A scene from my play FDC. The action takes place entirely in a Fire Direction Control hut during the war. The guys from Recon come and go from the field. I was in combat in Vietnam. The play reflects the gritty brutality of war. 

Scene XV

(The living quarters of the FDC shack at Firebase Crystal. The sound of a truck is heard pulling up and stopping outside. Wilson is onstage. Enter Baines.)

BAINES:
Hi. I'm Sergeant Baines.

WILSON:
I'm Jake.

BAINES:
Are you new in-country?

WILSON:
I just came out to Crystal yesterday. I've been in-country two weeks, though. Ah... the First Sergeant told me to monitor the radios.

BAINES:
Sure. I'm with the Recon Platoon. I've just returned from R and R. Where is everybody?

WILSON:
The First Sergeant was called away somewhere.

BAINES:
Oh. What about Brad?

WILSON:
Who?

BAINES:
Brad Meyers. He's always here. In fact, he has a policy of not leaving FDC, except under strict orders or to go eat. He and I came into country together, along with Johnny...

WILSON:
I haven't met him.

BAINES:
Really? That's odd... He must've gone back to Ben Hoa for some reason...

WILSON:
Ah... where'd you go on R and R?

BAINES:
Hawaii.

WILSON:
I hear it's nice.

BAINES:
It is. The first day I was there it seemed strange to be in a place where people aren't trying to kill each other. Why in Hawaii, I seemed to be thinking, if somebody shoots somebody, they report it in the paper, have a trial, throw the killer in jail for life! In Hawaii, killing is a crime! How extraordinary!

WILSON:
How long have you... been in-country?

BAINES:
Ten months.

WILSON:
Wow! are you ever short!

BAINES:
I guess I am.

WILSON:
In only two months you can go home and forget all about Vietnam... Ah...
did you go to any of the nightclubs in Hawaii?

BAINES:
Yes. One night Kat and I – Kat's my fiancée. We got engaged in Hawaii. – Kat and I went to a nightclub that had Hawaiian music and standup comedy. One of the comics, as part of his routine, asked the audience if there were any guys there on R and R from Vietnam. Kat pointed at me and started clapping, so I had to stand up. Several other guys also stood up. The audience applauded us for a long time.

Then something odd happened. Because I was closest to the stage, the comic, looking for laughs, asked me a question. I answered, he turned it into a joke, and everyone laughed. Since it worked once, I guess he wanted to try again. So he asked me if I had been seeing any action.

I don't know what came over me? I just stared at him. A silence fell over the place. Everyone stared at me and the other guys who were standing. I didn't understand it at first and then it came to me: They're sick of it, too. The people back home are sick of this war, too. I don't think we can win, anymore. Not because of the huge expense, or the low morale, or even the mounting casualties, but because the people back in the world are sick of this war.

WILSON:
Yeah...! My old man is starting to get pretty mad. He doesn't even like to watch the news, anymore.

(Enter Odell.)

BAINES:
Hey, Odell! What are you doing in?

ODELL:
Oh, hi, Bainsie... I got boils on my backside... bamboo poisoning. They kept me back for a few days.... Hayes got malaria. He was running a temperature of 107. For a while, they didn't think he'd make it....

BAINES:
Anybody in Recon get hit while I was gone?

ODELL:
No, not in Recon. How was Hawaii?

BAINES:
Great. I could never quite get Vietnam off my mind, though. I guess I was thinking of Recon.

ODELL:
You needed some time off.

BAINES:
Yes, but I think time is making a fool of me. While I was in Hawaii, it flew by, but now, and for the next two months, it'll crawl. Say, where's...

ODELL:
How was Kat?

BAINES:
She seemed okay most of the time. Sometimes she'd start to cry all of a sudden, though. We'd be walking on the beach or driving through a pineapple field or swimming in the ocean, and for no reason I could see, she'd start crying. The night I came back, we went out to dinner, and she cried through the meal. People were looking at us... But then later, on the bus to the airport, she became cold and distant. After we kissed goodbye, she just turned and walked away.

ODELL:
Oh...

BAINES:
Hey, I'm engaged! When I got to Hawaii, I took Kat out to dinner and asked her to marry me.

ODELL:
Congratulations...

BAINES:
Thanks... Odell, where the hell is Brad?

ODELL:
He's dead... along with twelve other guys.

BAINES:
Dead? How?

ODELL:
A couple days after you left, a truck load of ammo arrived for the mortars. Number three gun was off-loading the truck, when it went off. We figure they hit it with a rocket. Three or four guys died right away, the rest were dead within a day. I saw it. It was awful! The perimeter turned into a slaughterhouse!

BAINES:
Pilgrim?

ODELL:
He's dead.

BAINES:
Stearns?

ODELL:
Dead.

BAINES:
Graham?

ODELL:
Dead.

BAINES:
Prescott?

ODELL:
Dead. Only three guys from number three gun are still alive.

BAINES:
What was Meyers doing out there? He'd never want to mess with a truck load of mortar rounds!

ODELL:
I don't know... he just was...

BAINES:
How did he die?

ODELL:
You don't want to hear.

BAINES:
Tell me how he died!

ODELL:
I found him. He was lying on his back, pinned to a sandbag by an unexploded mortar round through his chest. He was staring wide-eyed at me... You know what I did when I saw him? I started to laugh. And I couldn't stop laughing... It was like a slaughterhouse for people... A day after it happened a dog dragged in a boot with a foot in it.

(Enter Daniels.)

BAINES:
How did it happen, Top?

DANIELS:
The truck arrived late in the evening. Number three gun was off-loading it first thing in the morning. The VC must've spotted the truck when it came in. They waited until there were a bunch of guys around it, and then fired a rocket at it. – I walked up to that damn truck two or three times, never thinking how dangerous it was. – It's as much my fault as anyone's.

BAINES:
When's Recon getting resupplied? I'll ride the chopper out.

DANIELS:
This afternoon. – Look, son, you've been in-country long enough to get a job in the rear. FDC could use an experienced hand.

BAINES:
What time is the resupply leaving?

DANIELS:
Two o'clock.

BAINES:
I'll be ready.

WILSON:
First Sergeant... can I please... leave?

DANIELS:
Go on.

(Exit Wilson.)

BAINES:
I'll stay here.

(Exit Daniels and Odell.)

I was a fool. A fool... I didn't understand... I didn't know what I was getting into. Stupid…

(He takes Meyers calendar down, crumbles it up and throws it aside.)

Stupid!

Read Scene VI
Read Scene XIX