The green clad figures flit from the trembling Huey, then quickly dissolve into the foliage.  For five days the men and the jungle are one, and there is opposition to the enemy in the triple-canopied tangles that protect the communist mountain sanctuaries.
     Probably no screaming Eagles are more hated by the NVA and VC than the LRRP infantrymen.  The silent searchers spring quick, lethal ambushes on small enemy forces, and when confronted by larger enemy groups, simply sit quiet, or call in artillery and air strikes, or the giant guns of the New Jersey.  They pinpoint communist base camps, supply depots, infiltration routes, and troop movements.  And most galling to the  NVA and, they have become masters of the quiet, shadow war pioneered by the enemy.
    The small LRRP teams are elite units, with much more freedom and responsibility than the infantrymen of company size units.  But because they are essentially recon, they are almost always outnumbered, and they know if they are detected and surrounded, their lives are o more than candles in a gale.
     Yet the LRRP team is not alone.  The PRC25 strapped on the radioman's back contains howitzer batteries, Phantom jets, cobra gunships and quick reaction.
     And because they are few and well-trained, they have another ally--a friend that is usually considered by others to the most hostile enemies--the jungle.