So as with A demigod tragedy, this is an idea I kicked around for about fifteen or so minutes and then went "Okay let's do this!" And because people liked the whole WW2 thing, I thought I'd do one for Vietnam, and if that goes good I may do other wars. I actually decided to this one a little different, it will feature a conversation between Ares and Clarisse about Ares favorite son. Feel free to review and let me know if there's any specific war you would like (Before anybody asks, yes I do intend on doing one with the Civil War, as well as the Roman vs Greek one that happened at the same time) So enjoy, God bless. (Got some Full Metal Jacket references in there too)
Clarisse La Rue
Ares temple on Olympus
Present day
After waiting for two hours for my father, I had decided to call it a night and head home. I had arrived in my cabin to find a letter on my pillow, it was from my father asking me to visit him in his temple on Olympus, where he said he had something to show me. Just as I was rising to leave, a shadow appeared in the doorway.
"Leaving so soon?" Dad asked with a grin
"Well I've been here for two hours, you sent a letter." I said, annoyed
"I forgot about that," He said thoughtfully, stroking his chin "What was it about?"
"You said you wanted me to come here, to your temple on Olympus," I said, rolling my eyes "You had something to show me?"
"Ahhh yes," He said, ignoring me "I remember now, I wanted you to come here to my temple on Olympus, I have something to show you."
"Yeah," I sighed "That's right."
"Well," He said, scratching the back of his head "You may want to sit down."
Oh gods, I thought This could be a long night.
I took a seat on one of the couches and waited, my father seemed unsure of where to begin. He sat down across from me and thought about what he was going to say, but he seemed to be unable to get the words out. Finally, he reached underneath the table and simply pulled out a box. The top of the box had a US Marines logo drawn in sharpie, and the words Semper Fidelis were written below it.
"What's this?" I asked, eyeing the box
"Well," He said "I came across some interesting things, thought maybe you'd like to see some things from your past life."
"My what?" I asked, shocked
I suppose it was entirely possible, demigods did that all the time and I'm sure there were plenty that were just the reincarnation of another demigod, but you never really thought about it, you were rarely told about it anyways. My father seemed serious, and I began to wonder what was in the box.
"I wasn't sure I believed it either, but I figure if anything in this box seems familiar to you, we've got an answer," He said "Hermes and I have a sort of bet going about this, he thinks I'm wrong but I'm positive."
"Couldn't you just ask Hades?" I asked him "If anybody would know, it'd be him."
"Yeah but where's the fun in that?" He asked, popping the lid off the box "What about that?"
He handed me a dog tag, a chunk missing from the top and drops of old blood staining the metal. It was hard to read, but I was finally able to make out the words after a moment.
Cassidy, Neil, M.
354628172
A positive
Long Island, New York
"You feel anything?" Dad asked "A connection of some sort?"
"It does feel familiar," I said, examining it "Like I've seen it before, except I haven't."
Private Neil Cassidy (Son of Ares)
United States Marine Corps, 1st Battalion, 9th infantry regiment
May 3, 1968
Khe Sanh, Vietnam
I missed home, at least Camp Half-Blood was peaceful in it's own way, Nam was just hell on Earth. Everyday it was wake up, patrol, maybe a firefight or two, chow, guard duty, bed, then you woke up and did it all again the next day. Being the son of the god of war, you'd think battle is something I would look forward to, but I'd seen too much of it, what it could do. I was about two months into my first tour when we hit Khe Sanh, but time was lost, meaningless, all that mattered to me was that I made it through another day.
"Eyes open!" Crank yelled from the front of the line "NVA and VC's gonna be all over the place."
"I still say just burn this entire shit hole to the ground," Maverick laughed "And all them fuckin' Gook's with it."
"Could ya'll imagine all the Hippies back home?" I laughed "They burned down the forest, oh the horrible things that nature suffers in a war!"
The entire platoon erupted into laughter that probably echoed all around the forest, alerting every NVA or VC in the area. It didn't worry me though, we were all battle hardened Marines, anyone in their right mind wouldn't try their luck against us, but every now and again, Charlie thought he was something tough, and the Marines put him in his place. You met some pretty cool people too, even if they seemed like assholes. Crank was a twenty two year old black kid from Mississippi, Maverick was from Detroit, he was only about nineteen and had just started his first tour about a month prior, there was Dallas from New York, Eskimo from Alaska, Einstein, a Harvard from Connecticut before he was drafted, and Lone Star from Texas.
"Cut the chatter back there!" Lieutenant Taylor called from the front "Stay quiet and you might make it home."
That was his moto, something he'd drilled into my head ever since I'd gotten into country, stay quiet, follow orders, and you'll go home. People back home wanted to think we were winning the war, but truth be told, every time we killed a Gook, it seemed like three more took his place. The bastards just wouldn't quit, so we couldn't quit.
"Coming up on a rice farm!" Taylor called "Spread out and search the buildings, Charlie's probably around here somewhere."
That was another one of Lieutenant Taylor's moto's, everybody you see was NVA until proven otherwise, and you were to treat them as such because it could damn well mean your life. Another popular one was "Anyone that runs is a VC, anyone that stands still is a well disciplined VC."
"Mọi người đều có được bàn tay của bạn lên!" Pops began shouting at the civilians "Hiện nay!"
A few of the younger kids started crying while their parents tried to hush them, but they did as they were told for the most part, backing away from what they were doing and putting their hands up. I figured it was just gonna be a routine sweep and clear, then the gunfire started.
"Get down!" Taylor yelled "Weapons free! Light em up!"
The kid next to me took a bullet to the head as I threw myself behind a hut and the civilians began running for cover. I saw flashes coming from the rice fields on the side of the village, and I returned fire. Bullets bounced all around us, kicking up dirt and occasionally catching some unlucky civilian or a Marine.
"RPG!" Lone Star yelled "MOVE!"
Lone Star, Dallas, Eskimo, and I ran from our cover and ducked behind small shed as the hut we had been behind moments before erupted in a massive ball of fire. One of the new guys was a little too close and got blown backwards into the hut across from it, part of his left arm missing. He screamed in pain while trying to roll his way back to cover and away from the hail of bullets still hitting all around us, he didn't get far before he caught some in the neck and chest and was still.
"Get some fire on those fuckers!" Eskimo yelled "Crank! Get the hell up here with that Pig!"
We moved into better firing positions and opened fire into the rice field, but more NVA reinforcements were coming from the trees, firing back at us. We got a few of them before they could take cover and link up with the ones that were already there, but we were outnumbered. Crank laid down next to me and started letting bursts go from his M60, I saw Maverick take a shot to the neck and fall to the ground, blood pooling from his dark skin.
"Eskimo! Dallas!" Taylor yelled "Get some guys and get in flanking positions, Crank, Lone Star, and Cass, move up with the rest of us and put some pressure on em!"
"Aye sir!" Eskimo yelled, moving off to the side with Dallas
We continued to pour suppressing fire onto the NVA and slowly advance forward, but we'd only been able to move up about ten feet. Bullets were still whizzing past me, smacking into the ground, the sheds, huts, Marines. The two guys moving in behind me got lit up and dropped, then the four a little ways behind them got hit with a mortar, we were dropping like flies.
"Get some cover!" I yelled to the gunners up front "Displace! Pull back a little! They're right-"
Before I could finish, our two gunners that had taken cover with their M60's inside the hut got ripped apart by an enemy machine gun. I saw a sniper pick off a captain, then hit one of the flamethrowers in the back, causing his tank to explode, swallowing four other Marines with it. A bullet smacked into the dirt right next to me, kicking it up and causing me to jump. I returned fire, seeing one of the NVA soldiers drop as he tried to stand and move up.
"Anderson!" Taylor yelled "Torch em!"
I saw Eskimo, Dallas, Anderson, and two other Marines come from the treeline next to the field and open fire into it. Anderson let his flamethrower spit into the rice field, catching the crops on fire and burning any of the Gooks it caught. We kept on firing onto the troops who were pulling back from the now burning rice field.
"Go!" Taylor started yelling, waving us forward "Go get em!"
The retreating NVA forces headed into the trees, and we pursued them. There were two guys to my right, followed closely by a ghostly pale kid who seemed like this might've been his first battle, but he kept up with us. I could still see the NVA in the forest, and I picked a few of them in the back as I ran. Anderson, who ran track when he was in highschool, bolted straight on the retreating NVA's flank, opening up on them with the flamethrower.
"Let em burn!" Dallas yelled as we ran past the NVA who had caught the flames "Let the fuckers burn!"
We were still picking shots, dropping the retreating Gooks in fours and fives. Just when we were right on top of them, we ran full steam into an ambush set up in the clearing. Gooks came out of the trees, behind us, in front, on the side, opening fire on the platoon. Bodies began dropping and our cheering was replaced by screaming as we scrambled for cover.
"Ambush!" Taylor yelled "Get down now! Return fire, they're in the trees!"
The entire platoon immediately fell into a circle and dropped into cover behind the fallen trees, returning fire at the NVA and VC who had come out of the trees. Bullets were tearing the front of the tree to shreds, Taylor was screaming for an air support.
"Get a chopper out here!" He was yelling into the radio "We're surrounded by Gooks and we're taking fire from all directions, get us some fucking cover fire!"
I ducked down as a bullet bounced over my head and caught a Sergeant in the chest, putting him on the ground. There were two guys working on dragging the wounded to cover, trying not to get hit as they worked. There was a kid laying behind me, he was severely burned all along the front of his body, barely moving.
"Left flank!" Somebody was yelling "They're on the left flank!"
A mortar went off as I turned to the left, firing into the muzzle flashes coming from the trees. I couldn't even see what I was shooting at or if I was hitting anybody, but I kept on shooting. To my right, one of the VC had popped a grenade and was sprinting directly for our hole, screaming a battle cry that sent shivers down my neck. I quickly spun on my heel and turned my sights on him, firing as I did so. My bullets found their mark, but he dropped the grenade as he fell. As I ducked down to reload my rifle, I saw it roll down into the hole, right in between the two Corpsman working on the wounded men.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" One of them yelled, grabbing two wounded men and dragging them up the side as fast as he could
It all happened in a few seconds, but battle teaches you a thing or two about the amount of things that can go down in that small bit of time. As the Corpsman reached the top of the hole and started to pull out, four bullets passed through his chest and forced him to drop the other two men he was dragging. I hopped over the other side of the tree I had taken cover behind as the grenade went off. At first I didn't feel anything in my leg, then it started burning like hell.
I looked down and noticed the small bits of shrapnel sticking out of my calf, then looked up to see one of the new guys, Goldie, running as fast as he could towards me. He slid into a prone position next to me before peering over at my leg.
"You all good, man?" He laughed
"Hurts like a motherfucker but I'll live." I grunted, using the tree to stand
On the other side of the tree, not a single person had survived. The wounded couldn't move, the two Corpsmen had been cut down by machine gunners trying to get the wounded out of the hole, it was a mess.
"Taylor says the choppers can't cover us till we get out of the woods," He said, throwing my arm around his shoulder "We're falling back."
The Gooks were still shooting at us, and I did my best to shoot back as Goldie helped me limp away. He'd only been in Nam for about two and a half weeks, give or take. He'd earned his nickname because of his lucky gold tooth, which wasn't so lucky if you considered the fact his old tooth was knocked out because of a brick to the face.
I could see Taylor, Lone Star, Eskimo, and the rest of the platoon hauling ass towards the treeline, which was coming closer and closer into view. Finally, we broke through and into the rice fields. It was littered with dead Marines and VC and NVA troops. Goldie sat me down behind some sandbags the Gooks had set up in the rice fields, my leg still burned and I couldn't put any weight on it, but I wasn't completely useless. I turned over and put my weight on the top of the sandbags, opening fire at the VC that had pursued us out of the woods.
Now that we were all out in the open, the Gooks had taken the opportunity to try and surround us. They suddenly opened up from all sides, but we were dug in tight by that point, forcing them to have to come out and find us. As they came out of the woods, I started picking them off in bunches. They would come out in small little groups of three or four, and I'd send a few rounds down that way and watch em drop. After a few minutes I heard the sound of a helicopter coming over the trees.
"It's a friendly!" Somebody cheered
The bird suddenly did a one-eighty and turned to face the VC in the trees. It let a few rockets go before veering off to the side, allowing the other two helicopters that had come in behind to open up with their door gunners. The VC went into full retreat, leapfrogging back to the woods. I shot one in the back as he ran, spotting another one taking cover in a tree behind him. In a split second, we raised our rifles at the same time and fired. I don't know where my shot went, but I know it didn't hit him. I saw the flash from his weapon and suddenly a searing pain in my chest. I fell backwards off the sandbags and Goldie grabbed me and tried to stop the bleeding.
"Fuck," He said "Fuck, fuck. Corpsman!"
Somebody from the helicopters jumped out and sprinted out to us, pulling bandages out as he ran. He slid in next to Goldie and went to work without a word, pulling my jacket and shirt off to get to the wound. Other than occasional groan or spasm, I didn't move that much. Although Goldie was holding me in place, I had the wherewithal to look down to my right shoulder at my dog tag, I could see a chunk missing out of it and fresh blood dripping off of it.
"Get him on the chopper!" He yelled, pressing the bandages to my chest "Let's go!"
Two other guys came and picked me up and carried me over to where the two helicopters had landed, the third one circling above. It didn't take long for them to load us all up, most of the wounded had been killed when the grenade went off in the hole. As they placed me down in the chopper and hopped in with us, I looked to my left and saw the pale kid from earlier laying next to me. He had a huge, sucking chest wound, every breath sounded like it was his last. His name patch said Adams.
He didn't make it through the helicopter ride.