BUNKER GUAR AND THE TIGER

Untitled Part 1

BUNKER GUARD AND THE TIGER

I was manning the M60 machine gun, near the end of our two men four-hour watch, when it happened. I'd just finished making some coffee to help stay awake when I heard it. That scream. That piercing, demonic scream, that turned my whole body into a raging adrenaline storm.

It all started about twelve hours ago when I was selected to pull bunker guard at brigade. During my tour in Vietnam, before I made E-5, I pulled guard duty about once or twice a month in our battalion base camp perimeter bunkers but never at brigade.

Because we received a report that an NVA (North Vietnamese Army) regiment was operating to the west of us, the brigade went on full alert. This meant that bunker guard requirements almost doubled. As most brigade personnel were located in forward base camps, this left few infantrymen at brigade headquarters to perform guard duty, so brigade directed our battalion to provide men to supplement their bunker guard requirements. They asked for infantrymen but as we also had the majority of our men in the field, we provided mainly support personnel. So, E-4 Loughlin, you're up! Up being the operative word, as I was assigned to the bunker that sat on the highest point of the ridgeline.

When I reported to the brigade, I was informed that instead of walking to the bunker, as we did at our battalion, we would ride an M113, APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) there and back. This was welcomed news, as it would have been a long, hard, wet and steep hike to that top bunker.

After being briefed by the sergeant of the guard, we were taken to the brigade motor pool, where an APC sat, engine running and a driver ready to take us up to the bunker line. It had been raining for two straight weeks and we were all eager to get inside the vehicle out of the rain. While we stood there in our ponchos, dripping wet, and waiting for the driver to unlatch the back door, we were told by the sergeant that we would be riding on top of the vehicle. Because of the possibility of it slipping off the steep muddy road, a decision was made that no one but the driver was to be inside. Everyone else was to ride on top and be ready for a quick dismount if it started to slide over the edge.

We all climbed on top of the APC, which was strewn with all sorts of equipment that was unrecognizable in the dark, each one of us grabbing something solid to hold on to. I can't remember what I grabbed, but with my rifle slung across my back under my poncho, I held on with both hands as the APC departed the motor pool, heading for the bunker line.

A sandy road followed the bottom contour of the hill, and at some point, the driver made a left hand turn off the road and started climbing up a steep unpaved road that had been cut into the side of the

jungle covered hill. Because of the unrelenting rain, the road bed was full of deep gouges where the water had eroded away the earth, creating small rivulets that flowed down and over the edge of the road.

The vehicle had trouble climbing the steep twisting road, with the track treads slipping on the muddy roadway, making little forward progress until eventually gaining better traction when biting into a more solid surface. It would then move forward again with more speed until hitting another muddy spot. This continuous jerking forward motion went on for almost thirty minutes, and the progress was very slow.

There was a few heart pounding moments when the driver would make a tight turn, and the vehicle almost sliding off the side of the hill. We would all brace for a jump but fortunately, the driver was always able to keep the vehicle on the road. One time the vehicle started sliding backward and the driver had difficulty stopping its momentum. He was able to stop it just as the rear of the vehicle came to a sharp curve and some of the track was hanging over the side of the road. He had told us previously that if we start to go over the side, to jump as far as we could from either end, not the center because it would probably roll over us. I was sitting near the back hanging on for dear life. My plan was to jump to the road and roll away from the vehicle and hopefully not go over the side myself.