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resupplied for another couple of days since our mission was to operate as clandestine as possible—helicopters bringing in water would be a dead giveaway that we were in enemy territory and the VC would know exactly where we were— so finding a fresh water supply was a priority on our mind. I directed the platoon into a secure perimeter to take a rest break. A secure perimeter meant that 50% of the platoon were ‘on guard’ and the other 50% were resting. I met with my squad leaders and the platoon Sgt. ( S/Sgt. Wenger ) and informed them that I was going to do a brief recon up ahead to see if I could find a water source—S/ Sgt. Wenger would be in command while I was gone—I took my radio man— PFC. Harris with me—we carried a PRC #6 with us to stay in touch with the platoon while doing our recon—PFC Harris was also armed with his M-14 rifle—I had my .45 pistol—— the PRC #6 was capable of communicating from 1-3 miles —each of my squad leaders had a PRC #6—S/Sgt. Wenger kept our main source of communication which was the PRC #10—it was our main contact with Company HQ and could operate up to 5-6 miles in radius. Harris and I left the platoon and moved forward along the trail—stopping occasionally to check out possible water sources—we had moved down the trail maybe 3/4 of a mile when we heard vietnamese voices up ahead—it sounded as if it could be a VC patrol— they couldn’t see us and we couldn’t see them—yet! Using hand signals I directed Harris to get off the trail to our left and stay down—I ran to the right and dived under a big dead tree maybe 20 yards off the trail. I was praying that Harris had found a secure spot to land also. Within seconds I heard a loud roar —like someone had turned on a huge vacuum cleaner—I was lying parallel with
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