"Two Brothers Fight #11" Topic

All,

1330 Local Time
1 February 1966
Song Ve Valley, RVN
Operation Double Eagle

Danny was severely unhappy; first Sergeant Garcia had split he and Nik up by putting them in different fireteams, and yesterday Nikki got hit and MEDEVAC'ed to the rear. Despite being in country with the squad for three and a half months now, he felt completely alone without his best friend. After the helos came and resupplied the company, then left carrying their wounded safely away, the company dug in and occupied its night defense positions, posting OP/LPs and going to 50% in the holes. Danny found it impossible to sleep, it was the first time in the field that he and Nik weren't sharing a hole. The company was up before dawn, and after a quick piss, brushing of the teeth, and some cold C-rats, they stomped in their holes, hoisted their packs, and began sweeping north up the Song Ve Valley.

It was the squad's turn on point when Sgt Garcia called them to a halt, told them to take a knee while he checked the map and checked in on the radio. They were currently atop a finger of Hill 133, but about to come down into some relatively open terrain, with ridgelines to their left (northwest) and right (southeast), as they pressed ahead to check out a fishing village in the northeast. "Alright, Thomas, you take point, and take it easy, take your time, I got a bad feeling about this one." "Roger, Sergeant G," replied Danny.

Overview, north is up. Hill 133 is in the southwest (bottom left), while ridgelines dominate to the northwest (top left) and southeast (bottom right). There's a hardball road running north-south through the center of the area, with a cluster of rice paddies across the center/left, while thick stands of trees screen the approaches to the village, which sites in the northeast (top right), as well as box in the rice paddies to the west.

The squad is down to seven effectives…

The patrol pushes ahead (center to bottom center to bottom right)…

But then, as they reach the road, a Viet Cong bunker opens fire!

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
link

Next fight coming soon.

V/R,
Jack

Jack,
Another nail biter, I thought Danny had bought it. Surprised
that Cpl. Little didn't get some sort of medal for bringing
Danny back, but the Corps has always been a bit stricter on
giving medals. The action around the bunker was awesome. Again, loved the terrain, looking at these hills, can't wait to see how you show the area next to the DMZ. Did you scratch build the bunker? What about the small shrine at the ville?

Curious how you come up with the Marine's names. This whole campaign so far has been so representative. Nice work again!
As you game against AI, these have had to give you some
surprises and tactical challenges.

thanks again,

Sam

Sam,

Thanks man! And don't worry, Danny and Nikki can't bite it, that would bring a premature end to our story ;) And you're right about Corporal Little, but don't worry, he'll get his. And no kidding about the Corps being a bit stingy, particularly about things that get Vs on them ;)

Still got awhile before we get to the DMZ, somewhere around fight number 20 I think. The bunkers and all the village stuff are from Jimmi at Flashpoint Minis, a great dude with great toys.

Regarding names, all kinds of stuff. Most of them are kinda just pulled out of a hat, I use a lot of NFL and MLB rosters for that, and some are kind of a mish-mash of real guys I knew, and some of the guys in this campaign are actually names from a comic book I read as a kid called "The 'Nam," Corporal Little being one of them.

Regarding the AI, yeah, it's pretty tense not knowing when contact will come, and then what it's going to be, and then what kind of stuff the game will throw at me, like enemy reinforcements, mortars, booby traps, etc… The one lament I have about this tour is that there weren't enough booby traps, but I don't want to overdo it.

The next game sees the beginning of Operation Utah, the first stand-up fights against the North Vietnamese Army, and my favorite string of games in the whole first tour.

V/R,
Jack

Jack,
I wonder why Wolf has not been commenting on your last
several AARs. Always looked forward to his perspective.
Hope all is well with you during this "Texas Ice Age".
Sam

I'm been a little slow, working on getting the house ready to sell.

Did Nikki get medivaced to a hospital ship? Will he go AWOL and got back to his unit before they are ready to release him? Is everyone wearing their flak jackets?

I started reading the blog and couldn't stop until I finished. Half-way through I was shouting, "Someone get a LAW, 3.5 or a Willie Peter on the bunker". If you are not reading the blog you are missing out on the real action.

"take a knee".

When my son deployed I told him to "maintain a low profile" since he's 6'5" with antennas sticking up by his head he'd be a prime target. I told him that when his unit stops if everyone is standing to take a knee if they are kneeling lay down. Unfortunately, that doesn't work with IED's while on patrol.

I can feel the frustration building up in the guys that are left. I'm waiting for the boys to give some payback like a Claymore-triggered ambush or a nice Snake & Nape airstrike. They need some good body count to lift their spirits.

"Why am I lying on my back, looking up at the sky?

That happened to a Marine friend of mine in A'stan. He was on a roof in a firefight and then found himself wondering why he was looking up at the sky why the guys around him were shouting "Vargas is hit, Vargas is hit". Then a few seconds later he realized, "Hey, I'm Vargas". Evidently, a round hit the guy next to him ricocheting off his M240 and went through his hand into his cheek knocking him out. He's fine now.

Wolfhag

jack,
another brilliant fight. you even spelled some of the bigger words right! great job. I have found the medals table in GF pretty stingy. how did you get those medals?
again great fight

Joe

Sam – Well, speak of the devil ;)

Wolf – Hope the house sale goes well, you should make a killing going from Cali to Tennessee! Don't worry, Nik will be back, and yeah, they're all wearing their flak jackets ;) I've got 3.5" super bazookas, but they're an asset that's gotta be assigned to support the squad, and yeah, I'm past the point where I need to start using LAWs.

Regarding frustration, I'm afraid there's no end in sight. The boys are about to have their first run in with the NVA…

Yeah, I can't imagine trying to shelter a 6' 5" frame! And ol' Vargas is lucky how it turned out, but not so lucky in how it went down in the first place! ;)

Joe – Thanks, and yeah, 'Hooked on Phonics' worked out ;) And I'm not using the medals table from Grunts Forward, it's waaaaaaay too hard! ;)

V/R,
Jack