move with the best of them. What the hell, if it makes it easier. He?s been on the line a month longer
than me and he acts like he was born here.
Carmody is the best officer I ever knew. All he thinks about is what?s out there. He never talks about
home, his wife, nothing. Just business and his men. He was a green shavetail when he got to Nam ten
months ago. He has a funny sense of humor, like no matter what you ask him, he?s got a one-liner for
you. I asked him once where he was from.
“My old man had the poorest farm in Oklahoma,” he says. “Our hog was so skinny, if you put a dime
on its nose, its back feet would rise up off the ground.”
Then there?s Jesse Hatch, who used to drive a truck all over the country, one of those big semis; and
Donny Flagler, who?s like me, just out of college. Both of them are black guys. And there?s Jim
Jordan, who was in law school; his old man was a senator and still couldn?t get him deferred. Jordan
is one pissed-off guy. He?s a short-timer, has two months to go, a first-class pain in the ass. Hatch is
the M-60 man; he can really handle that mother. Flagler is our radio. None of us are regulars, but
after a month out here, I feel like one.
The 42nd day: We get orders to take this knob for an LZ. Charlie is all over the place. He won?t
give it up. They have the high ground; they sit up there and lob mortars down on us all after-fuckin?-
noon. Carmody gets on the radio and calls in the Hueys. He wants them to blitz the place so we can
rush it, only it?s raining and a little foggy, and they?re giving him some stand-down shit and he starts
yelling:
“1 want some air in here, now! Don „t gimme any of that fog shit. Nobody?s told us to go home
because it?s raining. Get me some goddamn air support fast!”
He slams the phone down.
Listen, kid, if you can?t get a chopper in when you fuckin? need one, forget it. That?s the edge. You
don?t have the edge, you?re in trouble. We can?t beat these motherfuckers at this kind of game, for
Christ sake, they been doing it for fifteen fuckin? years. When you need air, get nasty.”
That?s the way he was, always teaching me something.
About ten minutes later these two Hueys come over and really waste that knob. Carmody doesn?t wait
