Orders: A Vietnam Story

Part 1 "War"

I drop my mag on the ground.

"Reloading!" I yell out to the rest of my squad.

Machine gun fire peppers the ground around us. An LMG mounted in a hole in the second floor of a building backed up by two or three more keeps nonstop fire on me and my group.

"Benny, David, and Michael, move around these back alleyways to that machine gun and wipe those guys out!" yells SGT. Black.

We obey and move back behind the buildings.

We were locked in a firefight across two streets seperated by a series of buildings, though a hole had been blown in one, allowing the VC to move from one side of the street to ours.

We take down two VC on our way to the other side of the road, moving along our defensive forces that were keeping the VC at bay on their side of the street. As we move across the alley, I dive into cover behind some collapsed rubble, turning back to see one of the men holding the street fall, a bullet lodged just far enough in his body armor to penetrate his skin. Blood leaks across his stomach onto his hands that are suppressing the blood flow. I run over to him and drag him back over to where I sat just moments ago.

"I need a medic, we got a wounded!" I yell over the gunfire.

The blood seeps through my handwraps, but I can't let this guy bleed out. Blood flows from his mouth, a bad sign. I press my hands harder, leaving him howling in pain.

"Sorry buddy, it's for your own good," I try to console him.

I'm elbow deep in blood now, and no medic is in sight.

"Kill me..." he gasps, "End my suffering."

I reluctantly reach for my pistol. My hand shakes so much, that even with me pressing the gun to his head, I'd probably miss. He grabs my hand and steadies it, placing a piece of paper into my other hand. He places his finger on mine, pushing my finger into the trigger, until the gun explodes in my ears.

I lift him up and walk to the nearest medical tent, placing him on a cot, demanding a medic.

I return to my mission, regrouping with Benny and Michael, we storm the building that contains the machine gun nest.

"Fire in the hole!" I yell, pulling the pin on the grenade.

A VC jumps from the floor above, landing on me. I drop the grenade, brawling with the VC as we tumble down the stairs. Smashing his head on the railing and throwing him into the wall sends him into the floor.

I turn around to see Michael scramble for the grenade, tossing it. It's too late. The grenade explodes, just two feet from Michael's face. Benny and I dive further down the stairs, rubble collapsing on us. My ears ringing, I stand up taking a look at Michaels body. His whole face is coated in a thick layer of ash. Shrapnel pierces his face and upper body. A large chunk of rock is stuck in his arm, and a knife-sharp piece of glass is lodged in his cheek. Blood flows over the ash, making red, river like streams in an ashy landscape.

I help Benny up off of the floor. He looks at Michael's lifeless body.

"My god..." he says, putting his face in his ash coated hands.

"Oh my god..." I say looking at his stomach.

A foot long piece of shrapnel is lodged in his side.

In the shock of the moment, he had not realized his own injuries.

I carry him outside. The sun blinds me as I walk into the street. The firing had stopped, and the fighting had receded into just echoes in the distance. A loud bang rings through the air. A VC sniper perched in a building fired his rifle, hitting Benny in his stomach. I collapse, the bullet had gone through Benny and into my leg.

I grab my M16, raising up enough to get a view of the sniper. I fire my clip into the whole building until I see the sniper collapse in the window.

"Medic!" I scream as loud as my ash-filled lungs will allow.

Turning my head, Benny comes into view. Blood has dripped out of his mouth onto the concrete, and I can already tell he is dead.

What a great day.