA lieutenant colonel and reported that there were eleven American dead and no American wounded
     or prisoners. He smiled and gave the lieutenant an order in rapid Vietnamese. The young officer nodded his head and obeyed.
    The North Vietnamese left the burning vehicles behind after searching the area for anything they could use. The battalion
     slipped back across the river into Laos as quietly as it had crossed the night before.
    The skull’s hollow eyes looked out at the wreckage and saw nothing. Eleven naked Marines hung from the lower branches of the
     trees by the commo wire wrapped around their ankles. A jungle breeze made the bodies sway lightly back and forth.
    A tiny puddle of rain water that had accumulated in a dent on the top of the skull broke free and ran down the front of the
     white face, where the water found a crevice next to the nose cavity and eye. The effect made the skull look as if it was crying.
    The wasp flew down close to the various forms of thick vegetation that covered the jungle floor, instinctively knowing what
     she was hunting for under the large dead leaves on the ground and under the loose bark of the fallen trees…

CHAPTER TWO

Five-Card Stud
    The bright sunlight reflected off the worn places on the disassembled M-60 light machine gun that lay on the camouflaged poncho
     liner. Sergeant Woods rubbed the cleaning fluid off the charging handle and placed it back down on the nylon cloth in sequence,
     so that reassembling the weapon would be easier (not that he couldn’t assemble the weapon blindfolded). Old habits were hard
     to break.
    “It’s almost a lost cause trying to keep those weapons clean…” The recon team sergeant stuck his head up through the roof
     of the fighting bunker.
    “Hello, Arnason.” Woods felt a little uncomfortable calling the sergeant by his last name. Arnason had been his team sergeant
     since he had first arrived in Vietnam as a private first class. The first six months of his tour had flown by, but the second
     six months looked as if there was no end in sight.
    “How does it feel being promoted into the ranks of the noncommissioned officers corps?” Arnason pulled himself upward. He
     could feel the heat against the palms of his hands as he lifted himself through the small hole onto the roof.
    “Good, I guess … it’s only been two days.” Woods picked up the barrel and held one end up to the light so that he could see
     down it.
    Arnason lifted a piece of C-ration cardboard off the sandbag seat and sat down on the warm sandbags. “Mail call.” He handed
     Woods a small