Death!!!!

          The curse of the devil which lingers on many men who suffer the course of war.

Death!!!!

          The conqueror of all whose midst leaves all its hosts cringing in fear.

Blood!!!!

          The very substance that flooded and littered the battlefields of Vietnam.

          Planes encircled the battlefield like vultures ready to devour deceased meat except their prey was men. A lone man whom the planes had not detected ran for cover under a thistle bush. “Damn” cursed silently as the longer stare of an enemy plane pinned him down. The glare soon strayed from him right at the moment that he began his feeble hurtling. He balanced his rifle on his shoulder and wiped away sweat beads of pure fear from his cold brow. He dove instantly in a deep ditch and was gone. The soldier peered out to survey his safety for two slow minutes then spoke “Coast’s clear”.

          No sooner had he said that, 33 men came out from ducking and cringing behind boulders, tall weeds, bushes, anything that could conceal their presence. A sturdy built man holding a machine gun posed for quick combat came from behind a boulder as the other soldiers stood to attention and saluting all saying “Sergeant Roness sir”. Roness then turned to the lone soldier and asked in a gruff but calm voice, “Well Richard, make your report”. “I got contact with Lt. Briggers and he said he will be here in point 48 hours sir!” Richard replied then saluted.

          “Two days?” Roness asked looking dumbstruck. “But that’s not all of it” Richard stated while at attention. “A Vietnamese army’s headed our way”. He had barely finished when a moan arose from all the soldiers about. “In our state we’ll all be killed” whined a trooper named Wallace. “I say we retreat back to base and go home” another remarked. “No ya yellow-bellies” Roness gave his reply loud and clear, stopping all disputes amongst the men. After there was peace in the camp Roness cooled his temper replying, “We’ll just have to hope for the best”, but even Richard could see that Roness knew that the Vietnamese were going to attack and that he was afraid for his men that none of them would survive.