Marble Mountain Officer's Club Annex
Flying Devil Dogs in Vietnam
by
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The sound of M-16 fire followed by exploding hand grenades and AK-47 fire sent everyone in the LZ running a second time only minutes later. This time the pilots hurried to their cockpit seats to start the H-34 helicopter while the young grunts in the LZ, led by a Corporal, assumed defensive positions between the helicopter and the sounds of war. Everyone correctly assumed the patrol they waited for had come under fire by the Vietcong. The retreating five-man squad labored in their retreat with two wounded Marines. Two others assisted the wounded while trying to fire indiscriminately at shadows chasing them. The fifth member of the team lobbed explosive anti-personnel grenades into the trees behind him from his M-79 Grenade Launcher. He alternately yelled at, screamed at, and derided the television journalist and cameraman accompanying them for refusing to aid his wounded comrades. If the journalist and cameraman would assist the two wounded Marines the other two Marines now carrying the wounded could provide much needed pinpoint fire at enemy soldiers. This journalist was uniquely infamous among the many infamous American media "types" in the RVN. This journalist had publicly stated he would not assist American military soldiers or Marines under attack because he was neutral and his job was only to report the war not to influence its outcome. And that, as a journalist, he was above the fray, above the war and politics, and was only present in spirit to record history. Many in the military were sure this particular journalist had watched too many "Star Trek" episodes, but he could not have been a true "trekky" because he would have known that Captain Kirk would never have let the Prime Directive get in the way of saving a crew-member. Two Marines from the LZ perimeter guard ran to help the five-man patrol while the Grenadier continued to arc grenades toward the oncoming VC. The Grenadier slowed the VC considerably nearly emptying his thirty round bandoleer in the last five minutes. Huey had the helicopter turning at full power in less than three minutes while barking orders to his Crew Chief to get everyone loaded ASAP. The five man special operations team lumbered to the helicopter’s starboard side passenger door from the rear dangerously close the to helicopter’s churning tail rotor blades. Huey watched impatiently from his seat, in the cockpit, high above the elephant grass. He saw the five-man team jump into the helo and watched the Crew Chief recall the remaining Marines guarding the LZ. He counted eleven Marines all together each with a full complement of weapons and gear. He did not have to perform a weight and balance computation because he knew this load put the helicopter well over a safe maximum gross weight takeoff weight. He hoped his diminished fuel load would account for the difference. The Crew Chief waived and implored the journalist and cameraman to board the helicopter but they arrogantly remained thirty-five yards away shooting video and reporting the event. Huey recalled his Crew Chief who leaped aboard the helo as Huey pulled maximum power for a low and slow, running takeoff skimming the elephant grass. After nearly two hundred yards of low-level flight in ground cushion the helo gained sufficient airspeed to permit a gradual climbout to 200 feet AGL. The journalist and cameraman, true to their profession, filmed and recorded the entire event. Huey flew a gradual 180 degree turn flying abeam the LZ in time to see the journalist and cameraman, surrounded by VC, being hacked and dismembered by the machete wielding enemy. At the subsequent investigation Huey’s co-pilot and Crew Chief confirmed Huey’s reasoning for leaving the two media people in the zone. It had nothing to do with the fact that the two media types were scum-sucking, commie, pinko, liberal, arrogant, asshole traitors, but had to do with the fact that they would not get on the helo, and even if they did, the helo was already well over max gross weight and could not have taken off if they did get on board. Huey had no choice. The co-pilot told everyone but the investigating board that Huey said, "let them try and convince the VC that they are there only in spirit," and that Huey did not stop laughing for thirty minutes after seeing the VC mutilate the journalist and cameraman.
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About the Book
Four helicopter pilots and lifelong friends join the American war effort in Vietnam to help their country and maybe themselves and their post-military careers. A twist of their military fates delivers them to a secret military air base and fire base named the Marble Mountain Officers Club Annex by the pilots. Early in the Vietnam War the base supported CIA activity between North and South Vietnam and west through Laos and Cambodia to Thailand, in addition to, development of prototype weapons and technology. By the time the four FNG's arrive the war's end is near and the base is embroiled in the eventual collapse of the American involvement in Vietnam. The story involves only a few very long days and nights in the lives of four brand new helicopter pilots and one suspiciously beautiful Woman Marine Lieutenant. They face death in the middle of fanatical fire fights and suicidal flying missions, but in the Officer's Club, where the lessons of life, war, death, love and friendship are debated over ritual libations, they discovered the reality of the life they have chosen. Upon arrival at the air base the FNG's are immediately immersed in the ongoing battle of egos between the helicopter pilots and a detachment of jet pilots. Each night at the Officer's Club territories are staked out and defended. Verbal jousting gives way to free-for-alls and shoot-outs when one side gains or loses an advantage. The four-day adventure also includes combat helicopter inserts, an erotic overnight stop at Bangkok, a "jungle rules" motor-cross race, and two ground assaults by VC and NVA regulars. When the base is overrun they manage a heroic escape, but upon arrival at the real Marble Mountain Air Base their heroic deeds do not yield the pomp and ceremony they expect- they are scheduled for a court-martial. The author attempts to capture satire of "Catch-22" and the humor of "Mash" in another real life military story.
About the Author
Quinn Mulhearn's career in the Marine Corps spanned forty years. He enlisted in the mid-1960s for a tour as a "snuffy" and returned in the early 1970s for a tour as a CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter pilot. Retiring as a Colonel he never set foot in Vietnam or heard a shot fired in anger. He writes "Marble Mountain Officers Club Annex" as an exorcism of the Vietnam era, an era of government betrayal of its military, of a media induced, if not sponsored, betrayal of the military, and of a societal betrayal of the military. Never before in two hundred years of American history were soldiers, sailors, and Marines spat upon and publicly degraded by its citizens during a conflict in the name of peace. The story is pure fiction but the story line represents the total reality of the time. The cynicism, sarcasm, satire and absurdity are the byproduct of the mind of a single serviceman attempting to find humor and peace in what will be remembered as one of the most tragic periods in American history.