January 1996, Somewhere in Kanchanaburi...
It must have been the 14th hill that my platoon commander (PC) had brought up over instead of around.. the sun was scorching, the cow dung was worse than anti-personnel mines.. and the last drops of water in our bottles had been shaken into our mouths half an hour before that...
Then I saw my PC collapse before my very eyes.. heat stroke / exhaustion apparently.. worst thing about him (and being his runner) was that he perspired profusely all the time, and that cuased vile B.O... anyway we had no choice but to unbotton his shirt and pants for him..
Because we were always taught in BMT to try to pour water over the body of someone who was suffering from heat stroke to cool him down, yet we had absolutely no water, someone suggested that we pee on our PC... tempting and logically as the thought was, the prospect of spending some time in Kranji Hilton (i.e. Detention Barracks) got the better of me...
Anyway, 5 minutes later, the PC was still floored and slurring... tried to comms the safety people, and they asked where we were... like the fuck I know.. if I did, we wouldnt have been climbing up and down 14 hills... so they suggested that we ignite a smoke grenade and they will try to spot us...
What's the one lesson that they tell you you should never forget about throwing a smoke? well... aside from the obvious one that you throw the grenade and not the pin? that you let it ignite before throwing it... but my Section 2I/C was so smart... he threw it straightaway, and true to form, the ground caught fire...
Before long, the fire had spread and was chasing us as we dragged our half-alive PC and his stinking webbing, losing 1 pair of boots and 1 helmet amongst other things hauling ass down the knoll...
Half of the hill was on fire, and the smoke from the fire was so thick in the sky that the safety guys had absolutely no trouble finding us...
The PC lived, and he had the audacity to lecture us after that on how we nearly burnt down a hill and threaten to make us sign 12-06s for the trees... yah right, as if we were to naive..
2 years later, I was told that there was still a bald hill in Kanchanaburi...
1 comment:
This is definitely a 'Who Will Keep Us Safe?' moment. We had a trooper who flinched while firing an airburst round from an 84mm RR, twitched left and set the only wooded part of Area D on fire. It is still bald to this day.
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