to read - Jaltemba Bay Life

shore, it looped over and dropped down to abouttwo feet above the water and continued along thecoastline. That was quite a sight! This is anexample of what I like about Mexico: Sometimesthings happen here that are like a form ofcontrolled anarchy. No one was calling thepolice, reporting aircraft tail numbers to theFederal Aviation Administration. There would beno investigation; no fines or suspensions; thepilot would not lose his license. If the plane hadcrashed into the ocean, people would haveshrugged and left the wreckage there until timeand the elements carted it away. This eventreminded me of a time in Vietnam when mypatrol was attacked by one of our own helicoptergunships.We were in the Central Highlands patrolling avalley called the An Loa. It was a free-fire zone,which meant that anything moving in that areawas fair game and a target. Essentially, thepeople in that valley were considered to be eitherViet Cong or North Vietnamese. Many localvillages had once dotted the valley, but since thegovernment could not control the terrain, the“solution” was to empty the valley and relocate allits inhabitants. This must have been a tragedy forthe poor farmers and locals, who had been livingin and farming that valley for generations, justlike their ancestors hundreds of years before.Anyway, if friendly forces were in the area therewas supposed to be coordination with otherfriendly units to make sure we would notmistakenly fire on each other. Apparently, in ourcase one combat assault helicopter unit had notbeen informed that we would be patrolling in thearea. At the time of the incident there were about