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Chapter 17
The Bamboo forest
We were moving our patrol deep into out TAOR—a two day loop that would take us to the outer limits of our TAOR. Capt. Tolleson had briefed me on the possibility of a battalion sized NVA unit moving in that area— our intelligence had made him aware of this. Platoon sized patrols like this are not easy—we had to carry enough c-rations for at least two days and find our own water supply since helo supply was not going to happen in territory known to be NVA occupied. It was a clandestine patrol—more recon in nature —to gather info. on that enemy unit—if they were there— and report back—not engage. We were into our second day of moving slowly along our prescribed routes outlined on the overlay that Capt. Tolleson and I worked out and reported back to Battalion when I held the platoon up—checked our location on the map—reported back to Co. HQ—no enemy contact and our coordinates. We were tired—hot and needed to rest—we set up a clandestine perimeter and established security so some of our guys could sleep, eat and replenish—while other members of the platoon stood watch. As usual I sent my point fire team on ahead to reconnoiter and let me know what we were facing—terrain, etc.. At times like this when the platoon couldn’t ‘bivouac’ , we simply wrapped up in our ponchos —hid in the underbrush and grabbed a little shut-eye as best as possible—but always with security posted. We were buried deep in the undergrowth and even I couldn’t see my
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