War Stories 17

[ikar]

One midnight shift early in my first tour I was working the hole in the fence know as Buffalo Gate. A couple hours into the shift I heard a noise just outside the wire. After a little bit I heard a voice. As I listened it got a little louder and clearer. All I could make out was "uck you". It repeated a few times, stopped for a few minutes, and started again. I was getting ready to call it in when a jeep pulled up and I told him what I heard. He said "Don't worry, it's only a couple Geccos talking to each other". He added that if I could hear them at this distance they must be someof the big ones.

A couple months later I was on the East Gate when a A.B.D. jeep showed up. We tslked a few minutes and he told me he needed me as a alibi for the next couple minutes while they broke in a F.N.G. just over the rise. Soon after that a large sector of the perimeter lights went out soon followed by the excited voice of the new guy calling in the darkness and sounding worried. What he didn't see was the light beam from another tower hit the sensor on top of a certain pole, making it think it was daylight. With the new guy's acceptance almost completed, the S.A.T. jeep headed off into the darkness.

Some months later I was on Buffalo Gate listening to the radio when from just up the street came a roar and a bright light. It appeared to come from the bridge less than 50 feet from me and I was told to leave my post and get closer. The towers near me would cover. When I rounded the corner and got a clearer look with the trees out of the way I could see a couple columns of smoke coming out from under the bridge. I reported this and was told to stand by until help arrived. A weapons truck pulled up with a squad and relieved me to go back to the gate, they would stop by later and fill me in.

I found out later that because of the increasing traffic coming down the river at night to Buffalo village, which was located right behind the base clinic, someone got the idea to borrow s couple portable single shot flame throwers and rig them und0er the bridge. Someone must have tipped off the villoage and they sent a water buffalo down the river. BBQ.