The Amulets of Power V A New BeginningChapter 7
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Arriving at the unit just after 0730 hrs, there was quite a surprise waiting for me. First, a good number of the students were there and looking at the surprise. Secondly, the cooks were there and making a late morning meal for the men present. Lastly there was what everyone was looking at.
A new building had appeared, apparently overnight. It was located at the far end of our building from the road and was centered on the middle barracks and about 12 feet from it. It was a one story masonry building and was stuccoed on the exterior surfaces, and it had a large, steep Thai style roof of red ceramic roofing tiles. Lieutenant Chatchai called the men in front of the building to attention when I appeared.
"Chief Ranger Trainer, this building appeared overnight. I'm sure that it wasn't here last evening when I returned from town," he told me as I approached the building. I gave the men 'at ease' before reaching into the lower right front pocket of my uniform shirt, as I had felt a sudden increase in weight there as I approached the building. I removed a set of iron keys that I was sure would fit the locks on the doors to the building.
"I believe that these keys which I received will fit these locks," I said as I approached the double doors and their locks. The locks opened to the keys, and I pushed the doors in to be greeted by another even more impressive surprise: weapons, or more precisely carbines in the present vernacular. Racks and racks of them and apparently all the same style.
"Lieutenant, come with me to inspect the contents of this building. Sergeant Chuang, keep the men away from here while we are inside. Have them eat when the meal is ready. We'll bring out several samples of the contents when we have inspected everything," I ordered before the Lieutenant and I entered the building. We could hear Sergeant Chuang issuing orders through the open doors.
Lieutenant Chatchai just stood there for a time inside the doors slack jawed and staring at the weapons. I had already started counting. There were ten carbines to a rack and there were ten racks, so there were 100 weapons here, but the weapons area only occupied about half of the building. There was an interior door at the far end of the weapons area and a third key on the key ring.
On opening the interior door, we discovered that the room contained barrels of black powder, wooden boxes sealed with wax that were marked for .577 caliber paper cartridges, and other boxes containing tins of percussion caps, boxes of treated cartridge paper, boxes of lead minie balls, and bars of pure lead to be melted into more hollow base minie balls using the iron gang type bullet molds next to them.
"Where did all of this come from?" Chatchai asked when we had returned to the weapons area and had locked the door to the powder room.
"I have no idea, but perhaps these weapons can tell us something," I told him.
"Tell us something?" he asked in a confused voice.
"Certainly, weapons are always marked by their manufacturer and also often by or for the owner," I told him before adding, "this many weapons, all of the same pattern, weren't made for individual sale, or if they were, it had to be an individual with his own army," I told him.
I pulled several weapons from the racks and began examining them near the entry door to have the most light. The lock of each weapon was clearly marked 'W. Corbett' in small letters. The barrels were all marked 'Joseph B. P. Bourne'. One weapon was also stamped 'British East India Company' on the barrel. Further examination of a number of the weapons showed that a few of them were marked for BEIC, but the majority weren't. Also none of the weapons were marked with the broad arrow of the British Government.
"It would appear that these weapons were made by the English firm of Joseph Bourne using locks made by W. Corbett. Some of them are marked for the British East India Company but most aren't.
"This would indicate to me at least that Bourne made a number of these for the British East India Company, and that some of these may just be leftovers. The remainder appear to be from the same production run as they are of the same quality and construction. Perhaps Bourne intended to sell them to other customers in India," I told him.
"What other customers?" Captain Prawit asked. He had arrived in the last few minutes and had heard part of our conversation.
"There are a number of local rulers in India who have large security forces," I told him.
"Are these weapons reliable if they were made for use by the Indians?" the Captain asked.
"Yes, Bourne is a well known manufacture, and these weapons appear to be similar to the British Pattern 53 rifle, except they are carbines with 30 inch barrels, but they have the same three groove rifling. The boxes of cartridges in the other room are marked .577 caliber which is what the size of the opening in these barrels appears to be.
"The stocks appear to be walnut, the furniture is brass. There are only two iron bands holding the barrel to the stock instead of three for the rifle which has a longer barrel. There is a metal ramrod and a bar near the muzzle for the attachment of a bayonet. There is a fixed front sight and a rear sight with two flip-up leaves for longer distances. The stock also has front and rear sling swivels. I didn't see any bayonets or slings when we inspected the weapons area.
"In the other room there are powder, caps, lead, molds and prepared cartridges. It would appear that we will be able to begin weapons training shortly," I finished. The Captain and the Lieutenant had both been inspecting a number of the weapons while I explained about them.
"These weapons all appear to be new!" the Captain said in surprise after inspecting a number of the carbines.
"Yes, all of the ones that I inspected appeared to be new. They will require a thorough cleaning before they can be used to remove the shipping grease," I told him which brought up additional questions.
"Will we be able to obtain cleaning supplies for the weapons and also tools for taking them apart?" I asked.
"Cleaning supplies, yes," the Captain answered, "but I am not sure about tools. What type of tools?"
"Nipple wrenches, screwdrivers, and tools to remove the bands holding the barrel to the stock," I told him before adding, "Later we will need tools to take the locks apart also."
"Maybe, I will need to speak to Prompan about what is available," he told me.
"When the men have finished their morning meal, I will demonstrate how to carry, use and care for the carbines as much as I can without taking them apart. Tomorrow there will be a more thorough demonstration if we can obtain tools," I told both of them.
"Yes, the men will be eager to see these weapons. They are the finest weapons in camp and the other units are sure to be jealous," the Lieutenant said with pride.
"That may mean that we will need armed guards on this building day and night," the Captain replied with a frown.
"That would take men away from necessary training. Perhaps a guard at night would be sufficient," I told them, but privately was sure that the Amulets wouldn't allow anyone in here to steal these weapons or their ammunition.
There was great excitement when the three of us emerged from the new armory building. Some of the men had seen what was inside when the doors were opened, and there appeared to have been a great deal of discussion about what they saw during their meal, which was now over.
Captain Prawit called all of the men to attention and had them form up in their regular platoon formations. The formations were a bit ragged as not all of the men were present since it was a day off. The men were consolidated into two platoons and were moved to the open ground floor of the third barracks. When the men were seated in a relatively normal instruction formation on the barracks floor, Captain Prawit, Lieutenant Chatchai, and I brought out a number of the new carbines to pass around for the men to look at while I explained about them, their ammunition, and how they functioned.
During this explanation, there was a sudden bright flash of light which was accompanied by a loud clap of thunder. It startled everyone since there had been no signs of rain when we had started, but it was the rainy season and this wasn't entirely unheard of. However, it appeared to have been right in our unit area, and Captain Prawit and I rushed toward the new armory building to insure that it hadn't been struck by lightning and wouldn't be exploding with all of that ammunition in the second room. We had only gone a few feet when we saw the man lying on the ground, and he was not one of our men. Our men had followed us, and they also saw the man on the ground.
"Wait here while the Captain and I examine this man in case there is another lightning strike," I told our men to keep them back out of the way, but the Captain looked over at me with a questioning expression before moving.
On checking the man, we quickly determined that he was alive but unconscious.
"What happened to him?" the Captain asked, looking around to see where the lightning had struck in a nervous manner.
"The Amulets knocked him out," I told him confidently in a quiet voice, and my amulet warmed up as I said it. "It would appear that we may need only a superficial guard on the building at night. The Amulets will not be stolen from," I assured him to renewed warmth from my amulet.
Our men had moved closer on seeing that there was no more lightning and several of them recognized the man.
"That man is a ka-moy-ee (thief). All of those in the other units here know not to trust him," several of the men told us.
"He should be punished for trying to steal our weapons," several other men demanded. I just smiled at them.
"We do not need to punish him and diminish the merit that we made yesterday. He was obviously sent here by others, and when they learn that he has failed, I am sure that they will meter out a punishment for him and will diminish whatever merit they might have," I told them appealing to their Buddhist faith in such matters. Many of the men were smiling upon hearing my remarks. The man was also beginning to come around.
"Bring some water for him to drink," I directed next, and a bowl of water was brought over from the barracks. I gave it to the man to drink.
"NEVER return to our area. The Amulets will not be stolen from," I told him when he had finished the water. "The next one who comes here to take anything will not be treated so leniently by them," I finished.
On getting to his feet following that, he hobbled away as best he could with his left arm hanging down and unusable. I was sure that he didn't consider his treatment by the Amulets to be all that lenient. My men had fallen silent at the mention of the Amulets.
"Chief Trainer, are the weapons for us to have and use?" several men wanted to know immediately following the man's departure.
"Yes, the weapons are safe to use by all of the men during training and also after you graduate. The Amulets know who all of you are, and that you are authorized to have and use the weapons. They can keep track of all of you," I informed them to a very warm amulet.
"So many?" several men asked looking around at those around them.
"Certainly, the Amulets protect all of the women dedicated to them all over Siam. Do you think that a few more men would be a problem for them?" I asked with a smile.
"No, probably not," Captain Prawit answered after a few seconds, as all of the men had been quiet as they reflected on what I had said. The carbines that we had been using were quickly collected following that, replaced in the armory, and the doors locked.
"Today is still a holiday. Tomorrow, we return to training and there will be much to do," I reminded the men. I then collected my horse from where one of the men had taken him to graze on the now growing grass, and returned to our house and Chanthra for the remainder of the day.
Chanthra was there when I reached the house, having no classes today.
"Were those what you have been waiting for?" she asked as I arrived on the terrace.
"Yes, without them, it would have been difficult to continue the training. We will proceed tomorrow, but there will be a lot of work for the men to do before we can fire the weapons safely here," I told her.
"Are things so bad at the camp?" she asked in surprise.
"The Siamese Army is not currently interested in precision shooting as they still use the volley firing technique, I will be training the men to fire at specific targets when they fire, whether individually or as a group. It requires a different kind of firing range and mind set than the other technique does. There will be much work required to prepare the firing range for that," I told her. We spent a very enjoyable remainder of the day at home just relaxing together.
Arriving at the unit just prior to 0600 hrs. the next morning for PT, I found a number of the men hung over from partying yesterday and perhaps even the day before for some of them. We had PT as scheduled, but I shortened the run in consideration of those hung over.
Soon the only ones left there in the mess hall were the CO, Sawyer, Barlow, Morris and me. We all had a second beer. “What the hell is causing these ‘Ammunition Malfunctions’, as everyone is calling them?” the CO asked of no one in particular. “Sir, it has to be sabotage. That much explosive just doesn’t go off by itself. Even if someone were careless, it wouldn’t set off everything like that and apparently at the same time. Although how a saboteur could arrange it all to go off at the same...
Back out on the village street, we continued toward the Wat, as the sun was close to setting. We reached the masonry walls around the Wat while the sun was still visible, making it about 1815 hrs. The walls had been painted or whitewashed at some time in the past, but portions of the paint was now peeling. There were gardens of various types of vegetables on both sides of the Wat and presumably behind it also, which were tended by the monks. We passed through the gate into the Wat and looked...
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We continued until about noon. The cart only made three or four miles an hour where the road was in good condition, which wasn't always the case. There were a few places where it was so bad that we had to get out, and push the cart from the back while Ute encouraged the buffalo from the front. Thankfully those places were few, but less bad spots than that were frequent. Around noon, Ute pulled the cart off the road, and under the shade provided by some tall trees and stopped. "We stop...
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New characters appearing in chapter 10 and after: Phil Del Vecchio Captain, Bill met him in Bangkok, 5’-7”tall, 185 pounds, 36 years old, black hair, hazel eyes, very muscular Tweed SSG, Engineer, Bill’s friend from Cambodia, 5’-9” tall, 155 pounds, 32 years old, blond hair, blue eyes Carson SSG, Infantry, 5’-11” tall, 170 pounds, 32 years old, black hair, gray eyes Williams SSG, Infantry, 5’-9” tall, 150 pounds, 30 years old, Brown hair, hazel eyes Colby SSG, Artillery, 6’-0” tall,...
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We filed out of the front gate toward the saddle. I handed Tweed the smoke grenade, as we hurried down to the LZ. In just under five minutes, I was in place and ready. I called the chopper again. "Air Cobra 17, this is Golden Badger 3 Zulu. I am popping smoke now," I told him as I signaled Tweed. "I identify green smoke. I say again green." "Roger, Air Cobra 17. I'm down wind of the smoke and ready to guide you in." The chopper that approached then wasn't a Huey either. I...
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When Captain Prawit and I arrived at the firing range, Lieutenant Chatchai had the men at work already repairing the area of the tam-nop (embankment) to be used for firing and the area on the next dike or embankment where the targets would be placed. With the rain that the area had received lately, the space between the two locations was filled with some eight inches of water, and it resembled a rice paddy – if a small one. The taller embankments were very visible now with the areas between...
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The following new characters appear in the remaining chapters: Richard Starling (Rick) Commo specialist, SP/4, 5’-10” tall, 145 pounds, 23 years old, blond hair, gray eyes. Harry Williams Commo specialist, SP/4, 5’-7’ tall, 155 pounds, 21 years old, brown hair, brown eyes Noon Thai girl from Chiang Rai, 5’-0” tall, 100 pounds, 32C-20-31, 19 years old, long shiny black hair, brown eyes, very cute The next morning, the 19th, I was up early and fired up the AN/VRC 47 radio after the...
The following characters will appear throughout the rest of the story: Phil Del Vecchio Major, OIC of Team, Bill was on his Team in Luang Phrabang, 5'-7"tall, 175 pounds, 39 years old, black hair, hazel eyes, very muscular Fleming, Jack Captain, Advisor to the Thai Rangers, 5'-11" tall, 170 pounds, 32 years old, blond hair, blue eyes Stills, Ken SFC, Advisor to the Thai Rangers, 5'-9" tall, 155 pounds, 36 years old, Brown hair, gray eyes Wesley 1LT, Team XO, 6'-0" tall, 165...
Fields dropped me off at Ploenchit Road and continued back to the Team House, while I walked the few blocks to the Nana. I was soaked when I got there from Bangkok's heat and humidity. The air conditioning in the lobby felt really great. I went up to the room where I found Suenee talking to two of the women who worked at the hotel. The women left just after I arrived and Suenee took one look at me and said, "Shower." I knew better than to argue by now and collected my other clothes and...
The rest of the morning was pretty dull with only a few good bits of conversations to be captured. It wasn't until after lunch that we picked up the Attapu station again. John went to get Ernie while I recorded it. There was shouting again at both ends of the transmission. Ernie was laughing his ass off after he came in. They finally signed off, and Ernie eventually managed to stop laughing enough to talk to us. "What the hell is so funny?" John asked, as he turned from his receiver to...
The following characters return from Part 1: Sgt. Bill Baker Radio Operator, 5'-10" tall, 170 pounds, 24 years old, Auburn hair, Hazel eyes MSG Sawyer Team Sergeant, 6'-6" tall, 275 pounds, 42 years old, black hair, brown eyes Suenee Sa Bill's girl friend and wife, 5'-2" tall, 108 pounds, 34C-23-35, 21 years old, brown eyes, long black hair, oval face, very cute Sophie MSG Sawyer's girlfriend, 5'-10" tall, 140 pounds, 38C-25-37, 25 years old, brown eyes, long black hair The...
I was awakened again by Suenee shaking my shoulder. There was barely enough light to see in the room. "You must return now," she said, when she saw that I was awake. I reached out and pulled her to me. She offered no resistance and came into my arms for a long kiss - but not too long. "Shower," she told me in a no-nonsense voice. We adjourned to the shower again. I was better prepared this time, but that water was still cold. We both showered and dried off. When I came out of the...
We moved as quickly as possible toward the Aviation area in the near total darkness of this moonless night. Chinese New Year is celebrated on the new moon, and it was very dark here in the Shan States at night without the moon. There were no lights showing in the town either. The Aviation people that we encountered on the way were very nervous, but we managed to get to their command bunker without getting shot. "What were those explosions? We couldn't contact your Operations," Captain...
Captain Tamusarit (Cowboy 6) was early with his report that evening. "Old Hand, Old Hand, this is Thai Cowboy 6. Over." "Thai Cowboy 6, this is Old Hand. Over." "Old Hand, this is Cowboy 6. Is your Six available? Over," I handed the mike to the Major who was standing next to me now. "Cowboy 6, Hand 6. Go." "Hand 6, Cowboy 6. My people are all back from their patrols. The site near my location was the first one checked. They found a large crater in the mountain side above a small...
When Sergeant Tweed returned from Chiang Rai, he was very busy for the first hour or so. Later he took me aside to talk. "I spoke with Noon while at the house. She is very lonesome and anxious for you to return. She asked me to tell you that," Sergeant Tweed informed me. I had been thinking about her a lot also while on watch with nothing more strenuous to do than listen for a call on one of the radios. I had decided that I needed to see her again. I certainly liked her a lot, and not...
The payday bird arrived pretty much as usual at around 0900 on Friday the 28th, and we were setting down in Chiang Rai just after 1030. Sorenson reminded everyone to stay alert in case of a recall before we were all released to get paid. Starling and the others from the Red Tigers headed for their unit here on the Airbase, while Tweed, I, and the other Special Forces people headed for the Team House. Suenee, Phesila, Noon, and our daughters were waiting there for us when we arrived. Noon...
Friday, the 2nd of January, 1970, started out just as cold as the previous day had. After sending the daily report to the B-Detachment last night, I had returned to bed for another two hours of sleep before relieving Starling just after midnight. I re-tuned my radio to the 20 meter shortwave band and listened for any signals that could be originating here in the Shan States, as I believed this was the most likely wavelength that an agent here would be using to contact his superiors in...
New characters appearing in the next few chapters" Luang Silapakom Bill's landlord and teacher, 5'-6" tall, 130 pounds, 53 years old brown eyes, black hair going gray John Bill's co-worked, MOS 98G (Voice Intercept Operator), 5'-9" tall, 150 pounds, 23 years old, blond hair, blue eyes, SP/4 Ernie Translator (Vietnamese), MOS 04B, 5' 8" tall, 160 pounds, 24 years old, brown hair and eyes, SP/5 The entrance to the Operations area was the red guard-shack we had been to last...
The trip from Bangkok back to Korat is about 260 km, more or less by road. We pulled out of Seri Court just after 0830 and made good time once we got out past Don Mung airport. We took the turn to Sara Buri and headed up Friendship Highway. I had a much better view of the trip from the elevated cab of the deuce and a-half then I had had from the pickup truck coming the other way. It was shortly after passing Sara Buri and before we reached the climb to the Korat plateau that I started to...
Characters returning from Part 1 of the story: LTC Hawkins Executive Officer, 46th Group, 6'-1" tall, 185 pounds, 45 years old, brown hair, blue eyes MAJ Carlson S-3, 46th Group, 5'-9" tall, 160 pounds, 39 years old, sandy blond hair, gray eyes The road from the airfield was straight as an arrow and our maps showed that it intersected Highway 4 / 13 roughly half a mile before that road split. One part went through the town and was designated as highway or road 1, and the other part...
New characters appearing in the next several chapters: Short Round Friend of Bill’s, 5’-9” tall, 145 pounds, 21 years old, brown hair, gray eyes Ear Company clerk, tall thin young man, 20 years old, red hair and freckles SSG Williams, Willie S-2, 83rd RRSOU, 5’-8” tall, 170 pounds, 31 years old, very short blond hair, blue eyes First Sergeant Never named other than his rank, tall, thin, balding, reddish completion 44 years old Major Taylor Commander, HQ Co, 83rd RRSOU, 5’-4” tall,...
Our flight arrived at Nawngh Kam just after 1030 hrs. Captain Paribetra immediately posted guards while the rest of us busied ourselves unloading the chopper. In the meantime, MSG Sorenson and SFC Lee started laying out the camp from a plan that they and the Major had constructed. Our helicopter was on its way back to Chiang Rai before the next one arrived just after 1130 hrs with more troops and tents. The Operations tent had been the first one erected. When the additional troops arrived,...
New characters introduced in the next two chapters: Colonel Thuathao Senior Colonel, Thai Special Forces, Suenee's 'uncle', 5'-10" tall, 170 pounds, 48 years old, black hair going gray at the temples, brown eyes I arrived at the airfield while they were still unloading the C-130 aircraft, as it is only about a four mile drive. I pulled up on the unloading ramp near the plane and walked over to the Air Force Loadmaster who was supervising the unloading. "Howdy," I said as I...
This morning I shaved before going to eat, as I knew that Phillips had started the water heating after getting off guard and it would be hot by now. Also the cook had just arrived as I was getting off guard, and breakfast wouldn't be ready for a little while yet. Breakfast at around 0700 was very quiet and everyone took care of last minute things after that. Then they finished loading their jeeps with their rucks, ammunition, weapons and at least one five gallon can of water. De Foor came...
On Monday, the 30th of March, the Major called all of the Section Chiefs in for a meeting. "Tomorrow is the last payday that we will have requiring a split shift, as next payday we will all be on our way to Chiang Rai, and then back to our regular assignments, at least most of us. What will the Red Tigers be doing?" the Major asked. "We'll be rotating also, sir," Captain Rust told him. "But it will be on the First of May. They will hold our pay till then," he assured us. "So, I am...
When we returned to our house shortly after midnight on New Year's day, Suenee seemed very distracted. I was sitting on the bed when Suenee came over to me. "Can we do something different tonight," she asked, but seemed worried. "Sure. What would you like to do?" I asked. "I ... I have been talking to some of the younger women, the ones that work in the bars," she said nervously. "They have told me that it is not a big thing to do." "What is?" I asked, confused. "Smoking,"...
Note: All of the names of places in the Shan States are actual towns there located along the Salween River. The names of towns in China are actual towns located near the border with the Shan States. Tweed and I left for home after the Major finished. I locked the commo room and returned the key to the CQ. We returned to the hotel to drop off our LBE and picked up a clean set of tiger fatigues to change into in the morning. We didn’t run into, or see anyone on the way to the house, but were...
Chinese New Year had been at the end of January in 1968. There had been an uprising in South Vietnam by the Viet Cong. They called it the “Tet Offensive”, and it was a colossal failure. They had too few personnel and weapons for the grand offensive that they envisioned, as they had counted on the civilian population rising up to join them along with major units of the South Vietnamese Army. That didn’t happen, and they were easily defeated by the South Vietnamese Army with the aid of some...
I awoke just after 0430 hrs. As tired as I had been when I turned in, I felt fine now and crawled out of my nice warm sleeping bag to be greeted by a very chilly morning. I dressed quickly and headed for Operations, the coded messages, and the code book. Williams was on radio watch. He looked a little tired and cold. The radio was quiet, and the generator was the only sound to be heard. "You can go to bed, Williams. I'll take over," I told him as my eyes grew more accustomed to the...
I had just started to open the shipping case in the commo bunker when Meadows came in. “I want to see what this thing looks like,” he told me, as I opened the locks on the case and removed the top. The main unit was in the middle of the case surrounded by foam and the other modular units. Spare parts, manuals and tools were in the bottom under these units. “Are you just running code here?” I asked Meadows. “Yes, that’s all we can do with the GRC-109. What will that baby do?” “You can run...
It was 1300 hrs before the chopper was ready to go. “Funny,” the Operations Sergeant told us, “that bird came limping in early this morning, but maintenance couldn’t find anything wrong with it, and they went over it with a fine tooth comb. They even took it for a test flight. Nothing - not a glitch to be seen, behaved like a perfect lady. Anyway, you’re ready to go. They’ll be on the pad out front in five minutes. They’re refueling now.” The CH-47 that landed a short time later was painted...