2O  DAYTIME AT NIGHT

Another tool I used to harass the Viet Cong was a World War II searchlight. This type of light was used by anti-aircraft gun crews to spot enemy aircraft. Whenever one of our eighteen bunkers had signs that the Viet Cong were probing the perimeter, we had a surprise waiting for them. The command bunker would at once activate a pre-planned response. The searchlight would be aimed at the area in front of the bunker while the 4.2” mortar team would fire an illumination round to light up the perimeter. Next, the 81mm crew would fire two high-explosive rounds in front of the bunker, followed by the adjacent bunkers firing their M-60 machine guns. If an enemy happened to be in that kill zone and survived our response, they would think twice before trying it again. The enemy probes always slowed down after one of those responses, and to keep the enemy confused I would randomly pick a day and time and repeat it. Usually, two or three times a month would keep the perimeter quiet. The Viet Cong were persistent, and the probing continued during my entire time on the mountain.
The searchlight was a unique tool which enhanced our mountain defenses, but it also served another mission off the mountain. We often used it to search for enemy patrols working around the base of the mountain. If a straight leg unit had an ambush at the base of the mountain, we would Illuminate the enemy force for them and try to drive them into the kill zone.
The light enhanced our defenses, but it did have a fault which we couldn’t control—weather; it wouldn’t work when the mountain was covered in fog. Even with the fog issue, it was still a good addition to our overall defenses.