Yep. That's a kicker!! Did you guys have any association with the Army ASA guys?
Spooky indeed, dys. But not surprising ... nor really even a revelation. US personnel were with the French in "Advisory" and "Observation" capacities in the early '50s. Some accounts alleged that "American Commissioned Officers" narrowly avoided being trapped at Dien Bien Phu.
Then too, there's always Burdick and Lederer's "The Ugly American" ... a provocative read even tody.
timber
no not at all, we were a unit of 12 and only had contact with "spooks" and hmong, we had what was called a "nasty boat" but according to the military there were no nasty boats there until i think 64 or 65 but i know there were at least 2 there in 62 built i think in Norway (not sure about that)
Not surprising at all. The mil intell community likes to do stuff like that all the time. No sense in telling anybody about it either.
we were issued m-14, Remington 12 gauge pump shotguns and our sidearms were S&W model 9 and lots of C-4
Yeah, the M-14 was brand new in the inventory in those days. The shotguns were really good for the jungle environment. We pilots were issued some antique Colt six shooters. Oh, and a survival knife. The thought crossed my mind that the Colt was for us!!
we were almost totally on the Mekong often going into Cambodia but mostly stayed in Laos
That is some mountainous country - if you got very far from the river. I flew over to get a look at the 'trail' sometimes. We weren't supposed to, but what the heck, - it looked like a huge dirt highway till it reached the Cambodian/Vietnam border, then fanned out like a turkey track - totally disappeared at the border and then refanned itself back to a single huge trail on the Viet side. Funny looking from the air.
Well, its bed time for my old bones. See you guys in the morn.
Thanks dys for your info. I was also an intell guy and knew of the goings on you guys did, but had no real idea it reached back to the late '50's. I'm glad you made it.
Eyeballs and Genetically Challenged Rabits ... Oh MY !!
Hi Guys!
Anon
Hi anon,
Say, now you have some good info from the horses mouth so to speak, dys no longer does the cowboy stuff.
Oh, dys, when you check in. I trained horses while in high school for spending money. Rode in rodeos in the surrounding four states area - TX, OK, AR, LA - between age 15 and 19. Bulls and bareback horses. It was a real kick at that age, but I still wonder why I did it. Never broke anything, that's a miracle. Well, I did get run over by a pony one day that sorta hurt a little.
Dys - also very glad you made it! Your new pic btw is nicer than the previous eyeball avatar; this comment primarily so that newcomers to thread won't be confused by Anon's previous post.
Looked into the Nasty boats (some Norwegian PR genius christened them I guess): they were manufactured starting in 1958 so they could have been exported any time after that. USN started using them - as far as could find out - in 1964, but obviously there were other clients out there.
Separately - new tapes from the Kennedy administration are becoming available confirming the previous assessment of Anon that Kennedy would have pulled out all advisors/other troops had he lived beyond November 1963. Johnson's appointment of General Westmoreland seems to have been a critical turning point subsequently; the previous military commanders (as per newly released JFK tapes) were all advising a complete end to military involvement in Vietnam.
Wonder if anybody here is following this tape saga.
After being lambasted by veterans, congressmen and civilians alike for his slur of brave Viet Nam Vets, Rumsfeld has decided to apologize.
This sentence of his apology tells the entire story:
"It is painful for anyone, and certainly a public servant whose words are carried far and wide, to have a comment so unfortunately misinterpreted."
Translation: I can't help it if you whiny veterans didn't understand what I was trying to say.
I'm really starting to think that there isn't a single person in this administration who is remotely capable of accepting responsibility for his actions.
Which makes the war planning going on as we speak even more terrifying.
hi boys and girls, i am still here and kickin'
PDiddie: "vets" and "draftees" are overlapping sets, but not the same set. The secretary's retracted comments concerned the latter, not the former.
Hi back, Dys! Are you keeping this mountain range pic, now?!
I do not consider Rummy's little statement an apology. He shoved it out there and then insulted me again by telling me "comment so unfortunately misinterpreted". That don't work with me - no Bush spin allowed in this place!
So a draftee isn't a Veteran - where does it say that?
Is this another insult I have to live with, besides being worthless?
BillW - "overlapping" is a word in the sentence your read. Kindly re-read it. Thanks.
Reading still folks, I got a head cold that is the mother of all head colds.
Dan
OK - will explain as must be off the net till next Monday: not all draftees became veterans (those who didn't serve for whatever reason) and not all veterans were drafted. Hope that was clear this time.
