Straightening up, Ben replied, “Yes, sir, and good luck, sir.” Major Adams patted him on the shoulder again.
“We’ll need it,” Major Adams said softly with a slight smile. With that, Cory came to attention and saluted Major Adams. Sir, this is a one-way trip at best, Cory was thinking. Following Captain Cory’s lead, Hodges, Jonesy and Dorsey all came to attention and saluted. This surprised the major and caught him off guard, as saluting on the flight line was not a common practice. The major returned their salutes, a bit embarrassed, then turned and walked slowly off toward the refueling AH-1G gunships.
Once the MACV advisor and his team were loaded, Cory was given the FM frequency for the advisor on Firebase Five and put it on FM 2. Ben took the controls and started out. Jonesy handed the MACV advisor a headset so he could talk to the advisor on Firebase Five. His Vietnamese counterpart, Colonel Thien, was on an AN/PRC-25, talking to the ARVN commander on Firebase Five.
“Ben, just follow the road west. Climb to and maintain two thousand feet, ninety knots airspeed,” Cory instructed. Addressing the MACV advisor, he said, “Sir, you’re up on FM 2.”
“Thank you, Captain. I’ll contact the ground unit and see what’s up in their area,” the advisor said.
As they reached altitude, Cory had his radios tuned. FM 1 was on the artillery frequency, with FM 2 on the ground contact frequency. VHF was tuned to the tower at Dak To, and UHF was tuned to the company frequency.
“Joker Three-Six, Gambler Six, over,” called the MACV advisor colonel.
“Gambler Six, Joker Three-Six, over,” the senior advisor on Firebase 5 responded.
“Joker Three-Six, Gambler Six. We are inbound to your location. What is your situation? Over.”
“Gambler Six, currently all is quiet, over.”
“Roger, Chicken-man Six is inbound to your location for drop-off and pickup. He won’t require smoke, but be ready to wave him in with a panel when he’s on short final. He’s coming in low. I’ll be at two thousand and guide him in. How copy?”
“Gambler Six, good copy. Wind is light. Some enemy contact to the south around Firebase Six, so stay away from that area. Over.”
“Good copy, Joker. Will call for panel in five mikes. Gambler Six out.”
Simultaneously, Cory was on the UHF radio talking to Major Adams and the gunships.
“Chicken-man One-Niner, Death Dagger Three-One, Chicken-man Six, over.”
“Chicken-man Six, Death Dagger Three-One, go ahead.”
“Chicken-m
an Six, One-Niner, over.”
“Roger, Chicken-man Six. We will depart low-level out of here. Chicken-man One-Niner will provide route navigation. Any questions?”
“Death Dagger will have two aircraft alongside you, Chicken-man Six, and two high birds. We’ll switch out when you land, low birds going high and high birds coming down when you lift off. They’ll lay down a barrage in front of you as you’re coming out. Over.”
“Roger, Death Dagger, sounds good. Just give me an up when you’re ready. Over.”
“Chicken-man Six, we are ready to go,” Death Dagger stated.
“Roger, Chicken-man Six is on the go.” And with that, Major Adams started down the runway.
Sitting up at two thousand feet, Cory had a clear view of the runway at Dak To, the proposed route to Firebase Five, and the firebase. There were no clouds out this morning to obscure his vision. Ben was setting up a left-hand orbit over the firebase, wide enough that Cory could maintain a visual on the entire operation. Death Dagger’s two high birds came up to one thousand feet and held back, allowing Chicken-man Six and his immediate escort to take the lead.
“Six, One-Niner, over.”
“One-Niner, Six, go.”
“Six, come left at the draw that you’re approaching. Joker reports light winds on the LZ and some light activity vicinity Firebase Six. All quiet at the LZ, over.”
“Roger.” And Chicken-man Six turned forty-five degrees to his left and entered a draw that skirted the bottom of the hill Firebase Five was atop.
“Chicken-man Six, Death Dagger Three-One, over.”
“Go ahead, Death Dagger,” Chicken-man Six replied. It was Captain Curran.