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Infiltration in Kiên Tướng Province
In my books of the “Advisor Series” I often talk about two Cambodian areas that bordered my Kiên Tường province in Vietnam, the Parrot’s Beak and the Crow’s Nest. The Parrot’s Beak was the northernmost portion of the border between, Kiên Tường, and the Cambodian border. The Crow’s Nest constituted the northwestern border of our… →
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“Salt & Pepper”; A Vietnam War Legend???
Some war stories were thought to be more Vietnam myth than reality. After the war, veterans spoke in hushed tones at bars in local VFWs about U.S. Navy SEALs operating independently in the jungles and about strange psychological warfare operations—but were those stories real? It wasn’t until 50 years later that we learned some of… →
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Life in “Splinter City”
Last week I tried to describe our facilities at the MACV Advisor Compound at Moc Hoa in Vietnam. But what was it like living there? First of all, our conditions were much nicer than that of those guys who lived in the division units in the field. We had a fixed location with many the… →
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‘Splinter City’!
Moc Hoa, Kien Tuong Province, Mekong Delta, South Vietnam MACV Advisory Team 85 was housed in a rectangular compound when I arrived there in 1969. The compound consisted of two rows of barrack-type buildings, one along the airfield side and the other along the main road leading in and out of downtown. Internally there was… →
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McNamara’s 100,000
During my military career I dealt with a group of men that were referred to as “McNamara’s 100,000”. We had other names for them, “McNamara’s Morons”, or “McNamara’s Misfits”. Who were these men? They were in all of the branches of the service, primarily in the US Army and the US Marine Corps; they were… →
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Operation Bright Light Part Two
During the Vietnam War the US military conducted a centralized effort to identify, locate, and rescue its POW/MIAs. Code-Name Bright Light. This program was designed to provide the identities and locations of American Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action. While the program succeeded in freeing hundreds of captive South Vietnamese soldiers, it resulted… →
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Operation Bright Light
During the Vietnam War the US military conducted a centralized effort to identify, locate, and rescue its POW/MIAs. Code-Name Bright Light. This program was designed to provide the identities and locations of American Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action. While the program succeeded in freeing hundreds of captive South Vietnamese soldiers it resulted… →
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An Unexpected Exit
In my last blog entry, I indicated that there was a “war story” about my sudden departure from Vietnam in the Spring of 1971. Just remember the difference between a fairy tale and a “War Story”: A Fairy Tale begins , “Once Upon a Time” A War Story begins “There We Were” While this account… →