TRACERS
Dinky Dau
A soldier from Viet Nam War talks about a violent battle

I remember the sky was overcast. It was hot and muggy. Everyone’s fatigues were drenched with sweat. It was late afternoon and we hadn’t seen crap all day. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking about right then, I guess my mind was just sorta blank at that point. I was so damn worn out-we all were. We’d been humpin’ all day. My whole body was achin’, I could hardly concentrate on the trail in front of me. The jungle on both sides of us started to get real dense, and the trail started goin’ downhill. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there were twelve or maybe thirteen VC, right in front of us. If the point man hadn’t spotted them, they’d have walked right into us. I watched the point man as he raised his weapon. It was like a movie in slow motion. The point man opened up on the first two or three VC.  I watched the first two or three VC go down, and then I opened up on full automatic. I creamed one of ’em with an entire clip. I watched my bullets as they ripped across his torso. Everybody was up. Everybody was hyper. Everybody was hittin’.  Damn, I wasn’t used to reloading. I couldn’t get my clip in. Finally I got it Everyone was into it. I was eager. I was angry! It was the first time I killed anybody. There were eight or nine dead bodies lying on the ground  I kept blasting away at ’em. I just kept blasting.  Eight or nine of the little mothers and not one of us even got a scratch.   It was our little victory!   Everybody really got off on that fact.  It was our little victory.