This story contains ample swearing through dialogue, details and allusions to death and violence. This story is based on real events but is purely fictional and should not be taken seriously. I take the events mentioned during this story 100% seriously and have the full respect for the heroes who have fallen during war. Reader discretion is advised.
Two years pass, everyone's still doing the same things they did prior, however Vietnam is getting worse. The current Viet Cong communist forces started uprising throughout Vietnam, and they are getting increasingly violent. Over time they started attacking civilians and then American forces as well. Eventually, US involvement in Vietnam became more and more realistic, and all the brothers knew something was going to happen. Navy was promoted to Staff Sergeant after his three years enlisted, and Will was waiting for his promotion from Army Specialist. Navy sent Jig, Crack and Johnny a letter requesting them to meet up at their old bowling alley, which by now became old and near death. When they got there, Navy and Will ordered each of them their specific drinks already on the table they always sat at. They reminisced about the past; how Navy was so close to a perfect game if the power didn't shut off just as he was making his last shot. How their team of five beat out a pro team from Pennsylvania, and retelling stories about the owner during his Mafioso days. They continued over their experiences in and out of high school, with Navy interrupting to bring up a question. He asked the others if they wanted to enlist before the war started, and it definitely was going to. The three were given a month to decide, however they reconvened a week later and all accepted. And so, all the brothers are now enlisted in the United States Army.
After all the tests; Crack, Jig and Johnny were given their rank as Private and started from there. Months passed before they were given their first gun to shoot while in the Army. Surplus M1 Garands from World War II, and they were tasked with shooting a target 50 meters away. Navy showed off with emptying a full clip in five seconds, all in the bullseye. The now Private 2nd Class' were given their own rifle. Crack and Johnny became accustomed to the rifles, Crack handling the recoil and Johnny with an almost instinctive accuracy. Jig, however, couldn't shoot as fast and had more difficulty handling it's weight and size. Navy's father was observing their training at the time, but when he saw Jig struggling he went to intervene. Navy's father took Jig away for a moment to the Armory. After some time they came back and Jig was holding an M1903a3 Springfield rifle. The Sergeant ordered him to shoot the target until his clip was empty. Jig readied his rifle over the sandbag in front of him. He then began firing, slowly at first, then began to bolt, fire and bolt in rapid succession until he emptied the clip. When he was done he hit the eye four times out of the five, where the first of the shots hit a ring below the target. The brothers were impressed, but Navy's father showed no emotion towards Jig's effort. He then told Jig to go up on the crow's nest, which would be roughly 150 meters away from the target and told him to shoot from there. The brothers were sceptical of the request, but Jig was already on his way with two spare clips in hand. Navy's father gave him something the others didn't see before he left. Two minutes later they saw him shine his hand mirror to tell the others he's ready. They backed a fair distance away as to not risk friendly fire, and Jig readied himself. His first shot hit the second ring, low and to the left of the center. Jig compensated and fired again, hitting the dot. Jig fired the rest of the clip, reloaded and fired more. After his 7th shot the wind started picking up and he could barely see the target due to the dust, but that didn't stop him. He immediately compensated perfectly without firing a test shot and hit the center with his last three bullets. He came back down and was greeted with compliments. Navy's father even cracked a smile, something the boys seldom witnessed.
After the fact Navy wanted to know what took Jig so long to get up there, he could crawl up there in half the time it took. Jig explained how some 'out of the oven' Corporals were trying to harass him as he was making his way to the nest. Pestering him with "What are you doing with such a big gun?" and "Where you taking it?" When he said the crow's nest, they started laughing and continued to interrupt him. They essentially were blocking the door into the nest with both their bodies and their insults. Jig then flashed a necklace that had a blood stained bullet cartridge connected to it; which belonged to Navy's father. The two Corporals immediately shut their mouths and moved out of the way. The cartridge itself was a .30-06 Springfield cartridge which belonged to Navy's grandfather. Supposedly, Navy's grandfather found the bloody cartridge on one of his dying friends during World War II, and he took it as a momento. Jig returned the item, and they continued with training, but not before the Father and Son were going to have a word with the Corporals they knew for sure were the culprits. Jig was deemed a gifted marksman and was given special training with long ranged rifles, while the others continued regular training.
Overtime, each of them acquired their own specialties with shooting and became experts with their respective tools. Crack mastered the M16's rate of fire, quirks and recoil, along with a Mossberg 500 Field with an extended seven round internal box mag. Johnny used an M1 Carbine, a semiautomatic rifle used back in World War II. Will used the new M60 machine gun, a big light machine gun that used 7.62s and can hold over a hundred rounds in a box mag. Jig upgraded to the Remington 700 and practiced with long range targets and moving targets during high winds. However, Navy wouldn't budge from using his beloved M1 Garand and M1911 which were becoming outdated in the military. Instead he learned to become a pilot. He flew around a Bell UH-1 Iroquois that had been implemented into the military for about a year now. But he wasn't an official pilot just yet. He needed to become the rank of 1st Lieutenant to even take the Simple Officer's Test. In the meantime, Captain Macmillan was the designated pilot, a former SAS operative who found a family in New Jersey and joined the Army to train Special Operatives, he was apparently a damn good Operator too.
For two more years they continued to train for the continuing conflict in Vietnam. And the two attacks on US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 pushed the US to step in. Now in 1965, the US was already beginning air raids over Vietnam to suppress the guerilla fighters. The brothers became trained to kill with their respective arsenal, learned to live and breath their designated weapon day and night until it truly became an extension of themselves. Talks of sending in human bodies to combat the Communist Vietnamese started becoming more prevalent and all branches of the military began readying troops to be sent over. At first, the US played the defensive role; protecting Saigon, the people and setting the boundaries for more troops to come in. By fall, General Westmoreland began pushing troops north into Vietcong held zones. The brothers personally met William Westmoreland when Navy's father sent a letter about their capabilities in battle. They met on the USS Ranger where the brothers were briefed on a mission to escort an Ambassador to Saigon by land. The squad was given a brand new Huey to part from the boat, and the others had their customized rifles with them as well.
The Huey was custom upgraded with thicker armor plates, more dense propellers and a sturdier engine to hold up the added weight. The new Huey was customized to take one or two rocket hits and plenty of bullet holes. Crack added an extended stock, foregrip and enhanced iron sights onto his M16, and his Mossberg was painted with dark green camo. Johnny's carbine was converted to the select fire M2 variant. He also consulted an expert on adding a heavy barrel, reflex sight and a folding grip. Will's M60 was updated to have the gas cylinder and bipod removed due to how many issues they caused. He added a custom strap ment for hip firing and spraying in bursts, and replaced the bipod with two sticks on a hinge welded onto the bottom of the gun. Jig's Remington was used primarily with .300 Winchester Magnum rounds that are known to have high recoil effects on all firearms that use it. To counter this, Jig added a heavier, extended barrel and a small pole at the back of the stock that can be extended to reach the ground; allowing the user to put more body weight on the rifle. Jig also needed to add a tripod with a sort of connected strap on the bottom to allow him to steady his rifle on uneven surfaces, since Vietnam isn't really a flat country. Finally adding a 12x-20x scope for medium to long range.
Their first mission as a unit was a security detail for Ambassador Graham Martin during his travel to the US Embassy in Saigon. The journey would be from the port in Can Tho to Saigon, which was roughly a 100 mile distance, and it would be traveled in a MUTT151 all the way with no APCs to cover them. There were four cars, two dummies, one with three of the brothers and the last containing Jig, Navy and the Ambassador. Nothing happened by the time they got to Ben Tre, but once they left the city the risk of ambush steadily increased. There were no large guerilla forces within South Vietnam, instead many small bands in key areas around Saigon that would ambush anything, or anyone, that looked important. Still roughly 50 miles from Saigon there were signs that an ambush was imminent; deserted streets, abandoned buildings and a lot of shadows. Jig and Navy readied their rifles and radioed the others to be ready for anything. Less than a mile before they were supposed to turn a corner, the front car suddenly stopped, then the preceding cars followed suit and waited for something from the front.
Three double blinker flashes, 'We're changing the route/ moving forward/ follow close." The next car passed it on and so did the one before. They avoided the corner, and as they drove by there were signs that the road was dug up recently, most likely mines were buried on the route. Jig told Navy that something seemed off, not like attempted ambushes but more worrying. "If there are mines there-" Jig says with a worried tone "Do you think they knew we would take that corner or would it be a coincidence?" Navy turned to Jig, with a similar expression "That's not impossible, this whole area is rarely traveled on even by the Vietnamese, there's always the chance of an information leak." They decided to radio the other cars a coded message; "Blue moon… Blue moon." Blue Moon' was code for keeping radios silent and relay no vital information over the radio. Two minutes after the change more people started appearing along the streets, none of them looked like they were guerillas but you can't ever let your guard down. Then, as the numbers of people began to increase along the street the front car radioed in that they noticed an armed individual on the right side of the road and to get ready for combat. They turned their safeties off and readied their weapons outside of their windows. They noticed the armed individual, but were given orders not to fire unless fired upon. He was a very tanned male, maybe in his early forties, then again asians always look so young until they're seventy. His rifle looked to be an AK-47, but a wooden under barrel grip suggested it was a Type 56 instead. Civilians weren't allowed to carry any weapons, so he must of been a Communist warning them that 'You aren't safe here'.
As they kept on driving the front car spun out of control into a building and flipped onto its right side, and then a huge boom exploded right in front of them moments later. The preceding car was before a large hole kicking up piles of dirt. If whatever exploded blew up under the front car, it would have gone with the flames, but instead they swerved out before the explosion itself went off. The car was totaled, the engine block was almost half its original size and smoke was coming from it. The cars stopped to check for survivors, but the driver came out of the window, and threw a bag to the preceding car that happened to have Navy, Jig and the Ambassador. They understood it as a 'leave me behind and go on with the mission'. Before they left Navy threw a 1911 to the survivor.
The bag contained a map of South Vietnam with three drawn lines leading towards Saigon. There was a red circle, which looked like blood, signifying where the crash occurred. The remaining cars followed the secondary path to get to Saigon, and were ready for another ambush. The three brothers, then in the middle, signaled that their fuel was running low. Instead of having to stop the decoy truck in the back took their place to reduce air resistance and conserve more gas. Then there was gunfire. The second decoy truck was fired upon by what sounded to be an RPK, just a slightly bigger AK with a drum mag. The gunfire seemed to be coming from a two-story building on the left side of the road. The decoy truck swerved to the right, began drifting along the sidewalk until it flipped over. In hindsight, the assailant must of assumed the cars switching was because they were putting the VIP in the middle, but he was actually in the front. Two cars left, and two men MIA. The brothers fired into the window of the assailant, whether or not he was killed was unknown, but Crack stated he saw the assailant's head flinch back as if he was hit in the head. They assumed he was dead and began driving faster. Less than twenty miles from Saigon, it was a race to get there with the rest of them intact. Everyone's guns were pointed out the window ready to shoot, their eyes trained and fingers ready to fire. Closing in on the city, Navy noticed someone with a large drab over themselves, and noticed something reflective poking out under it as well. The individual threw off the drab and revealed a RPD, the RPK's heavier cousin and its user was pointing at the trucks. Navy unloaded half a clip into this assailant's head and was dropped before he could fire. Navy silenced before he became a threat.
Jig told the driver to slow down and gave the passenger a pair of sound suppressing headphones. Jig placed his rifle out of the passenger window from the back seat and trained his sights as far forward as he could. He noticed a suspicious looking box about three blocks down the road before asking the driver to slow down. He aimed at the center of the box and fired, the box flew off, revealing a trigger for a remote explosive that seemed to entail blowing up the building it was next to, causing it to collapse. Then a red light was seen from the gouged device, but nothing happened. They drove by, and Jig saw a shadow moving out of an alleyway to their left. Jig radioed Crack to "Pull to Port." Crack grabbed a frag, pulled the pin and threw it towards the alley. The shadow formed into another gun toter, which was quickly dispatched by the grenade. Finally, they passed a sign saying Saigon, and were now in the city. No communist would dare try something in the capital city, since the Army was ready to track them down and shoot mercilessly. The brothers, and their VIP, were safe. They reached the embassy, drove the ambassador into the compound and radioed command "The Pigeon has landed." Mission complete.
Navy radioed command that they lost the lead truck and the rear decoy along the way. He stated their last known coordinates and requested an armored transport to retrieve any survivors. "We can only send one APC and Med-Evac to the lead truck, but the rear decoy is too far into hazardous territory to Evac." Navy relayed the news to his brothers, and they all knew they couldn't leave him there. They commandeered their ride back and went down south to the crash site. Twenty miles later, they slowed the corner before the crashed truck. Jig tried to spot anything he could inside the car, but the tinted windows wouldn't reveal anything. They decided to rush to the front of the truck, currently laying on its right side, and force open the door before anything else could happen. Will jumped onto the driver door and peeled it off, revealing an empty vehicle. Johnny noticed a cracked window in the back with blood coming around the glass and leading into an alley a few feet behind the car. Will and Crack stacked up before the alleyway; Will rolled a flashlight pointing into the alley and Crack looked examined the alley using a mirror. He reported no movement and, asked Navy what the plan was. "We take the driver home or his dog tags with us; Jig and I will go down the alley, you three will go back towards the way we came to the connecting alley and move in there. Shoot anyone you don't know on sight, we're not losing anyone else." The others nodded and moved along with Navy's plan. The alley Jig and Navy were going down was about ten meters to a wall and the other's alley was fifteen meters long from the converging point. They moved in slow and ready for close quarters combat, Crack taking out his Mossberg with a "I like to keep this for close encounters."
Navy signaled the others that they were at the corner and the others moved up towards them. The blood trail continued down the alley, stopping at a door. Crack moved towards the door, Will went forward onto opposite side and waited for a signal. Will took his small flashlight and tapped it on the door, creating a quiet pattern of four constant taps. They waited four seconds and busted through the door. Their flashlights shining around a small room, with the blood trail continuing towards the opposite corner. They found the driver, bloody and gun trained on them. They shined the flashlight on themselves so the driver could recognize them. He released his arms, and with a "You finally came…" following his relief. "Kept you waiting huh?" replied Crack walking towards him. Will and Crack went to pick the driver up and carry him back to the truck. The driver took out the and handed it back to Navy. "This belongs to you, sir." Navy then turned away and listened to the surrounding area. "I'm hearing a lot of commotion, we need to hurry up, now!" with a rushing tone. They carried the driver in each of their arms while Johnny led the way to the truck.
A menacing air was beginning to coil around the brothers, as if they knew something bad was coming. Johnny peaked out of the alley, and he spotted a large group of people heading towards them, and they didn't look friendly. Will and Crack rushed over to the truck and the brothers began piling in, the mass of people still closing in on them. Once they all were in and doors were shut, the mob was continuing with their menacing aura. Navy started the truck, put it in reverse and headed back towards Saigon, but the mass of people were blocking the road ahead of them. Navy backed up to meet the center of the intersection, and another mass of people were coming from the way they came originally. There still was an open road to their left but they didn't know if they could get back to Saigon that way. Navy took the opening while still remaining cautious about any traps along the way. They continued to drive, only knowing that they needed to head north to get to Saigon. Without a map, they would have to drive blind in a country they've never been in and is filled with people who want them dead. They drove for five minutes until they noticed another mass of people ahead of them. How there were so many people now was a mystery, only that they had to avoid any combat as long as there was an injured man in the truck. A right turn appeared some yards before the mass and Navy sped up to reach the corner before the mob. As they turned the masses revealed they were in fact armed and confident enough to show off. The road continued north towards Saigon, but only two minutes passed before another mass of people appeared in front of them. Now they were forced into a four-way intersection and had to choose between going right and left. If they chose wrong they would end up going back on themselves, becoming ensnared in whatever plan the masses of people had for them.
In a moment of foresight, Jig remembered the map the lead truck gave them on their original journey. "What happened to the map we had? Isn't it still in here?" The brothers began rummaging through the truck looking for the map, which Navy found under his seat. "I think we're... here!" Navy said pointing at an intersection on the map "But how do we get to Saigon?" "The marked road that we didn't travel, we could follow the path and head back-" Jig said pointing at the line on the map. "go Navy, now!" Navy kicked the truck back into gear and began driving left. "Buckle up because I'm flooring it!" Navy said slamming on the gas. Fifty kilometers were between them and their next turn, and Navy needed to drift the corner to get out of dodge before they were shot at. Navy went to the left side of the road, and a few yards before the turn he began his drift into the corner. Throughout this people began poking out of alleyways and out of windows of buildings around them. If Navy couldn't complete the turn they would most likely end up dead, either by the crash or by any of the spectators with a gun and a grudge. Everyone shifted themselves to the right side of the truck to prevent it from tilting over, by the end of the turn they were practically driving on two wheels as the reached their next road. Three seconds after turning they returned to all four wheels and Navy regained control of the car.
The ride back to Saigon was fifteen miles away and they were completely free from any more commotion. They returned to the embassy, and got the driver a medic before he could lose any more blood. The doctor informed them "A few more minutes and the poor bastard would of bleed out. You got him in just in time." The brothers convened for their celebratory hoorahs and high fives for their successful mission, however their stunt didn't go unnoticed. Navy's father appeared out of the compound with an aura that would put a rabid dog to its back. As soon as the brothers saw him they immediately repented, Jig already writing down his last Will and Testament.
"You boys disobeyed orders, commandeered Army vehicles, left your post without permission and didn't inform ANYONE where you were heading?" began Navy's father at the now seated boys. They were in a room meant for interrogating POWs and traitors, and the boys were all but blindfolded on their seats. "Well, we were never given orders to remain at the embassy nor were we-" began Will as to try to defend them, being cut off by the livid Sergeant. "And now you think you can back talk me boy!? Who in the sam hell do you think you are that you could just interrupt your superior during your interrogation!? You either got a lot of balls or a whole lot more death wishes if you think speaking up is a good idea." "Sir, I know what we did was out of line but we did it with the best intentions." began Johnny. "The best intentions… some of the worst things imaginable have been done with the best intentions!" replied the Sergeant. He looked even more livid as he was chewing out the brothers. "I told the General you boys would be great soldiers! I promised Westmoreland that you could become what America and Lady Liberty needed to defeat this Communist threat! And now you almost squander both your chances and my reputation with desertion and theft?! If I were any other man you would all be court martialed and be sent to their gulags because your actions aren't to be known by Lady Liberty!" The boys couldn't say anything, they could only wait out the Sergeant's words and for their punishment.
"Now hold on there a second ol' chum-" stated a voice with both power and freedom behind every word from the other side of the lone door out of the brothers death chamber. "These boys may have acted independently and with disregard to both their well being and your 'reputation', Sergeant." continued the man who revealed himself to be General Westmoreland himself after opening the door "But they acted courageously, heroically, and risked their lives to save a man who risked his own for the U.S of A. They chose not to leave one of their own behind over their own well being, and if that's not what a soldier is meant to do then how in 'sam hell' did we win every war we have ever been in, Sergeant?" "Attentio-!" said Navy as he and Will immediately attempted to stand at attention for the General, but due to their legs being tied to their chair they ended up falling over on each other. "You boys may remain at ease as long as I'm around, but if it were any other officer then your immediate actions were commendable, but you still look like fools." commented Westmoreland looking upon Navy and Will on the ground. In this situation, Westmoreland would be essentially Judge, Jury and Executioner for any soldier on the field who goes against orders. But their God remained merciful due to their courageous actions of both delivering the ambassador and an injured soldier. "These boys will only be awarded their uniform, their unit designation and the honor of swabbing the Ranger's deck for one week before returning to active duty. And no, your given honor to swab her deck for said week will not be paid for, so that alone will be your punishment. In the meantime, I believe that you five as a soul unit will work as efficiently as any other twenty-odd division of soldiers we could put you in. Colonel, you will be placed as their director, their center of command and their higher chain of command. You-" Westmoreland continues now motioning towards Navy "- Staff Sergeant, will be unit leader both in and out of combat. You will be the one to lead your brothers into combat, and you-" now pointing at Will "- Corporal, will be his second in command. You all will report at 0500G on the Ranger's deck and receive your equipment and training to properly keep her deck clean. Dismissed!" "Yes Sir!" everyone else yelled as Westmoreland took his leave. God giveth and so may he taketh away at his own will. The brothers survived their second and third combat mission, second being the transport and rescue while the third was against Navy's father. "You boys are out of the oven now, but you're only cooling off before you get put right back in." said Navy's father releasing the boys from their captivity. "I'll see you on her deck dad." replied Navy, but to be returned only with "What was that Staff Sergeant?" from his father. "I'll be seeing you on deck Colonel!" with a salute from Navy. "You're goddamn right."
Apologies for how chunky these paragraphs were. I'm a victim to my own writing. As of now the 1st chapter has around 20 views and the 2nd half that. I genuinely appreciate everyone who reads this story, the next two chapters, spoiler warning, will be somewhat of a 'filler' chapters. Not to say don't read them, but don't expect 'too' much plot advancement. And For the Record, I do like making hints and references from time to time, t's how I add some comedy.