Hunched over, tense, he looked at his map. Somewhere … somewhere in this tangle of grid lines and terrain features was the enemy. "If I could just peel back the triple canopy, layer by layer," he thought.

He forced himself to relax, forced his mind to go blank, let his subconscious take over. The fog that shrouded his brain cleared, blown away by a chill that crept down his spine. Without thinking, without knowing, he began to memorize images that he could not see, but that he could feel, that he could sense clearly.

In his trance he had found the enemy.

"What’s the Old Man doing?" the young private whispered.

Sarge rolled his eyes, said softly, "he’s predicting your future, young buck."

"Predicting? What do you mean?"

"Old Man studies the funny paper … decides what we’re going to do, and where … he’s in charge … predicting the future. It’s a lick on our ass," Sarge answered.

"You mean it’s a bad thing?" the private cocked his eyebrow.

"Naw," answered Sarge, "I’m just saying’ the Old Man knows his shit, and we’re going to have to go with it … whether we like it or not … lick on our ass."

"You don’t worry about it?" the private asked.

"Worry? Naw, not me, I don’t worry … Old Man’s dick is stiff and his shit is wrapped tight … you don’t worry ‘bout a dude like that. We’ll be fine."

"I worry, Sarge," the private whispered, "I worry a lot. Don’t know what the deal is; don’t know the mission."

"Sheeit, man," Sarge replied, "you just go with it, man … you just go with it. You got two missions, son … kill and stay alive. It don’t mean nuthin’."

"Lemme tell ya," Sarge continued, "infantry work in ‘Nam is about beating the bush and finding the bad guys. Yer lucky, ya get to defend a firebase … lucky, that is, until the sappers come one night. In the bush we got an edge, ‘cause we got the initiative. Enemy don’t want to be found out here; he hides from us until he gets it together enough to knock up a firebase. We keep him off balance by finding him first and killing as many as possible. Search and destroy, man … search and fuckin’ destroy. That’s the damn mission, and it don’t ever change."

The private nodded. "I still worry, Sarge," he said.

He stood up, tucked the map into his fatigue trouser pocket, looked around. "Let’s move out," he motioned in silent communication.

The point team labored up a finger ridge, sweat boiling off their brows and dripping onto their sweat-stained shirts. Careful, now. Watch where you’re going. The caution was relayed back down the column of grunts.

The Old Man stood, looking over the heads of his point team. Searching, wondering. "Where are they?’ he thought.

Suddenly, a single shot split the silence, crashed through the patter of jungle leaves, drove into the head of the commanding officer, splattering bone and brain. In an instant, the Old Man was down, mortally wounded.

"Medic!" the RTO cried. But it was too late. The Old Man’s lifeblood drained on the leafy ground.

"He’s bought it, Sarge," the RTO said quietly, reverently, "the Old Man’s gone … gone."

"It’s okay, son," Sarge said, "we got it from here. Gimme that handset."

Sarge began talking on the radio, calling for fire missions, calling for close air support. In a few moments time the lethal munitions were crashing into the jungle and the fast movers flying overhead.

"Time to go," thought Sarge, "time to earn our pay." He headed up the hill.

"What now, Sarge," the private beside him asked, "what now?"

"We kill them," Sarge hollered back, "we kill them!" And he headed up the hill.

When it was over, when they had crested the hill and driven off the enemy, Sarge looked around. "Good sheeit," he thought to himself, "good sheeit. We all made it, except the Old Man."

Enemy dead lay everywhere, some in grotesque forms, some in seemingly natural positions.

"What do we do now, Sarge?" The private was nearby.

"Son, we fuckin’ drink their g’damn blood," Sarge replied, "we drink their g’damn blood."

"Seriously, Sarge," the private asked, "what do we do now?"

"Get the Old Man’s body up here," Sarge answered. "He’d like to see this. And get me his map while you’re at it. I need to see where we’re going next."