THERE BE DRAGONS Read Online Free PDF Page B

attack, suicidal recon squad?” asked Jacobs.
    “I don’t know. But they do it. You’ve gotta remember, this is an enemy that sends their Sappers, loaded up with composition B high explosives, into our lines, to run into the CP to blow themselves up.
    “How do you beat an enemy that’s willing to do that? How do you fight people who are willing to go on suicide missions? And I don’t mean that figuratively, like maybe we won’t come back from this, I mean literally. They know they’re gonna die. And they volunteer for it. You can’t beat an enemy like that.”
    “I’ve heard we’re doing pretty well out here. Got them on the run,” said Jacobs.
    “That’s what the army will tell you … but it’s a lie. I know. I’ve been on R&R. I’ve seen the news. We’re losing. And losing bad.”
    “You’re not doing much for my confidence, soldier.”
    “This ain’t a war like any before it. It ain’t a straight fight. We’ve got one hand tied behind our back, a blindfold on, and we’ve been spun around. We’ve gotta avoid all the booby traps before we can even get our one arm within swinging range of these guys.”
    “Is it wrong to feel betrayed by my country?” It was more a statement than a question. “I’m not even sure I should be saying this to a soldier under my command.” Jacobs shook his head again. “I’ve got to feel betrayed … if I believe what you’re telling me,” he said, “about the progress we’ve made, well, the lack of progress. If we are losing, I’ve been told nothing but a bunch of lies about the war effort since I started my training. Since I volunteered … Why did I volunteer?”
    “This is one strange place, LT,” said Bane. “People have seen things in the jungle that can’t be explained. Man wasn’t meant to be in this place. It’s governed by something other than us, greater than us. All the soldiers in this country are fighting for something that doesn’t belong to them. It belongs to the demons.”
    “Demons? Not you too.” Jacobs sighed.
    “I’ve seen one myself. Flying above my platoon while we waited at night, out on ambush.”
    “You’re seeing things that aren’t really there. The mind plays tricks, especially here. The condition you’d have been in, the fatigue, and so on, it isn’t conducive to mental well-being. There are no such things as demons,” said Jacobs.
    “You won’t be saying that when you hear the thunder they make,” said Bane. “You won’t be saying that when you see them swoop down and pick up one of your guys. You won’t be saying that when you see them eating members of your platoon. You won’t be saying that when you see a solider melted by the fire they spit.”
    “You’re full of delusion, soldier.”
    “Others have seen them … or at least heard of them. Not just the troops on our side, but the civilians, and the enemy know the dragons.”
    “Dragons? I think you should get some sleep. I’ll wake you soon for your watch.”
    The night was free of Charlie … and dragons.
     
    • • • • •
     
    Jacobs was sat in a chopper, a Huey, with the other replacement NCOs. The rotors were a blur, their whoop-whoop sound deafening him.
    It flew over the Green Line.
    The two pilots were speaking to each other via their headsets. The NCOs just sat in silence. At the sides of the Huey were two gunners with M-60s trained on the jungle that advanced below.
    Jacobs’s eyes examined one of the weapons and the gunner noticed.
    The gunner turned to Jacobs and shouted over the roar of the rotors. “M-60s can turn people to chow real easy! But the dragons do it easier though!”
    The Huey flew over shell-holes and bomb craters, by mountains and over abandoned plantations.
    It travelled fifty klicks to the battalion’s forward supply base without incident.
    The firebase was on a hilltop. The trees had been flattened by daisy-cutter bombs and bulldozed away. The perimeter was heavily fortified with artillery in sandbag