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Part 11
Jim had always loved the night. The Group spent a considerable amount of time training at night, but to Jim, it never felt like it was enough. Night patrolling, shooting at night with and without illumination, night jungle lanes, shooting with Night vision sights at distance, night land navigation courses, even knife fighting practice at night. All these things and more helped develop confidence in each team member's ability to fight at night. One memorable training exercise on an "Endurance" weekend, had each team member build a poncho raft and float all his gear down a nearby river at 3a.m. without the use of any illumination or night vision devices. Only 1 alligator was noticed during the drill. Confidence building. It all started with learning to correctly use your eyes at night, offset viewing, etc.
Jim moved very slowly to avoid disturbing the "baseline symphony" of the woods this early in the morning. It would begin to start getting light in about an hour and a half, with full dawn about 2 hours later.
As the first light approached Jim caught the faint scent of woodsmoke. Could it be from the retreat? Less than a mile from the retreat now, that was certainly a possibility.
A little farther on the scent got stronger and Jim was sure now that he was smelling a campfire. Knowing the topography of the ground in the area and calculating the wind speed, Jim had what he thought was a fairly decent idea where the smoke was originating from. A small valley area to the southwest of the retreat.
As he entered the valley area he thought for sure he saw the flame of a fire about 50 yards down. Looking again nothing seemed to be there.
Jim drew closer into the valley and again thought he saw the flicker of a flame.
"Duh, use the night vision dumbbutt!" Jim thought to himself.
He pulled his PVS 14 out of his LBV, flipped the battery around and flipped the switch. Sure enough, the night vision confirmed the light from a flame here and there. But why couldn't he see it? He slipped the cord for the NVD over his neck, switched off the unit and continued his fox walking.
As he neared to within 30 yards of the light, he could now see that it was a small Dakota fire placed in a hole in the ground. The woods were thick in the area which made detection of anything else troublesome. Jim decided to hold his position and wait.
"Time is on my side" he thought.
He went down to both knees in some pine needles. Covering the PVS14 with two hands to muffle the "click" of the switch he powered on the unit as he brought it to his eye.
Still no sign of movement or anything. More waiting.
The black slowly subsided into gray as pre dawn light came through. Jim guessed it to be around 5am or maybe 5:30
He noticed movement near the ground about 5 yards from the fire. Not good. If this area wasn't so damn overgrown, it was like a jungle in there. If it was planted pines Jim could have made out everything from the distance he was at.
More movement, coming towards the fire, someone walking from the sound of it, trying to be quiet but not doing a very good job of it.
Jim felt to make sure his AK was off safety, it was.
Another 20 minutes and everything was in view. Two men, one sitting on the ground near the fire and one sleeping on the ground 5 yards or so from the fire. A slow scan of the area showed no other activity.
The man sitting seemed content just watching the fire. He was wrapped up in a poncho and seemed a million miles away from where he was right then. Jim noticed he never even bothered to look around, just stared into the fire all the time. After a while, he went over and shook the sleeping man with one hand. Almost a full minute of shaking finally brought a response from the sleeper. Firewatcher went back into his watching the fire trance while the other man slowly got out of his sleeping bag.
"**** man, this is getting old, when are we going to hear something?"
Firewatcher did not answer. He was clearly not the man with the answers.
"I mean ****, why don't we just go and kill someone and take their house and food? I don't think he's coming back. They've either killed him or he's sold us out. Let's get the hell outta here!" Sleepy Joe said.
Firewatcher finally replied, "He told us to stay here, so I'm staying here."
"Ahh to hell with this, I'm going to take a piss." Sleepy Joe replied.
Sleepy Joe headed in a beeline towards Jim. He carried what looked like a .45 pistol.
Jim was starting to hear his heartbeat in his head now. His rifle slowly raised.
Sleepy Joe stopped not 5 yards from Jim and proceeded to do his business. He seemed to pay a little more attention to what was going on than did Firewatcher.
Jim had his weapon up. He avoided looking directly at the man for fear or making eye contact, instead he looked just to the side of him. He could still see everything that was transpiring but now the chances of their eyes locking based on natural reflexes was much less.
Feeling an overwhelming sense of being caught, Jim lost control and fired two shots into the chest of Sleepy Jim as he raised up into a standing position.
"FREEZE!" was all he could think to yell at Firewatcher. Firewatcher was on the ground near the fire looking around to see what happened.
"HANDS UP, LET ME SEE THEM NOW!" Jim yelled.
"What's the hell's going on , you a cop or something?" Firewatcher said. Jim did not reply to this.
"Look the other f'in way, NOW!" Jim commanded. Firewatcher averted his head but kept his hands up.
Jim took the opportunity to take a few steps to the side quickly and get a good cover position. Sleepy Joe lay in a puddle of blood with two 7.62 rounds in his chest. Jim glanced at Sleepy Joe and when sure that Firewatcher was still looking away, Jim quickly put one round in Sleepy Joe's head and noticed the place where the .45 lay on the ground.
This got Firewatcher to turn.
"DON'T F'IN LOOK AT ME" was the reply Firewatcher got.
Jim slipped over a few yards again, scanning around looking for other potential threats. Was it just 2 men or more than that? Five minutes went by. Firewatcher's hands were slipping down.
"SLOWLY, KEEPING YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOU, GET UP TO YOUR KNEES, USE ONE HAND AND MOVE SLOW. I GOT THE DROP ON YOU M.F.'ER."
Firewatcher did as he was told. Jim moved in closer now. He noticed two rifles, a Mini 14 and a Remington 870 shotgun leaning against a tree near the fire. "Dumbasses didn't even sleep with their weapons" he thought.
Jim weighed his options here. He was fairly sure that their was just two of them. Two sleeping bags, two packs, two weapons. No one came to investigate the shooting either time. He could just kill this guy, drop back and call in for 3 or 4 guys to come down and help him sweep the area. He wanted this guy alive, he wanted to question him. Hopefully none of this tied together, but he had to be sure. Not, wanted to be sure, but had to be sure.
Keeping the AK trained on Fireboy, Jim walked up to within a few yards of him.
"Alright, I'm gonna ask this one time, if I find you lied, I'm gonna kill you like I killed your friend, understand?"
"Yes, yes sir."
"Good. Do you have ANY weapons on you?" Jim asked.
"No sir."
"Don't let me find a F'in nail clippers in your pocket, you'll die a lot slower than your pal there." Jim said.
"No, I really don't have anything on me, my rifle is over there."
"Where's your pistol?" Jim asked.
"I don't have no pistol."
"Move back two yards on your knees." Jim commanded. Firewatcher scooted backwards a few feet.
"Without taking your hands off your head lay on your belly." Jim said. Firewatcher act leaves as he came foward into the ground.
"Slowly, with your palms facing me lay your arms out." Jim commanded.
Jim moved to the side of Fireboy "Look away, don't F'in look at me!"
Jim slammed the muzzle of the Glock 26 nto Firewatcher's back "You know what this is right?" .
"Yes, yes, man don't hurt me, I haven't done anything to you." Firewatcher said.
"SHUT THE F UP!" Jim commanded as he searched Firewatcher.
Retreiving a heavy industrial cable tie from his gear, Jim double tied Firewatcher's hands behind his back then placed him against a tree sitting down facing Jim. It was then that Jim noticed a wet stain on the front of Firewatcher's pants.
"What's your name?" Jim asked.
"Jonas."
"Easy to remember but not as catchy as Firewatcher or Fireboy", Jim thought.
"Nice to meet you Jonas. Would you like some water?" Jim asked.
"No, no thank you. Your not going to sell me as a slave now or something are you?" Jonas asked.
"Depends on who you are." Jim replied.
Jim spent an hour talking with Jonas.......
Jim had always loved the night. The Group spent a considerable amount of time training at night, but to Jim, it never felt like it was enough. Night patrolling, shooting at night with and without illumination, night jungle lanes, shooting with Night vision sights at distance, night land navigation courses, even knife fighting practice at night. All these things and more helped develop confidence in each team member's ability to fight at night. One memorable training exercise on an "Endurance" weekend, had each team member build a poncho raft and float all his gear down a nearby river at 3a.m. without the use of any illumination or night vision devices. Only 1 alligator was noticed during the drill. Confidence building. It all started with learning to correctly use your eyes at night, offset viewing, etc.
Jim moved very slowly to avoid disturbing the "baseline symphony" of the woods this early in the morning. It would begin to start getting light in about an hour and a half, with full dawn about 2 hours later.
As the first light approached Jim caught the faint scent of woodsmoke. Could it be from the retreat? Less than a mile from the retreat now, that was certainly a possibility.
A little farther on the scent got stronger and Jim was sure now that he was smelling a campfire. Knowing the topography of the ground in the area and calculating the wind speed, Jim had what he thought was a fairly decent idea where the smoke was originating from. A small valley area to the southwest of the retreat.
As he entered the valley area he thought for sure he saw the flame of a fire about 50 yards down. Looking again nothing seemed to be there.
Jim drew closer into the valley and again thought he saw the flicker of a flame.
"Duh, use the night vision dumbbutt!" Jim thought to himself.
He pulled his PVS 14 out of his LBV, flipped the battery around and flipped the switch. Sure enough, the night vision confirmed the light from a flame here and there. But why couldn't he see it? He slipped the cord for the NVD over his neck, switched off the unit and continued his fox walking.
As he neared to within 30 yards of the light, he could now see that it was a small Dakota fire placed in a hole in the ground. The woods were thick in the area which made detection of anything else troublesome. Jim decided to hold his position and wait.
"Time is on my side" he thought.
He went down to both knees in some pine needles. Covering the PVS14 with two hands to muffle the "click" of the switch he powered on the unit as he brought it to his eye.
Still no sign of movement or anything. More waiting.
The black slowly subsided into gray as pre dawn light came through. Jim guessed it to be around 5am or maybe 5:30
He noticed movement near the ground about 5 yards from the fire. Not good. If this area wasn't so damn overgrown, it was like a jungle in there. If it was planted pines Jim could have made out everything from the distance he was at.
More movement, coming towards the fire, someone walking from the sound of it, trying to be quiet but not doing a very good job of it.
Jim felt to make sure his AK was off safety, it was.
Another 20 minutes and everything was in view. Two men, one sitting on the ground near the fire and one sleeping on the ground 5 yards or so from the fire. A slow scan of the area showed no other activity.
The man sitting seemed content just watching the fire. He was wrapped up in a poncho and seemed a million miles away from where he was right then. Jim noticed he never even bothered to look around, just stared into the fire all the time. After a while, he went over and shook the sleeping man with one hand. Almost a full minute of shaking finally brought a response from the sleeper. Firewatcher went back into his watching the fire trance while the other man slowly got out of his sleeping bag.
"**** man, this is getting old, when are we going to hear something?"
Firewatcher did not answer. He was clearly not the man with the answers.
"I mean ****, why don't we just go and kill someone and take their house and food? I don't think he's coming back. They've either killed him or he's sold us out. Let's get the hell outta here!" Sleepy Joe said.
Firewatcher finally replied, "He told us to stay here, so I'm staying here."
"Ahh to hell with this, I'm going to take a piss." Sleepy Joe replied.
Sleepy Joe headed in a beeline towards Jim. He carried what looked like a .45 pistol.
Jim was starting to hear his heartbeat in his head now. His rifle slowly raised.
Sleepy Joe stopped not 5 yards from Jim and proceeded to do his business. He seemed to pay a little more attention to what was going on than did Firewatcher.
Jim had his weapon up. He avoided looking directly at the man for fear or making eye contact, instead he looked just to the side of him. He could still see everything that was transpiring but now the chances of their eyes locking based on natural reflexes was much less.
Feeling an overwhelming sense of being caught, Jim lost control and fired two shots into the chest of Sleepy Jim as he raised up into a standing position.
"FREEZE!" was all he could think to yell at Firewatcher. Firewatcher was on the ground near the fire looking around to see what happened.
"HANDS UP, LET ME SEE THEM NOW!" Jim yelled.
"What's the hell's going on , you a cop or something?" Firewatcher said. Jim did not reply to this.
"Look the other f'in way, NOW!" Jim commanded. Firewatcher averted his head but kept his hands up.
Jim took the opportunity to take a few steps to the side quickly and get a good cover position. Sleepy Joe lay in a puddle of blood with two 7.62 rounds in his chest. Jim glanced at Sleepy Joe and when sure that Firewatcher was still looking away, Jim quickly put one round in Sleepy Joe's head and noticed the place where the .45 lay on the ground.
This got Firewatcher to turn.
"DON'T F'IN LOOK AT ME" was the reply Firewatcher got.
Jim slipped over a few yards again, scanning around looking for other potential threats. Was it just 2 men or more than that? Five minutes went by. Firewatcher's hands were slipping down.
"SLOWLY, KEEPING YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOU, GET UP TO YOUR KNEES, USE ONE HAND AND MOVE SLOW. I GOT THE DROP ON YOU M.F.'ER."
Firewatcher did as he was told. Jim moved in closer now. He noticed two rifles, a Mini 14 and a Remington 870 shotgun leaning against a tree near the fire. "Dumbasses didn't even sleep with their weapons" he thought.
Jim weighed his options here. He was fairly sure that their was just two of them. Two sleeping bags, two packs, two weapons. No one came to investigate the shooting either time. He could just kill this guy, drop back and call in for 3 or 4 guys to come down and help him sweep the area. He wanted this guy alive, he wanted to question him. Hopefully none of this tied together, but he had to be sure. Not, wanted to be sure, but had to be sure.
Keeping the AK trained on Fireboy, Jim walked up to within a few yards of him.
"Alright, I'm gonna ask this one time, if I find you lied, I'm gonna kill you like I killed your friend, understand?"
"Yes, yes sir."
"Good. Do you have ANY weapons on you?" Jim asked.
"No sir."
"Don't let me find a F'in nail clippers in your pocket, you'll die a lot slower than your pal there." Jim said.
"No, I really don't have anything on me, my rifle is over there."
"Where's your pistol?" Jim asked.
"I don't have no pistol."
"Move back two yards on your knees." Jim commanded. Firewatcher scooted backwards a few feet.
"Without taking your hands off your head lay on your belly." Jim said. Firewatcher act leaves as he came foward into the ground.
"Slowly, with your palms facing me lay your arms out." Jim commanded.
Jim moved to the side of Fireboy "Look away, don't F'in look at me!"
Jim slammed the muzzle of the Glock 26 nto Firewatcher's back "You know what this is right?" .
"Yes, yes, man don't hurt me, I haven't done anything to you." Firewatcher said.
"SHUT THE F UP!" Jim commanded as he searched Firewatcher.
Retreiving a heavy industrial cable tie from his gear, Jim double tied Firewatcher's hands behind his back then placed him against a tree sitting down facing Jim. It was then that Jim noticed a wet stain on the front of Firewatcher's pants.
"What's your name?" Jim asked.
"Jonas."
"Easy to remember but not as catchy as Firewatcher or Fireboy", Jim thought.
"Nice to meet you Jonas. Would you like some water?" Jim asked.
"No, no thank you. Your not going to sell me as a slave now or something are you?" Jonas asked.
"Depends on who you are." Jim replied.
Jim spent an hour talking with Jonas.......
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