Taking Water

 Written by Kevin Schmitt

The Gulf Of Thailand promised many things around 0300 hours on the morning of the 6^th. Heavy fog, flat water and a diversionary tactic in the form of a trawler that was supposed to report to new management that it was taking on water. Of course the Naval arm of The People’s Republic of Vietnam might not give a shit about that, but somebody somewhere liked the idea so the plan was floated.

Lt. Junior Grade Herb Greenwood was a bit curious about that end of the operation when he first heard about it. It seemed like every boat along the coast was either being used to transport refugees or else they were being guarded so that they couldn’t be used for that purpose. The N.V.A. was taking over and a lot of people felt that their neighborhood was about to go to hell.

Greenwood’s best theory was that the U.S. Navy simply grabbed one of those refugee boats, took custody of the very fortunate passengers, and then offered the skipper a small fortune to head back to home waters and pretend that his boat was in trouble. That skipper would have to be a tad desperate, and a whole lot less important than the fellows who were supposed to benefit from the diversionary tactic.

Greenwood stopped thinking about that when it was time to move in. Because this was a special op, he was given command of a Mark-V Picket boat that he had never seen until a couple of hours before it was time to move out. The river patrol boat was forty-five feet long and nine feet abeam. It was a variant of the boat he had skippered as part of the Mobile Ravine force that had operated so extensively throughout the delta portion of the country.

That was back in 67 when there was still some hope of bleeding the communists white. Now it was May of 75 and Operation Frequent Wind was still being talked about with no lack of disgust. Maybe that’s the reason they didn’t have to twist his arm to get him to lead the team. His wife was Vietnamese, and she would have to wait many years before she would be able to return as a tourist, and make contact with the loved ones that hopefully would still be alive.

Her name was Nhu which means gentle. She and Herb made an interesting couple. She was a real beauty with light colored skin and a small bone structure. Herb on the other hand was a real Red Skin. In part because he was always out in the hot Southeast Asian sun. Also in part because he was a Paiute Indian, born and raised just a stone’s throw from Las Vegas Nevada. On their first date Herb introduced Nhu to the wonderful world of cards, and in no time the young woman was hooked. Their plan was to buy a house in Las Vegas and she would get a job as a dealer in one of the casinos until Herb could collect his pension and then hopefully get a job teaching math. That was the plan, and it would enable his wife to find happiness thousands of miles from a homeland that was now being turned into a Vietnamese holocaust.

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