Free The Shadow of Arms by Hwang Sok-Yong

AWOLs.”
    Then they hopped back into the Jeep and Kang floored the accelerator, gunning the motor loudly. As he drove, Kang said, “The money for today’s drinks has fallen into our hands. You don’t have any pocket money, do you? Here’s twenty dollars. Spend it.”
    He extended a hand with four military five-dollar bills. Yong Kyu hesitated.
    â€œWhat are you waiting for? This is snot-smudged money, anybody’s for the taking.”
    Yong Kyu accepted the cash. Since a month’s pay for a combat fighter was forty dollars, it was like being paid for two weeks of duty. That was enough time for him to have gone on dozens of ambush reconnaissance patrols and see half a dozen or more of his comrades, torn and dead, carried away by helicopter. Who knows, it could have been a period in which he himself, a quadruple amputee, was shipped on a hospital vessel to the Philippines.
    â€œWe’ll take a look at the navy and the marine PXs tomorrow. Why don’t we go to the Dragon Palace for a Korean dinner and then head over to the Bamboo, what do you say?”
    Blue Jacket Kang, who had been doing all the talking, turned around to look at Yong Kyu.
    â€œI’ve just given you a lesson that would have taken you at least two months of experience to begin to understand. Now, what are you going to do for me? As I said before, nothing is free around here.”
    Yong Kyu’s mind was elsewhere. He was thinking of his buddies down in the platoon who by now were scouring some back alley in Hoi An for area defense. It did not take longer than smoking a cigarette for a comrade to be killed in action and evacuated. Before long, they would have a hard time remembering his face.
    â€œHey, Blue Jacket Ahn, what’s your name?”
    â€œAhn Yong Kyu.”
    â€œYong Kyu . . . would you give me your ration card?”
    â€œMy ration card?”
    â€œHeadquarters will issue you one tomorrow or the next day. With an American army logistics staffer accompanying you, you can walk into any PX in the area and buy whatever you want. I’ve already reached the limit. In exchange, I’ll transfer everything to you.”
    â€œTransfer what?”
    â€œThe secrets . . . sum and substance of making money.”
    â€œTake it.”
    â€œThanks. You get yours from the next new arrival, all right? Anyway, you won’t be needing one until you’re ready to go back home.”
    The Jeep retraced the same route and arrived at the main intersection. As it was about to turn, a scooter driving in the same direction almost fell under it. As it skidded to a stop in an attempt to avoid a collision, the scooter hit a tree alongside the road. The Jeep, braking suddenly, spun sideways. Yong Kyu hit his head on the door of the Jeep and Blue Jacket Kang’s face was instantly white with rage.
    â€œYou whoring bitches . . . !”
    His head stuck out the window, Kang was pouring out curses he had picked up from the Americans. Two girls were staggering to their feet. Their white ahozai skirts were smudged with dirt. Already the streets were getting dark. Kang kept looking at his watch as he drove on.
    Footnotes:
    6 Military Assistance Command

 
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    4
    Out beyond the airport the First US Marine Division was dug in around Dong Dao, also known as “Pink Mountain.” The original Vietnamese name “Dong Dao” appeared on their maps, but it was common for the Americans to rename places whenever they found them hard to pronounce. For instance, one of the hamlets in the hills on the way to Tam Ky that had given quite a few young recruits to the Liberation Front had been christened “Charlie Town.” The name meant it was a Viet Cong village; “Charlie” was the American soldiers’ chosen nickname for the little brown devils they were fighting. The American army did not consider Charlie a worthy foe.
    Dong Dao was a barren, reddish mountain without a single tree