by Keith Nightingale – posted on FB Group VietnamWar History Org and printed here with his permission.
Most any commander, at any level in combat, both senses and experiences a moment in his unit’s life cycle where personal judgment overrules traditional restraints or customs. This was such a moment for me as a company commander, Company D, 1st Battalion, 502d Infantry, 101st Airborne. The moment was in 1971 in a potentially very lethal portion of Vietnam.
The A Shau is both a beautiful and deadly place. Much like a black widow spider, it has the appearance of shiny beauty but that camouflages the venomous interior—an interior that watches, waits, and pounces with great and deadly effect.
I could both see and sense a steady erosion of performance and decided to move to higher ground. Though tortuous physically, the move would get the unit off of the active enemy trails and provide some options for badly needed rest. Perhaps the lack of kills over several days would stir the higher’s to extract us for a few days to recover our physical and mental well-being..
The soldier’s heads were deeply bowed as if in prayer. The uniforms completely wet and deep green with sweat. The boots were caked in the greasy laterite of the jungle interior. Pain from the rucksack and TA 50 bore deep inside the neck and shoulders. White streaks of caked salt mottled the external straps. Steam rose from under the helmets even in this fetid environment. The radio operators, carrying the heaviest burdens, were assisted by others who alternately pulled and pushed them to the next root mass for a moment’s rest.
The point, with the scout dog, suddenly found itself on relatively level ground. The squad leader, just behind, passed a Halt signal. The team moved less than 10 meters when it broke clear of the jungle and came astride a small flowing stream with scattered black moss-covered rocks along its side. There was no sign of other human incursions. I came forward and viewed the stream.
I did a quick eyeball survey and signaled for the remainder to fill in and align to the left and right of the stream. As if given a new burst of strength, the sinuous line achieved the higher ground and quietly moved into position. Now exhausted to the core, they lay down with their rucks to the front and rifles poised forward. I had learned on my first tour, reinforced on my second, that the enemy always located near water and so ordered two squads to reconnoiter up and down the stream to at least 100 meters. I had the remainder of the perimeter make water parties to refill the exhausted canteens and five quarts. No smoking or noise permitted. The dog teams were permitted to send their charges forward to lie in the creek and recover-shepherds having an unusually difficult time in this climate.
In less than 30 minutes, the squad that moved upstream returned. The sergeant was quite excited and animated-a contrast from everyone else’s deep torpor.
“Sir. You won’t believe this. It’s incredible.”
“What?”
“It’s a huge pool with big granite boulders. No sign of any habitation. It’s incredible.”
Moving now quickly with a recharged step, we followed the stream to a spot where it suddenly halted its meander to indicate a steep waterfall of more than 20 feet in height. We worked our way around to jungle and moved up the slope to the point where the rest of the watershed was revealed. Taking a quick scan, I was hit with a random thought and directed the squad leader to go to the main element and bring them all up to my location.
The troops, now half unconscious with the effects of the climb, the humidity, and the brief rest, moved slowly and with a marginal degree of consciousness. In a few minutes, the single file of exhausted soldiers crested the rise to join me. What they saw gave each man an almost palpable instant mental recharge that wiped days of exhaustion.
Having made a mental decision with potentially mortal consequences, I instructed that two platoons would ring the perimeter-each bisected by the waterfall. The third platoon would drop rucks and equipment at the largest open area and use the pool as they saw fit. Each platoon had 30 minutes and then would rotate with the others. The effect of this place and the water clearly began to unburden all the emotional rucksacks.
Some troops went into the water completely naked. Others wore everything but their rucksacks and submerged themselves for as long as they could hold their breath. The relatively warm but yet cool water had a magic effect on the morale and wiped out days of mental exhaustion.
One platoon sergeant, a wiry man from West Virginia, made his way to the incoming waterfall and noted the deep pool beneath it. On a whim, he checked the area and gave a Fire in the Hole, and lobbed a grenade in the center of the pool. The water boiled and burst to a background of screaming birds and then silence returned. Soon, several large white fish emerged, belly up. The sergeant and another soldier swam out to recover the carcasses. A third soldier dove inside the pool and emerged with two more fish hooked through his fingers. The sergeant immediately cleaned the fish, impaled them on green sticks, and lit a relatively smokeless fire just on the edge of the jungle canopy where it would dissipate underneath. I almost drew a halt to all this but something told me to restrain myself, which I did. I did issue a small quiet prayer on behalf of us all.
The sergeant went to his ruck and extracted a bottle of Heinz 57 sauce-something he had been hoarding for some time. He extracted his weapons toothbrush and swabbed each fish front and back with the sauce. He sat down with an immensely satisfying smile.
I timed my own immersion to the rotation of the third platoon in the water, dropped my boots, and walked into the deep pool by the waterfall. I groped my way along until I was directly under the fall, hooked my boots into a crevice in the rocky bed, and just let the water cascade over my head. I was lost in a neutral brain for the first time in weeks.
Here, the war did not exist. The pains and spirit of endurance-both physical and mental washed away. The pool was as if a giant soothing cloud of good feeling and relaxation cloaked everyone. Soldiers smiled and broke into animated conservations. For a brief moment, everyone had their lives back.
Thank you, Keith, for your contribution to my website. Did anybody else experience something similar where a “timeout” was declared?
I think this was a heartfelt reminiscence of a peaceful moment for comrades, during scary uncertain times in a horrific war. I was a medic that served my time in Germany from 69 to 71. I salute all the men and woman that endured and suffered in that war.
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I followed it as felt I was there, with the group in the pool under the water fall..I was drafted on July 29, 1969 and discharged two years later. We were on standby at Fort Hood,Texas for the duration of my tour but I have a lot of admiration and respect for all those who went there and sacrificed their lives ….
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Great story as a combat veterans, I can think of my own my experience !
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The story reminded me my time in Cambodia. My entire Division entered Cambodia in one very large CA, but began almost immediately walking back to Vietnam. There were many stories on the way back, but one sticks in my mind. We were approaching the river separating Cambodia from Vietnam, when we entered a very large open field completely filled with wild flowers. I still remember thinking that after the war, someone would build a home overlooking this field, with a river nearby. It never occurred to me the horror the Cambodian people would face after the war. This small break reminded me of the waterfall and the short moment of joy.
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OUTSTANDING!!!!!
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It brought back a lot of memories.
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This is SO true. Thank you for allowing the break at the time and for sharing it with all of us now.
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Good story, and I will repost it to valorguardians.com, which is visited frequently by Vietnam vets. You will get a pingback.
Hope everyone had a good Christmas, and wish you all a benevolent new year.
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Great story, happy for them. they had a good officer.
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Great article hero’s all
Sent from my iPhone
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Sir:
Attached please find a copy of my resume and the Introduction to my book, Reckoning: Vietnam and Americaâs Cold War Experience, 1945-1991, along with some independent reviews. Having served as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam before college and law school, I have always taken an interest in that war, how and why the US got into it and why we lost it. What I determined through 16 years of effort was that everything I thought I knew and understood was wrong and that, if it were not for ideology and double standards, we would have no standards at all.
I believe that a major reevaluation of our history is long overdue, and this is just what I provide, with unimpeachable facts, reason and consistent standards consistently applied.
If you are interested in reviewing this, provide me with a mailing address, and I will send you a copy of the book.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Regards.
Neal Thompson
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Thanks for the read.. You and your men need to be thanks for the job they done while in Country.. The hardships and misery you and your men endured can not be imagined by anyone other than those that live it, myself included.. I was there in 68/69.. I was a member of the USAF stationed at Phan Rang AB on the C-123’s. My tour was R&R compared to the tour you and your men did.. I feel some ashamed in have been in the same war, with such vastly different experiences and hardships.. Thanks again for you sharing what the war was really like for the men that actually fought it… Floyd H Brown
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At times the heart has to decide how to fight a war. This time out was a needed R&R.
To kill gophers with double bubble gum. Dig out the mound put in about 6 pieces and cover the whole. When Mr gopher comes courting Mrs gopher they eat the gum. It clogs them up. They die in the tunnels. Not poisons, do not have worry about kids and pets. It works better than any thing else I have tried.
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