Mission to Vietnam.

[Spearmint]

Corporal Rayburn

"Ooh so many questions, not all at once!" the corporal shakes his head and then answers a few points, picking up on the jests, bravado and serious matters in hand. With Glyndwr and Marco remaining quiet begins.

"The firebases located in these Corps area are strategically named, or so I am told. Further to the south you have bases named after planets, Mars, Pluto, Neptune, Uranus. All I can say is Uranus is in deep shit! ... that was a joke you can laugh at my jokes!", (cue a chorus of "Sir ha, ha Sir!"), he continues, "Over in the west, those bases closer to the Cambodian border, their names have been chosen from battles such as Bastogne, Bull Run, Asomante. Locally here in Kontum province, the Vietnamese exported olives under the French occupation and this area was known as 'the Mount of Olives' hence the biblical name Gethsemane. Other sister bases followed suit, Nazareth, Jericho, etc."

"I know some of you men have a penchant for favoured weapons, being specialists in certain armaments. As we go out as a squad the company quartermaster will assign extra specific weapons to beef out the squad subject to availability. Sniper rifles are in short supply though the gooks favour them. You might be best picking one from a dead gook. A recon squad should get at least one LMG and launcher of type."

"Rules of engaging. well, if fired upon we fire back but we have to minimise civilian casualties. We are here to aide not hinder the governments forces in combating the encroaching influence of Russian and Chinese backed communists. We take every communist threat, wether muzzle or mouthpiece as a serious threat to undermine the integrity of this fine democratic society. When fired upon we must grasp initiative and dominate firepower. We have dominion over the air but need to enforce it on the ground and it comes at a bloody price. Against my better nature and orders I tend to shoot first and ask questions later but don't quote me on that!"

"The medevac teams get pretty beat up every time they go out. The choppers are a modern day wonder and save us humping our way through dense terrain so thick you can't see past the end of your nose. A favoured trick is to wound troops and wait it out for the cavalry to arrive. Charlie likes nothing better than downing those Hueys. Around here though we will walk out and walk back unless in deep trouble. The cavalry got better things to do than taxi us around a few miles from home."

"At night any armed man in the jungle is perceived as your enemy. There are more dangers out there too, tigers and snakes. Some RECON teams are attached to Montagnard units and these groups will be identifiable. Familiarise yourself though with weapon profiles and silhouettes, the nozzle of the M-16 is different to the AK47, the VC have an 'unofficial' uniform, a certain look that you will come to expect. Specialist in Intelligence will come to the fore in village settings to uncover any one in disguise."


The corporal answers the questions as best he can and then opens a map up across a small pine table.

(I hope everyone can access the army topographic map of Kontum without problems?). here is another link http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/ ... 6637-4.pdf

"Tomorrow night we go out beyond the bounds of the firebase. You can identify the practice firing range in the NE paddy fields for the mortar squads which lies between the hamlets of Kon Monay Solem and Kopal. . Past those we travel through some footpaths in the brushwood covered hillsides and head north towards the village of Kon Borbanh. This is one of those Montagnard native places. Over the last few weeks we have had constant harassment from VC guerrillas who have been placing booby traps and mines along the road. We aim to catch them red handed in their nefarious deeds. Local intelligence suspects that the VC sympathisers are from nearby villages and traverse the jungle at night to dig in their newly laid traps. We have another 'recon' squad doing exactly the same on the other side of the road. At various points the jungle paths breach the road and it is close to these access points that the improvised explosives have detonated with fatal effects upon troops and villagers alike. Where or when they will strike next is pot luck, it may be today, tomorrow or next week. Any you punks feeling lucky?"

The corporal will take any mission related questions and then the team is dismissed until the squad leaves for the next day. Diego can visit the medical tent and get his bruised ribcage bandaged up by the assistant medics. assistant medic binds Diego [1d4+5] = 4+5 = 9

any further questions after you study the map I will answer here.