Published: March 26, 2011
Words: 2,557 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781458124494

Short description

A short story. LRRPs were the cavalry scouts of Vietnam, riding helicopters instead of mustangs to remote and unfriendly territory. The LRRPs had little firepower and relied on wits and subterfuge to trespass into Charlie's domain. "Here comes Charlie" is the first of a series of Viet Nam vignettes by author RW Holmen.

Extended description

Long Range Reconnaisance Patrol. LRRP. Author Holmen's series of LRRP short stories will transport you to the jungles of Viet Nam in 1970:

"I scanned the tree line on the edge of the LZ for any telltale bursts; nothing could be worse than for a couple of NVA to empty their AK-47 magazines into a hovering helicopter. For all the goddamned firepower on our side, the endless moment when we slowly descended into their jungle was when Charlie had us, if he was there; the best we could hope for was that he wasn't. Ready or not, Charlie, here we come."

In this first release, four LRRPs find themselves lying in scant brush cover and grass as NVA bear down on them: (Read more) Long Range Reconnaisance Patrol. LRRP. Author Holmen's series of LRRP short stories will transport you to the jungles of Viet Nam in 1970:

"I scanned the tree line on the edge of the LZ for any telltale bursts; nothing could be worse than for a couple of NVA to empty their AK-47 magazines into a hovering helicopter. For all the goddamned firepower on our side, the endless moment when we slowly descended into their jungle was when Charlie had us, if he was there; the best we could hope for was that he wasn't. Ready or not, Charlie, here we come."

In this first release, four LRRPs find themselves lying in scant brush cover and grass as NVA bear down on them:

"Bellies full, we leaned back on the rucks and sucked on Camels, Winstons, or mentholated Kools. It was nearly dusk when Billy slipped out the backside and disappeared over the edge with a packet of toilet paper and an entrenching tool to bury the evidence that he existed."

"Crack. A branch snapped. Goddamnit Billy, I thought, be quiet for chrissake. But when I heard muted voices and realized the snapping branches were up the ridge, dread walloped me in the chest like falling off a swing with the wind knocked out of you."

"'Billy, get your ass back here,' Gary whispered as loud as he dared. 'Here comes Charlie.'"
(Less)

Tags

vietnam war, war, vietnam, viet cong, viet nam, m16, central highlands, ranger, southeast asia, nva, ak47, recon, se asia, lz, lrrp, lrp

Available ebook reading formats

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Online Reading (HTML, good for sampling in web browser)	Buy	View sample
Kindle (.mobi for Kindle devices and Kindle apps)	Buy	Download sample
Epub (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others)	Buy	Download sample
PDF (good for reading on PC, or for home printing)	Buy	No sample available
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LRF (Use only for older model Sony Readers that don't support .epub)	Buy	Download sample
Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices)	Buy	Download sample
Plain Text (download) (flexible, but lacks much formatting)	Buy	No sample available
Plain Text (view) (viewable as web page)	Buy	No sample available

Videos

LRRP Viet Nam mission to the field
In 1969-70, author RW served as a LRRP with K Company, 75th Infantry in Vietnam. During two missions, he filmed with a Super 8 movie camera, and those movies have been converted to digital and are available here. Both missions were uneventful and peaceful.

Reviews

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Review by: Marc Elardo on Oct. 14, 2012 : (no rating)
Very short story. I felt like I did not get value for my 3 bucks.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Sheila Deeth on July 06, 2011 :
RW Holmen writes with a gently honest voice, quietly inserting detail to the narrative without pointing arrows to all that he knows. I learn a November Lima is a night location by reading the underlines. I feel the laughter of childhood hide-and-seek turned to slow tense marching under trees. I hear the music of another world’s memories. The action’s clearly described, setting up camp, eating dinner, thinking C4 while stirring beef and rice, and hearing the enemy creeping up on you.
Men have played these same rolls all through time, and the author tells a timeless story, locked in a well-recorded time and place. These are boys. The enemy are other mothers’ sons. War is war. And life is infinitely desirable.
This short story is part of an excellent series of Vietnam vignettes, beautifully written, hauntingly evocative, and scarily real.
Disclosure: The author kindly gave me a free ecopy of this story after I reviewed the first of the series.
(reviewed long after purchase)

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