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that ritual completed, I was fine for the remainder of the mission. We sat on our flak jackets as protection from ground fire. The jungle terrain that we flew over seemed endless and sparsely inhabited. Any human activity in these areas was considered hostile and potential targets for our guns.

Directing the firing of the guns was exciting but different from the exercises conducted in my Fort Sill training. Landmarks were very difficult to find in the jungle areas and fixing any feature to map coordinates was a guess at best. Many times, we would lob a shell in the general vicinity and then use that data to locate the intended target in the terrain.

The days were busy and filled with activity. The nights were dark and long. I used to lie on my cot listening for the unusual sounds that might indicate incoming mortar or RPG rounds. Often, I would listen to the distinctive firing of the M-40 cannons on the C-130 and watch aerial flares falling over the jungle. I went to sleep with an uneasy feeling of uncertainty.

After a month or so (October or November of 1966) I was assigned to join an Army, Special Forces “A Team” as the artillery, forward observer and liaison officer. Their camp was at the intersection of the Song Be and the Song Dong Nai rivers at a place called Xom Cat. The camp was comprised of one or two companies of Cambodians and their families.    Our  mission was  to  disrupt  enemy activities in the area and along the rivers.