Page 85 - Echo 127

Chapter 16
Bigfoot Encounter
Our patrols, operations and sweeps continued thru the late stages of Summer and into the Monsoon season. I had an ‘unusual’ experience on one of our long range patrols into the extended TAOR. We were moving up into the mountains from the lowlands and were traversing a dry stream bed—it was rocky but clear of the thick, heavy underbrush we had been experiencing—we had been steadily climbing for a while so I held up the platoon, formed a secure perimeter and called a non smoking break ( VC could smell cigarette smoke for great
distances ). I wanted to check out the immediate area up ahead in the direction we were headed. I moved up the stream bed carefully watching the surrounding terrain. I rounded a bend in the stream bed—out of sight of my platoon — decided I had better not go any further—I was about to turn around and head back when I heard strange noises coming from up ahead—I couldn’t see beyond another bend in the stream bed—the noise sounded like something was crashing thru the underbrush and making ‘animal like’ sounds—and it was coming in my direction. I pulled my weapon from my holster—slipped into the underbrush and hid behind some rocks. A couple of minutes later I saw a huge, orange creature ( an orangutang ), coming down the stream bed—he was bigger than me and looked like ‘bigfoot’—he was angry about something—he was picking up logs , rocks and tree limbs and banging them against the rocks and making loud animal
85