According to the textbooks, the first stage of a nighttime aerial assault consists of small highly trained teams of men who act as pathfinders, who drop in early and figure out where they are and then set up flares or radio beacons to allow the follow-up flights to find their way in the dark. Then you’ll have several waves of paratroopers who drop in on the bad guys without asking permission. Finally, the rest of the heavy equipment will come in and land at the secured airhead. In general, however, this is so dangerous that it is only utilized for the most critical missions. Even in World War II, after the disaster that was the night drop during D-Day, the Army swore off mass night drops. We were going to do this in the afternoon, but that just didn’t work out.
It was late when we finally loaded into the Gooney Birds. The C-130s had already taken off and dropped the pathfinders, come back and dropped the mixed American and Honduran paratroopers, and then loaded up and brought in the heavy equipment! We were now Tail End Charlie, and going to drop in the middle of the night, after everybody else. Lieutenant Colonel Wilcox came back and told us the bad news. He spoke to Bob Donovan, but I was close enough to catch it. “I tried getting somebody at brigade, but I couldn’t reach the colonel. It’s up to you. I’ll back you up, but there will be hell to pay.”
Donovan sighed and looked back at his company. “Let’s get the show on the road. What the fuck can they do to us? Send us to Honduras?”
Colonel Wilcox left just as the Honduran pilots announced the broken C-47 was fixed. We all shrugged into our gear, and were driven to our planes. I followed behind Captain Donovan and 2nd Lieutenant Fairfax. It was after midnight when we took off. It was Wednesday the 11th by then.
It was a short flight, maybe 100 klicks or kilometers. A C-130 is fast enough you’d barely have time to get to altitude before you were over the drop zone. A C-47 was half the speed, if that. The interior of the plane was in night drop condition, with nothing but red lights on, to acclimate everybody’s eyes. Fairfax was looking very nervous. I grinned at him and yelled, loud enough he could hear me over the noise of the plane, “Smile, Lieutenant! We’re having fun!”
Fairfax looked very startled at that, and he looked over at his captain, who was grinning back at him through the camo paint. “Sing us a song, Johnny!”
Johnny stared. “Sir?”
I just shook my head and laughed. “Come on, Johnny, you know the words!”
“He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright,
He checked off his equipment and made sure his pack was tight;”
The rest of the troops heard me start the song, and it took off immediately! We were singing about that poor bastard right up until the ready light went on and the captain signaled for us to get to our feet.
Captain Donovan only had a few more words for us. “Make it fast. Get out the door as soon as you can. This won’t be much different than a 141, but slower. So let’s all have some fun and enjoy the scenery on the way down!” We all shuffled a little closer to the door, and then the light changed. The captain went out, Johnny went out, and then I went out. By the way, you know how in the movies they all yell ‘Geronimo’ when jumping out of the airplane? Nobody in the real world does that, it’s total bullshit!
There was no scenery to be seen. It was totally pitch black. Just by that alone I knew something was wrong. We were the last ones arriving at the party. The drop zone should have been lit up like a fucking Christmas tree! Instead, there was — nothing! It was total black, and then I heard a rustle as I got close to the ground, and then I felt a piercing pain in my right leg and I slammed into the ground and everything went black.
Chapter 57: The Anabasis of Xenophon
I don’t think I was out very long. My right knee made me want to scream, but I couldn’t feel anything broken. I dug out a chemlight stick and broke it, and in the green glow I looked around. I was on a slope, with my chute fouled in a tree above me and to the side. I hit the quick release and shucked off my chute, and then straightened my leg. I didn’t scream, quite, and I was able to move it and maneuver it a bit. I couldn’t feel anything broken, and I couldn’t see any blood. Whatever was wrong with me was in the knee joint itself. Very slowly, I hauled myself to my feet.
Once upright, something seemed to slip into place in my knee and I was able to put some weight on it. Maybe I could wrap it and get around that way. I had definitely fucked it up somehow. It still hurt like hell, though.
Around me, I could hear the rest of the company crashing about in the woods. From what I could see from the chemlight, we had landed on a slope in some trees, two things you never ever want to do. I also wasn’t the only one hurt, although I couldn’t hear any screams. Somebody seemed to be fumbling around to my left, so I twisted in that direction and yelled out, “Who’s there? Company C, that you?”
A moment later, a voice came back, “Who’s that?” and there was some rustling in the brush. I held up my light and five minutes later a corporal carrying his chute rolled up in his arms crashed through the brush. He looked at me and asked, “Who are you?”
“Captain Buckman. What’s your name?”
“Corporal Janos, sir. Third Platoon.”
I nodded to him. “You were a few seats down from me. How are you doing, Corporal?”
“Fine, sir. I just need some candy and I’m good to go.” Paratrooper candy — extra strength Tylenol!
“You and me both, but I think I’m going to need something more.” I turned back towards my chute but twisted my knee as I was doing so, and bit off a curse.
“Captain?”
“Bad landing, Corporal, bad landing. Give me a hand. Drop your chute here and help me gear up. You seen or heard anybody else? I don’t think we’re anywhere near the drop zone.”
Corporal Janos dropped his chute and came closer. He pointed in a vague direction left and downhill. “I think some of the guys landed down below.”
“Well, if we left the bird first, I’m guessing the stick is spread out in that direction. Help me on with my gear and let’s go find out.” The corporal helped me get my shit together, and then helped me down the hill. I thought it would take forever, but eventually we limped our way to a clearing where we found another four guys. Like Janos and me, they were dinged up and very unsure where they were.
I eased myself into a sitting position on a fallen tree and asked who everybody was and where they were in the stick, and where they landed. As I suspected, they were all downhill from where I had fetched up. “Well, take a load off. No sense in hiking around in the dark when we don’t even know where we are. I can guarantee we’re not anywhere near where the exercise is,” I told them.
At that point some rustling in the brush further up the hill made everyone turn in that direction. From what I could figure out, the only people in that direction should be Lieutenant Fairfax or Captain Donovan. Fairfax came stumbling into the circle of green light from my chemlight and a few others. He was carrying his chute, too.
“Welcome, Lieutenant. Join the party,” I said. “Take a load off.”
He looked confused, and came over towards me. “Sir?” I don’t think he really recognized me. We hadn’t spoken much back at the base.
“I’m Captain Buckman, remember? I jumped right after you and Captain Donovan. Have you seen him?”
“No sir.”
“How far back that way did you land?”
“Sir?”
I repeated my question and Fairfax gave me a vague indication of a few hundred yards. Another couple of guys drifted in from the downhill area, and I now had nine men total, including me, not quite half the plane load. It was also very obvious it was only our plane load. None of the other planes’ jumpers had been found, and the general rule is that everybody gets mixed up.