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in the streets of America’s
cities a tangible result. But, what about the men who, following
lawful orders, fought the war? Only a few 12 man A Detachments and
a small Headquarters element were sent to Vietnam to conduct training at
established South Vietnamese Army bases. Then, the mission enlarged
to Special Forces detachments recruiting the native troops, called Montagnards,
and opening entirely new bases far from the cities.
These bases came to be known as A Camps. All
were in isolated areas of the country, mostly along the very poorly marked
and very porous border between South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.
The northern border was clearly marked as a so called demilitarized zone.
The Northern forces completely ignored this as well as all other borders.
The North’s forces operated with near impunity when and where it pleased,
with little fear of retaliation from the Southern forces. So, it
became the defacto job of Special Forces to stop both the infiltration
and somehow halt the northern aggression.
To say that this was an unrealistic mission is a huge
understatement; compounded by the idiotic restrictions placed on US troops
by the political powers, both in America and South Vietnam. So, the
US presence in South Vietnam grew by leaps and bounds. There was
still no clear consensus on what to do or how to conduct the overall war.
Policy seemed to change daily at the highest levels while on the ground,
the men were fighting for their lives. When President Lyndon Johnson
sent in a Marine brigade in 1965, Special Forces had been there for more
than three years. But, now the American public sat up and took notice.
The American TV networks and newspapers also took notice and flooded the
country with TV cameras and reporters. Now, for the first time, Americans
could watch the war while eating their evening meal.
That and the TV coverage of metal caskets draped with
American flags began to get the attention of not only Americans, but the
rest of the world as well. Then, the questions started . . . and,
as usual, the politicians had no clear answers. Meanwhile, the Special
Forces effort had evolved into some of the most dangerous and deadly warfare
ever seen. Special units were created within special units, project
Delta, its purpose to seek out and destroy enemy units deep in the forbidding
countryside, then Omega, then Gamma, Sigma and then MACSOG, possibly the
most dangerous duty a soldier could have - to penetrate deep into the enemies
rear areas with only a six man team, and usually three of them Vietnamese
or Cambodians of doubtful loyalty. Many such teams simply vanished,
never seen or heard from again. Then there were the Mike Force units.
These were units of native soldiers led and controlled by Special Forces
men for the express purpose of going
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