Secret Green Beret Commandos in Cambodia: A Memorial History of Macv-Sog’s Command and Control Detachment South (Ccs), and Its Air Partners, Republic of Vietnam, 1967-1972

© 2012 LTC Fred S. Lindsey, USA Ret. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 09/09/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4772-7308-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-7307-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012919267

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CONTENTS

Dedication, To Those Who Gave All

Acknowledgments

Foreword - LTG William P. Tangney, USA Ret., former Dep CG USSOCOM

Introduction - Why We Had to Write This Book

Maps of SOG Theatre of Operation

Chapter One - Background of the Vietnam Conflict; The SOG Organization

Chapter Two - SF Ops Delta, Omega & Sigma Operations; Omega & Sigma’s Cross Border Missions in 1966 & ‘67 and ‘68; Merger to Form CCS in June 1968

Vignette - Unusual Encounters With Critters In The Woods

Chapter Three - First Half of 1968 - CCS & SOG Events

Vignette - The Special Commando Unit (SCU)

Chapter Four - The Second Half of 1968 Events - The Formation of CCS

Vignette - SOG Men’s Humor Relieves Stress of War in CCS Camp

Chapter Five - 1969 Jan-June, Recon Missions & Other Special Events

Vignette - MSG Jerry Shriver Stories

Vignette - The CCS Medical Section and Facility

Chapter Six - Later 1969, July-Dec, Recon Missions & Special Events

Vignette - Surprise Assignment for a Night Jump

Centered Photo Section

Chapter Seven - Early 1970 (Jan-April) Events and Missions

Vignette - Our Great Ladies Of The Special Forces

Chapter Eight - Later 1970 Events - SOG & CCS Leads the Offensive Into Cambodia; the Link-up with and Evacuation of Cambodian Brigade

Vignette - Time Out For The War, The CO Needs to Call His Wife

Chapter Nine - Summary of Experiences of our Exported Teams in CCC & CCN

Vignette FANK Training In Vietnam

Chapter Ten - Summary of Experiences by our Exported Recon Teams/Members

Chapter Eleven - 1971-1972 Missions and Close Out of CCS Successor Units

Chapter Twelve - Reflections

Bibliography

Glossary of Military Slang, Abbreviations and Acronyms

About the Compiler/Author

Praise for Book Project From The Men & Families

"LTC Lindsey, thanks for all you have done for CCS. It is a tremendous task you have undertaken but much appreciated. What a super job!" //Fred Morse (former Recon Team Leader at CCS & CCC.)

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Boss - A remarkable accomplishment.  I think I can speak for the entire CCS Brotherhood (as well as the SOG, SF and Special Ops brotherhoods) when I express how much we appreciate your efforts and dedication for pulling this daunting task together.  Without your efforts and perseverance a very important part of our military history and accomplishments would have soon been lost for all time.  We are proud of you and of this historical account of who we were and who we are.  With great admiration and respect. //Troy (Troy Gilley, CCS Recon Team Ldr and Recon Co Cmdr, & SOG Staff)

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Col, Your involvement in the history will be, as we say, a game changer, because I now know that CCS will be represented well….Thanks for what you do for CCS // Pete J. Bus Buscetto, (CCS Recon.)

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Col. Lindsey please allow me to add my salute and deepest thank you again for what you’re doing with the CCS History… As you know Thanksgiving is approaching. For me it’s a day that I cherish being alive in. To the Green Hornets and I still get chills from memories of the deadly Daniel Boone AO. // Tilt (John Meyer, President Special Operations Assn. & Recon Team Leader at CCN.)

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Fred, I still miss the military and sometimes I wonder if I should have stayed in.  My wife says no because we would have never met, maybe she is correct. Please give my best to everyone that was part of SOG. Good luck on your book, I am excited to get a copy. //Jim Bolen (Highly decorated veteran CCS Recon Team Ldr who captured an enemy 122mm rocket.)

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Sir, With all the effort you have put into this project I am sure your book will be a good one. //CSM Jim Jackson (Retired former recon man at CCS, author of two books.)

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I would just like to add my sincere thanks to the monumental work of The Boss and to all of you for letting me be part of the greatest group of guys whoever strode the trails of Cambodia and Laos alike…. No brotherhood was ever so precious!  //George W. Sunny" Hewitt (Recon Man, Veteran of BaKev, Cambodia Mission.)

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Col. Fred. Great news on our book!! Congrats on a job well done in preserving the history of SOG, CCS and us aviators……// JJ (JJ Jensen was a helicopter Gunner with 20th SOS.)

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Fred, Thank you so much for all the time and effort in compiling the history of what we accomplished in the secretwar. I have to admit that I could always count on working as an air partner (gunship driver) for SOG to be the most consistently thrilling flying I did in Vietnam. //Joe Wilson (Avenger 4, 189th AHC, 1969-1970.)

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I already know that you have done these men proud, and I, in particular, am so very grateful for everything you have done to put this together… I don’t have to say, as I know you understand, how much your book will mean to those men, their families, and their friends. I know how much it will mean to mine. Susan Roberts (wife of 20th SOS pilot, Eric.)

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Sir, Thank you for your hard work to keep our memories alive.  You will always have my respect for your dedication. // Michael Moore (Recon Man & Exploit Force)

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Fred, Thanks for doing this! I know you put in a lot of work and I can guarantee you that everyone appreciates it too. //Spike Eskins (Pilot, 195th Assault Helicopter Co.)

Reviewer’s Comments

Chief SOG, Col. Steve Cavanaugh’s greatest regret was that SOG’s tremendous unsung heroes deserved recognition which was not possible for their highly classified missions. My books on SOG, too, lacked enough space to recognize all the gallant warriors who fought in SOG’s secret missions. Today, thanks to Lt. Col. Fred Lindsey’s devoted research and writing, the veterans of Projects Sigma and Omega, and Command and Control South Detachment have had that much corrected. Equally importantly, he has incorporated all 14 aviation units that supported them during the six-year period. For without the air support directly under its operational control, and the loyal, experienced indigenous soldiers, CCS could not have accomplished their mission in Cambodia. They were a unified team that lived and fought together.  Both as a CCS commander, and a historian, Lt. Col. Lindsey has done his men and his unit proud. What they did is now known, and who they are will not be forgotten. De Oppresso Liber."  – John Plaster

About the Reviewer

We asked the most respected researcher and author of MACV-SOG books to review this book.  John Plaster was a qualified Special Forces weapons and communications noncommissioned officer.  He served in SOG from 1968 through 1971.  He served on five recon teams at Command and Control Central (CCC), running 22 missions behind enemy lines.  He also served in Command and Control North (CCN).  During his final year in SOG, he flew as a Covey Rider – an airborne controller who monitored the insertions and extractions of all the teams in his area of operation – and directed Tactical Air support to ensure their safety.  His famous call sign was The Plasticman.  Plaster received a direct commission after the war.  Then his research for the publication of his first book in 1997, SOG, The Secret Wars of America’s Commandoes in Vietnam, is credited for his secrecy-breaking efforts that led the State Department and the Department of the Army to finally declassify SOG’s existence and documents – over 25 years after SOG was disbanded.  This led to SOG and all its units being awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.  His book SOG won the Bernal Diaz award for military history.  He then wrote two other terrific SOG books as noted in the Acknowledgements Section of this book.  Since retiring as a Major, he has instructed military snipers and has taught police SWAT officers sharpshooting techniques.  Plaster is an inductee of the U.S. Army Special Forces Hall of Fame at Ft. Bragg, NC, and the USAF Air Commando Hall of Fame at Hurlburt Field, FL.

SECRET GREEN BERET COMMANDOS IN CAMBODIA

A Memorial History of

Command and Control Detachment South (CCS),

MACV-SOG, And Its Air Partners,

Republic of Vietnam (RVN) 1967-1972

Fred S. Lindsey

Lieutenant Colonel, US Army (Retired)

Former CCS Commander, Jan-July 1970

Editorial Assistant – Roberta L. Lindsey, PhD

The Cover – Is a photo of elephant tusks gift trophy from Cambodian Battalion Commander, topped with brass Cambodian dancer figurine, with indigenous bracelet, on the background of a map of Cambodia and Vietnam; with the CCS logo in front of the trophy and the author’s Green Beret draped on the bottom side of the trophy base.

Photo for the cover is courtesy of Olan Mills Portrait Studios, © Lifetouch Inc.

DEDICATION

To All CCS Warriors And Their Air Partners Who Paid The Supreme Sacrifice

And To Their Families Who Often Times Had To Wait Months For The Details

Of Their Son’s (Or Husband’s Or Father’s) Demise, And Had To Wait

Years To Know Of The Location Of His Loss In Cambodia

or Laos – Due To The Top Secret Nature Of Our SOG Operations.

CCS MACVSOG Base Camp Entry Memorial

(Courtesy of Lindsey Collection)

WE WILL NOT FORGET OUR FALLEN HEROES

List of KIAs & MIAs - CCS, B50 Omega & B56 Sigma

With Locations on THE VIETNAM MEMORIAL WALL

Notes – BNR - Body Not Recovered; DNH – Death Non-Hostile

*MIA’s delayed decision of KIA status dates: Carpenter unk; Shriver 06/10/74; Tubbs 11/17/75;

Davidson 10/08/71; Gassman 10/06/71; Strohlein 10/24/74; Kroske 01/08/79

NEVER FORGET

Photo of the Memorial Wall at USASOCOM, Ft. Bragg, NC

(Courtesy of Mike Ash)

Losses By Our Air Partner Units

CCS was not alone in suffering losses in its operations. Our Air Asset Partners – Primarily the 195th Assault Helicopter Company (AHC) that supported the Southern Launch Site out of Quan Loi and the 20th USAF Special Operations Squadron that supported the Northern Launch Site at Duc Co and Duc Lap. There were of course other aviation units that supported CCS on a periodic or short time basis and those units and KIAs are shown below as well. This includes the 155th AHC and the 219th Avn Co (up north) and the 240th AHC and the 189th AHC. The following is the list of KIAs from our Air Asset Partners who were lost as the result of supporting CCS Missions. The location noted is the placement of their names on The Vietnam Memorial Wall.

KIA’s - 20TH Special Operations Squadron (20th SOS), 14th SO Wing, USAF

NEVER FORGET!

KIAs - 195th AHC, 222nd AVN BN at Bear Cat.

NEVER FORGET!

KIAs - 155th AHC, 10th AVN BN, 17TH AVN GROUP, 1st AVN BRIGADE

NEVER FORGET!

184th Recon. Airplane Co (RAC), 1st AVN BN, 1st AVN BRIGADE

We are unaware of any known casualties related to SOG Ops by the 184th RAC.

KIAs - 189th AHC, 52nd AVN BN, 17th AVN GROUP, 1st AVN BRIGADE

{Ed. Note – The 189th missions on 10 & 28 June referred to the SOG Camp at Duc Co, and although the 189th history notes do not show they were supporting CCS at this time, we assume they were supporting our Duc Co FSS and honor them as our casualties.}

NEVER FORGET!

KIAs - 219th AVN CO (4th Platoon), 52nd AVN BN, 17th AVN Gp, 1st AVN Brigade

NEVER FORGET!

KIAs - 240th AHC, 214TH AVN BN, 12TH AVN GP, 1ST AVN BRIGADE

NEVER FORGET! WE ARE FOREVER GRATEFUL.

These were our quiet hero’s whose dreams are unfulfilled

MAY GOD’S MERCY BRING REST TO THEM ALL

(Ed. Note - Personal details of KIA-MIAs were obtained from the Virtual Wall Web Sites <http://www.virtualwall.org/iStates.htm>, or the SOG connection at <http://www.virtualwall.org/u-army/macv-sog.htm>, &/or the SF Assn site at <http://www.sfahq.com/reg/reg_sfqual.htm> or <http://thewall-usa.com/search.asp>. For more information on the MIAs, see Task Force Omega web site www.taskforceomegainc.org/>.}

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Every man who served in or supported Command and Control South Detachment (CCS) contributed in one way or another to our legacy, as reflected in this book. It is impossible to recognize every one by name or photo, although that was our goal. Indeed, we are certain that there are some whom we have yet to even identify - after three years of research, who were members of CCS or our Air Partners’ units that supported CCS. Our apologies to those we’ve failed to mention.

Our special thanks goes to all those men of CCS & Air Partners who have contributed their time and memorabilia to help compile and document this record. This has been a real Team Effort to reconstruct our destroyed historical documents. Though there have been many who have contributed to the content of this book, several persons have gone above and beyond to try to help find those for whom we were missing contact information. First is LTG Bill Tangney who served as a Captain in CCS in Sept.1970-71. Later he persevered and helped the Army overcome its lack of appreciation for Special Forces and Special Operations and helped develop the Special Forces as a Separate Branch of the Army. Then he was instrumental in creating the Army’s Special Operations Center and subsequently the US Special Operations Command – a unified command with a world-wide influence. He was cited as a great help to the noted researcher Richard H. Shultz Jr, noted below. General Tangney has written our Foreword to this book.

Special mention goes to CCS vets Troy Gilley, Bob Bost, Jon Potter and Jim Day for their extra assistance to the Author/Compiler in many aspects. Then there are some special contributors whose experiences were so extensive in certain aspects of the operation, that we asked them to write special articles to explain their functions. These special contributors include Jon Ross, Randolph Harrison and Jon Potter (for Mobile Launch Sites), Troy Gilley (Recon Company), Ernie Acre (CCS Photo Web Site), and Mike Ash (SCU article), and Alex Saunders for helping with many hours of time to reconstruct the Targets in Cambodia and the consolidation list of personnel.

Our Air Partners are considered a valuable and inseparable part of our unit and we’ve tried to integrate their actions and observations where possible in the descriptions of the contact actions. To help us round up the aviators, we are grateful for the special help of Karol Franzyshen on the Air Liaison Officers (ALOs) and Forward Air Controllers (FACs); Ty Furbish on the 195th Assault Helicopter Company (AHC); Les Davidson on the 155th AHC; Jim Burns, Woody Woodbury and Bob Houser of the USAF 20th Special Operations Squadron; Bill Fraker, Joe Wilson & Gerry Sandlin of the 189th AHC; Charles Frank Bay of the 240th AHC; Dale Bennett of the 4th Platoon of the 219th Aviation Co.; and Gary Prosser for the 184th Reconnaissance Aircraft Company (RAC) - as well as the help and contributions by many other members of each of those units who helped with remembrances, award citations and photos.

We especially wish to acknowledge the following authors of major reference books, who have given us permission to use their valuable works that are quoted extensively. Foremost among these are John L. Plaster, Stephen Sherman and Robert Noe who have researched and devoted years of research to document the history of SOG. Major John Plaster is the author of at least three major SOG books. His research for the publication of his first book, SOG, The Secret Wars of America’s Commandoes in Vietnam, published in 1997, is given credit for his secrecy-breaking efforts that led the State Department and the Department of the Army to finally declassify SOG’s existence and documents – over 25 years after SOG was disbanded. Next was Plaster’s companion photo history book, SOG, A Photo History of the Secret Wars, with its remarkable and well-organized photos and comments gathered from hundreds of veterans. Plaster did some great research but he also wrote from experience, having served three one-year tours in SOG, with two of those years running cross-border recon. In spite of his intensive research, somehow he was not privy, at the time his first two books were written, to the 62-day mission of our CCS Team that linked-up, re-equipped and trained the Cambodian battalion at Ba Kev, Cambodia in 1970 – a well-kept secret. We hope to set the record straight on that brief but incredible part of CCS and SOG’s accomplishments. Plaster’s third book is about his personal experiences at his unit, Command and Control Central (CCC), Secret Commandos Behind Enemy Lines With the Elite Warriors of SOG. In it he also has stories about some of our CCS recon teams. Any references herein to his books will be noted as either "Plaster’s SOG, or Plaster’s Photo", or Plaster’s Secret Commando.

The second SF author of renown is 1Lt. Stephen Sherman, the unofficial SOG archivist, for his extensive research and compilation from the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (SFGA) administrative records to glean all available SOG data and history, to include organizational structures, the names of all assigned to SOG and their units, recon missions, and awards in his book, WHO’S WHO FROM MACV-SOG, herein after referred to in the text as Sherman’s Whose Who. Sherman’s book reported all of the unclassified documents from the 5th SFGA that was responsible for the administrative matters for SOG. Of equal importance are his companion compact disk, MACV Studies and Observations Group; Documentation Study and Command Histories 1964-1973, that recorded the previously highly classified SOG studies and histories. This document is referred to in our text as Sherman’s CD. Since the Department of the Army destroyed all of SOG’s after-action reports - as well as its thousands of photographs and negatives, we had very little to go on in reconstructing our unit’s history. Our CCS book simply could not have been written without all of the data collected and compiled by Steve Sherman to serve as its basic structure and resource, and his generous help to our efforts.

The second SOG Veteran, Robert L. Noe, the editor and owner of macvsog.cc has been the guiding force behind the SOG website that has accumulated an incredible number of articles, books and photos displayed and kept up to date over a period of many years. That MACVSOG website is at <http://www.macvsog.cc/> and it is the most comprehensive collection of information on SOG experiences that we know about. The site includes: Photographs, book lists and book reviews, historical articles, videos, SOG Patches, Unit Histories, Vietnam War Facts vs Fiction, SOG Memorabilia, etc. Noe’s macvsog web site has been the main rally point for all SOG veterans. We all owe a great debt of gratitude for his labor of love that has proved indispensable to anyone seeking information on the many aspects of Special Operations and Special Forces in Vietnam. His work is also a tribute to his brother, Frank R. Noe, Sergeant First Class, Senior Medic for Detachment A, 502, 5th Special Forces, who was killed in action on his last mission before being assigned to MACVSOG, two years before Robert’s arrival in Vietnam. Sergeant First Class Robert L. Bob Noe, of Command & Control North (CCN), was commissioned as a 2LT by COL Mike Healy, the commander of 5th Special Forces Group Airborne (SFGA), on 31 Aug 70 – one of the handful of Mustangs who got battlefield commissions in Vietnam.

Another SOG author to be extensively quoted herein is our own CCS Recon Sergeant Major Billy Waugh. He was in CCS when I was fortunate to be the unit’s commander. SMG Waugh was the head NCO of our Contact/Training team the entire time of our link-up operation and mass evacuation operation at Ba Kev, Cambodia with LTC Um Savuth and his Cambodian battalion. Waugh has written an intriguing book, entitled "Hunting the Jackal" about his amazing 55 years of extraordinary service in the Special Forces and the CIA. His entire Chapter 4 of the book is about the CCS Cambodian link-up operation in 1970. As he correctly notes (on Pg 65), This is the first extensive chronicle of a remarkable mission. SOG files were declassified in 1995, but none of the few participants in the Ba Kev operation have shared their story until now. Waugh is among the few elite warriors of our era to be selected for both the Special Forces Hall of Honor and the US Special Operations Command Hall of Honor. Waugh was also selected for the US Army Special Forces’ Philip Neri Award, in the year 2007; as well as the 187th Airborne Regimental Hall of Fame for the Korean War – the selection in 2010 by the Commander of the 187th Airborne Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, now located in Fort Campbell, KY. He has given us valuable encouragement and advice regarding publishing, and web photo attachment.

We also commend Richard H. Shultz, Jr. for his book, The Secret War Against Hanoi, - Kennedy’s and Johnson’s use of Spies, Saboteurs, and Covert Warriors in North Vietnam, From 1964 to 1972. This book is a masterpiece of excellent research and is one of the best books about the war and SOG. His research in the micro-management of the planning and conduct of the US efforts in Vietnam by our national political and military leaders at the highest levels helps us gain some understanding of why we were forced to fight this war with one hand behind our back and lose a war that was almost won.

Our thanks also to our CCS veterans who wrote of their own experiences and permitted us to quote portions: James Ernie Acre for Project Omega, Eye of The Beast. CSM Walter J. Jackson for his Shades of Daniel Boone – A Personal View of Special Ops and The War in Vietnam. Also former SSG Jim Bolen with his NO GUTS, NO GLORY. There are of course so many others, just too numerous to mention here, that offered encouragement, contacts and help – often without being asked.

And thanks to our many Air Partners for their many books and photos and CDs; with special mention to SGT Jim Woody Woodbury who provided me his books: Wayne Mutza’s book, Green Hornets; Dale Robinson’s The 20th Special Operations Squadron; and COL Mike Haas’ Air Commando!.; and CW2 Dale Bennett for his 219th Avn Co photo notebook.

And last but certainly not the least is my family. My wife, Elsie, and daughters, Cheryl and Roberta encouraged me from the early days to write my Vietnam memoirs. Then when I proposed to concentrate on the CCS History, they were relentless in their enthusiastic encouragement. They had known my connection to SGT Babysan Davidson’s family, and were eager to hear about the rest of the amazing CCS warriors. It meant my spending about 8-10 hours a day at the computer for about three years. Not one word of complaint from them about my determined focus or priorities. And special thanks to PhD Roberta for acting as my Assistant Editor, Technical Officer and helping the old man with his computer problems. What a blessing!

This is a Prayer of the U.S. Army’s Special Forces.

Whoever does not have the stomach for this fight. Let him depart. Give him money to speed his departure, since we wish not to die in this man’s company. Who ever lives past today and comes home safely will rouse himself every year on this day. Show his neighbor his scars and tell embellished stories of all their great feats of battle. These stories will teach his son, and from this day until the end of the world, we shall be remembered, we few, we band of brothers for whoever has shed his blood with me shall be my brother, and those men afraid to go will think themselves, lesser men as they hear of how we fought and died together.

Shakespeare, Henry V, Act IV, Scene iii.

FOREWORD

Command and Control Detachment South, MACV-SOG

LTC (Ret.) Fred Lindsey asked if I would write the foreword to this work. I told him that I would be honored to do so.

Lieutenant General William P. Tangney

US Army, Retired

(Courtesy of LTG William P. Tangney)

CCS and its’ sister units at CCC and CCN were remarkable organizations embed-ded in an even more remarkable parent organization—the Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group (MACSOG). Fred does a great job in summarizing the history, mission, and structure of this organization in setting the stage for his in-depth examination of the unit history and personalities of CCS. In many respects, this period of time was one in which U.S. Army Special Forces and its’ other service counterparts attained a level of success not attained again until recent years as the Army and the Nation have rebuilt and rejuvenated a unique capability which was allowed to atrophy and decline in the years following the Vietnam War. I got on the train when times were good; rode it through the lean years; and was fortunate enough to be a part of the long climb back to the top. This time I am hopeful that the train will stay on a level track.

From June 1968 to May 1969, I was assigned to the 3rd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division in the Central Highlands of Vietnam as an Forward Observer with A/1-14 Infantry and later a Battery XO in 2/9 Field Artillery. (I learned in later years that Gen. Stan McChrystal’s dad was the Brigade Commander.) We worked the area west of Kontum, and for a while the area around Dak To. Occasionally we would see dark-looking, older helicopters transiting the border into

Cambodia or Southern Laos, and once in a while hear what sounded like a firefight. Rumors abounded, but we never had an inkling of what was actually happening. It wasn’t until I departed the 10th SFG (ABN) in September 1970 for my second RVN tour with CCS that everything fell into place.

As Fred’s time line and organizational charts indicate, when I arrived LTC Ronald K. (Biggie) Summers was the CO; Major Bill Patton was the XO; Major Vegvary ran the South Launch Site; Captain Don Carr had the North Launch Site; Troy Gilley had Recon Company. Steve Spoerry, Chuck Odorizzi and Donnie Vickers anchored our underground Tactical Operations Center (TOC) and its’ Ops and Intel shops. Captain Willie Pitts was the S4. This was the period in which our US led Recon teams were being phased out and reassigned to either CCC or CCN, and the era in which Vietnamese or other indigenous led teams were being phased in. In January 1971, LTC Bob Holden replaced LTC Summers as the CO and Major Tony Carbone was assigned as the Deputy. My good friend Bill Heiser also was assigned after graduation from the old SF officer’s course at Ft. Bragg. It was quite the place. We had U.S. Army Special Forces from the 5th SFG, Vietnamese, Cambodian and Chinese mercenaries, Montagnards, VNAF CH34 lift helicopters and crews, and USAF Rotary Wing gunships - all dedicated to the accomplishment of a single mission. That was the successful insertion and extraction of Recon Teams into our assigned Area of Operations (AOR). That AOR was Cambodia—code named Salem House to distinguish it from the CCC AOR in southern Laos (Nickel Steel), and CCN’s AOR in Northern Laos (Prairie Fire). Operations in our Southern Zone were primarily conducted from Launch Sites at SF camps in Quan Loi and Loc Ninh. Operations in the North were conducted from the camps at Tieu Atar, Ban Don, Bu Dop, Duc Co, and Bu Prang. I can recall using all of them from time to time when I was at the North Site with Bill Dadek as my XO and Zipper Allen as NCOIC.

Aside from the unique nature of the mission, CCS was a unique and enjoyable assignment because of the quality and dedication of the NCO’s and officers assigned, and the level of freedom and responsibility that they were accorded. Everyone knew their job; did it well; and required little supervision. Men like Jerry Shriver, Billy Waugh and all the others that Fred discusses were high performing professionals who functioned at the upper band of excellence on a consistent basis—regardless of the challenges placed in their way. This probably shouldn’t be a surprise since the Chief of SOG was a Colonel, in a billet that would probably be filled by at least a Three Star in today’s environment. Not surprisingly, the senior leadership was also accessible when required; knew the officers and NCO’s in the units; and placed great trust and confidence in the men assigned. These qualities were characteristic of the force then; were retained over time; and distinguish the force today.

In many respects, my experiences at CCS are what led me to pursue a lifetime career in both the Army and Special Forces. I’m glad that I did. I’ve been fortunate to serve with truly great soldiers, officers and the amazing NCO’S who remain the bedrock of the force today.

//Lieutenant General William Bill P. Tangney, USA Ret

{Ed. Note - We are honored to have one of our own men who served in CCS-SOG in Vietnam to write the Foreword for this history of the unit. First Lieutenant Tangney saw his first combat while serving as a Forward Observer, then as Assistant Executive Officer of an Artillery Battery, and later as S-2 (Intelligence) Officer for an Artillery Battalion of the 4th Infantry Division, from May 1968 - March 1969, in the Republic of Vietnam (RVN). On return to the States, he volunteered for the SF Officer’s Course at Fort Bragg, NC; followed by several SF assignments at Fort Devens, MA. In August 1970, he returned as a Captain to RVN. There he served in CCS-SOG as S-2, then as S-3 and Senior Launch Commander. In that job he was responsible for the two major CCS Mobile Launch Sites (MLS) that directed operations over Southern Cambodia’s 200+ mile border area – inserting and extracting small Reconnaissance Teams (RTs) into and out of areas strongly controlled by the North Vietnam Army (NVA). CPT Tangney was decorated for heroism when he went into Cambodia, near Modol Kiri, without normal security troop coverage, to rescue and recover personnel from one of his observation aircraft that had been shot down.

He returned to the US as Instructor for the Ranger Course at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, GA. He attended the Infantry Officer Advanced Course; followed by a series of SF assignments at Fort Bragg; then a Masters degree at Syracuse University, followed by a three-year stent as Instructor and later Asst. Professor at the US Military Academy at West Point, NY. As a LTC he had a year at US Naval College of Command & Staff, followed by a series of SF staff and command jobs at Ft. Bragg. Next, he was Chief of the SF Branch of the Army Personnel Command; graduated from Army War College in June ‘89; then he became Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in Washington until June ‘90. He was promoted to Colonel as the CO of the 10th SFG at Fort Devens.

In August ‘92, he moved to be Deputy Chief of Staff for Force Development and Integration at the Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg. Then as a Brigadier General, he was Commanding General (CG) of Special Operations Command (SOC) Central, US Central Command at McDill AFB. Then in Nov. ‘94, he was back at Ft. Bragg as Deputy CG and Chief of Staff USASOC. In May ‘95, he was CG, USA SF Command and then in May ‘96 he was the CG, USA John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Bragg and promoted to Major General. In March ‘98 he was promoted to Lieutenant General (LTG) as CG USASOC at Bragg. In October 2000, he was appointed as Deputy Commander, USSOCOM, at MacDill AFB, FL. LTG Bill Tangney retired in Oct. 2002 with over 34 years service.}

INTRODUCTION

Preface. This book is written to recognize the accomplishments and sacrifices of our men of the Command & Control Detachment South, MACV-SOG (CCS-SOG) and its Air Partners in the Vietnam Conflict. It is also written so that the families of all our men may know what our men did and how they did it. So, we remind the families and the especially the public-at-large, to please refer to the Glossary of Military Slang, Abbreviations and Acronyms in the rear of the book – before proceeding further, as it is almost impossible to write about the military without using many of our acronyms.

We need to briefly introduce the main units involved in our story: MACV, the Military Assistance Command Vietnam, was the unified headquarters of all the allied forces assisting the Republic of Vietnam, commonly referred to as South Vietnam or RVN. SOG was officially the Studies and Observations Group under MACV but we knew it as the Special Operations Group. SOG was the only covert military unit responsible for intelligence gathering of the enemy forces outside of South Vietnam. SOG and its operations were classified as TOP SECRET. CCS was one of SOGs three major ground units – known as Command and Control Detachments. CCS was the southernmost of these units – the others being CCC and CCN, named for their locations in RVN - Central and North. SOG also had air and maritime units involved in intelligence gathering. CCS and the other two C&Cs were responsible for cross-border operations to locate the enemy units and their activities to determine the threat they posed to RVN and the US and RVN military units defending the insurrection. The C&Cs accomplished their mission by primarily inserting reconnaissance (recon) teams into North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, primarily by helicopters.

These recon teams were very small, with generally two or three US Special Forces men and three to six indigenous mercenaries. Their missions were the most dangerous and risky of any military unit. Major John Plaster in one of his books quantified that risk, SOG Recons’ losses were the greatest of any US unit in the Vietnam War, with a very high portion of its men killed or missing in action. While 163 SOG Green Berets were KIA (killed), an additional 80 were MIA (missing), a ratio several magnitudes higher than other US ground combat units. Equally telling is that not one of SOG’s 80 missing MIA Green Berets ever turned up as an enemy POW. Of SOG’s 80 missing Green Berets, 25 men belonged to ten RTs that disappeared entirely deep in enemy territory. (EN IN-1)

It seems fitting here to quote the Preface from the last MACV-SOG Command History, The true saga of MACVSOG has not been, and cannot be, told fully in Command Histories, for this story is carried only in the hearts and minds of those men who were MACVSOG. The myriad of missions and tasks performed by SOG personnel since its activation are reflected only as statistics that have a way of being dry and impersonal. Some of SOG’s tasks were glamorous and self rewarding, while others were tedious and uneventful; but all were essential to help stem the tide of Communist aggression in Southeast Asia.

Professional, well-trained, exceptionally dedicated personnel have been the key to SOG’s many successes. Five Medal of Honor awardees, two of whom made the supreme sacrifice, exemplify the type of men that made up SOG and attest to their courage and dedication. The personnel of SOG are extremely proud of these men and of the many other unsung and unheralded heroes who have also given their lives. It is to these men that this final history is dedicated; to those courageous Montagnards, Vietnamese and Americans who gave their lives that others might live in freedom. To those personnel we owe so much that can never be repaid. All we can ask is that God in his almighty wisdom will care for our departed comrades in arms. MACVSOG has made no attempt to judge the extent of its success or the overall value of its contribution. The statistics and as much of the record as can be put on paper are in the Command Histories for others to evaluate and judge. (EN IN-2)

The main emphasis of our book is to tell the story of the secret operations of our men, the most elite Special Forces volunteers who undertook this most dangerous task of gathering the intelligence in Cambodia that was needed to protect our US forces and allies inside of South Vietnam. They knew if they were killed or captured that our government would issue official denials of their being in that country. Our focus is to tell the story of the recon men – the tip of our sword, and their immediate ground and air backup forces from the mobile launch sites and supporting exploitation forces. Where possible, we tell the men’s stories in Their Own Words.

Why We Had To Write This Book

As noted, SOG was a Top Secret and a covert or Black operation. All of its volunteer members were sworn to maintain that secrecy under threat of imprisonment. Members of SOG could not maintain diaries, nor write nor talk about their experiences for 20 years. Our CCS operations lasted from mid-1966 through 1972 – only six years. So all of SOG’s records were kept secret and not declassified until 1996. But even before that, the Department of the Army destroyed all of our After Action Reports (AAR) of the SOG operations in about 1974 or ’75. (EN IN-3) Many of our men have passed away since then and more will do so in the next few years. We want a written record of what they did and how they did it, else that will soon be forgotten – as much has been already.

Meanwhile, the SOG warriors had to keep their unit experiences secret to the point of being evasive even with their fellow SF buddies outside of SOG. SOG used only a small part of the highly trained Special Forces men in Vietnam. An example of the impact of being in a Top Secret outfit was explained recently by former CCS Recon Team Leader, 1st Lt. Bob Bost, who said, I got shot up on a mission in Cambodia and we exfiled back to our Launch Site at Quan Loi. We only had a medic there, so he got me to the 11th Armored Cav dispensary and they medevaced me out to the 93rd Evacuation Hospital. I was sterile, no ID, no labels in clothing or nametag. I just gave them my name and that was it. Nine days later I was dumped out in the street with someone else’s clothes and no headgear. I did have my boots and I had stuffed a PRC-10 radio, a piece of panel and a mirror in them and I would not let go of them during surgery. I made my way to the airstrip, found a bank of phones and got in touch with COL Cox at A company, 5th SFGA. He had a driver pick me up and take me to his HQ. He fixed me up with some dog tags, fatigues, headgear and one of the A-team guys loaned me $20.00 and got me to our safe house (House Ten). From there I got fraged out on a SOG C-123 Black Bird back to Ban Me Thout. My medical record is either with the 11th ACR or the 93rd Evac Hospital. Sounds crazy, but it’s the truth. I tried to track it down and was told that all the records were in a warehouse in Hawaii and it was too costly to search for an individual record.

Then when I got back to a stateside unit, we had to remain evasive when discussing what we did in Nam. After leaving the service, we stayed invisible. Lately, I have been working with the senior advisor for the VA in Washington D.C. for the last several years to help get some of the VA claims sorted out for our guys. As you may well know, SOG operations were still secret until 1996 when John Plaster received State Department approval to publish his book SOG. That opened Pandora’s box and we were able to talk about what we did. But many of the troops still kept their mouths shut for fear of compromising our brothers in the Special Operations community serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and most likely somewhere in the world not on the front pages of the news media. Prior to that, the guys that had medical problems could not let the VA know where and exactly how the injury occurred.

In addition to the Top Secret issue, there was the matter of the public distaste of the Vietnam War at its ending. To paraphrase Major General Bob Scales’ speech at the Truman Library in 2009, We didn’t kill innocents, we killed the enemy. We didn’t fight for big oil or for some lame conspiracy. We fought for a country we believed in and for the buddies who kept us alive. But we were troubled, that unlike our fathers who fought the wars before us, we did not come back to a grateful nation. It took a generation and another war, Desert Storm, for the nation to come back to us. (EN IN-4)

SOG Finally Gets The Presidential Unit Citation

It was not until April 2001 that the Army finally acknowledged the accomplishments of the most secret commando unit of the Vietnam War - MACV’s SOG, with a ceremony to present that unit, and thus all its members who served, with the Presidential Unit Citation. This event was written up by Henry Cuningham, Military editor of the Fayetteville Online, as described below: The Presidential Unit Citation (PUC) is given to units that display gallantry that set them apart from other units. The unit award is equal to the individual award of the Distinguished Service Cross the U.S. Military’s second-highest award for valor. The Presidential Unit Citation went to the group 29 years after it went out of business and three years after CNN broadcast a bogus report saying it used nerve gas on defectors. (The network later retracted its story.) (EN IN-5)

Maj. Gen. (Ret.) John K. Singlaub said after the presentation ceremony of the Presidential Citation at Fort Bragg, We have to give some thanks to CNN because the fiasco that they produced caused an investigation by the Dept. of Defense and others that found that we were not only not war criminals but, in fact, we had a collection of heroes that was not equaled. Singlaub earlier, as a Colonel, was the chief of SOG from 1966 to 1968.

Retired Maj. John L. Plaster was the first person to receive a special commemorative coin minted for the occasion. He wrote the first book about SOG in 1996 and worked for recognition of the unit. He sought State Department approval, which was finally given. It’s a day that I think most of us thought would never happened, Plaster said after the ceremony. Everything we were doing in the old days was denied. We accepted that. That’s part of the cost of doing classified, black operations. Even our existence was denied. There were a great many young men that came home that could never quite tell their families, their friends what they did. He said the presidential citation was the ultimate vindication. Plaster is now among the few in the Special Forces Hall of Fame at Fort Bragg, along with our SMG Billy Waugh - who also served in CCC & CCN.

The highest-ranking SOG veteran on active duty the day of the PUC ceremony was Lieutenant General William P. Tangney, deputy commander in chief of US Special Operations Command in Tampa, FL. He had been a Captain in CCS during the Vietnam War. (And now he honors us by writing the Foreword to this book.) Another veteran at the ceremony who came up through the ranks was Colonel Warner D. Rocky Farr, who had been a Sergeant and a medic in CCS. Later, he became a doctor and then at the time of the PUC presentation, was the head Surgeon of HQ, USSOCOM in Tampa. And Rocky is still going strong. In a message to the CCS Vets on July 16th, 2009 (07/16/09 in military lingo) he wrote: I just PCSed from HQ, USSOCOM to SOCCENT this week to work for MG Cleveland. A 3-yr tour. I have forsaken my Q course language, German, for Dari! Went over 42 yrs (active duty service) in April & still having fun. {Ed. Note – the permanent change of station (PCS) Rocky talks about is that part of the Special Operations world that includes Yemen to Pakistan.}

Since John Plaster wrote his first book on SOG in 1996, there have been many more written. However, most of them just go into detail about their personal experiences or about the two northern Command & Control detachments of the central area - CCC in Kontum, and the northern area of CCN in DaNang. The story of the southern area of CCS in Ban Me Thout has not largely been told. The families of the KIA/MIAs have said to us, We now know how they died, but we want to know how they lived. The same reasoning goes for the families of the surviving veterans. As one of the leaders of this effort and Compiler more than Author, Editor, I explained to our men as we started this effort, I only had the honor of serving in SOG and CCS for about eight months. I always waited for someone more experienced there to write that history. Without a written public record, what we did will be forgotten. Indeed we have already forgotten much of the details of the hard work and extraordinary professionalism and bravery of our SOG warriors. It is our duty to correct that.

Now, some 40+ years later, we have banded together to resurrect as much of a factual record as we can document. This is largely a Team Effort, so our text uses the royal WE. It has been a daunting task without our CCS unit’s After Action Reports. Fortunately our awards records were sanitized and administered by the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Headquarters - not SOG, and therefore were not classified. So we have all of those valor awards. Likewise the records of the Projects Omega and Sigma operations of the 5th SFGA - that provided the initial manning for CCS, were not classified and they help clarify the beginning era. We also have the now-declassified MACV-SOG Command Histories for the years of 1964-73, records that refer to actions that happened in the CCS area in general terms. Unfortunately, the Command Histories may tell what happened in our area of operation but does not identify the people, the recon teams or air support units involved. We have often been able to match those with our own records and recollections.

One thing our warriors did have were lots of photographs – as they were issued cameras for their missions to document special events or evidence. So what we have been left with is the collaboration of our warriors war stories, photos, and awards and the official history of the SOG command. But with matching testimony by members of a team, observations by others such as forward air controllers, launch site personnel, our Air Partners, awards citations, hundreds of photographs and my Commander’s Notes, we think you’ll agree that we are able to structure up a very credible story to constitute our legacy. Where possible, we try to use the testimony of the warriors in their own words and unedited to describe the events as they remember them.

In trying to create this ‘history’ with so very few documents, when so many of our men have already passed, and such fading memories for those of us left – it was a daunting task for an 83-year old soldier who had never before written a book. Except for a few notes and some photos, I - like most others, had a blank memory about so much. But as we rounded up the men and started the conversations, there was a real buzz of excitement expressed by many. Including and properly acknowledging our Air Partners got an even more appreciative response from those we’ve been able to contact. While much of the research and trying to solicit responses has been painful as pulling teeth, it has given this compiler/author a real blessing – for I was able to learn so much more about these warriors than I had been able to learn or experience in my brief eight months in SOG. I wasn’t able to get very close to the men who were there when I was, for many reasons. And I knew almost none of those who came before and after my tour. Now, I’ve been able to hear all their stories and better understand what they did and how they did it. I’m in even more awe of them now than before.

Early on in the process of putting this story together, one young officer who served at CCS in ‘68-69 – for whom I have great respect, wrote to me, This is a noble effort and one that deserves completion for a range of reasons, nobility, sacrifice and brotherhood being three of the most compelling in my opinion. Please don’t hesitate to let me know how you think I may contribute. That was good encouragement, when I needed it, because time has not been on our side in trying to resurrect our memories and records of that dangerous time. Of the approximately 2,709,918 Americans who served in Vietnam, less than 850,000 were estimated to be alive last year in June 2011, with the youngest American Vietnam veteran’s age approximated to be 54 years old. So then only about one-third are left and an average of about 390 Vietnam Vets pass away each day.

A Duty to Remember

Those of us who have had the honor to lead our volunteer professional military, as well as the citizen soldiers of this some-times great nation, have a duty to ensure that we keep reminding our family, friends and neighbors of our national government, including our military, of the lessons learned, as they are so easy to forget. And for the fortunate few who were entrusted with the privilege of leading one of MACV-SOG’s three C&C Detachments and sub-units that supported the valiant Recon Teams who faced the riskiest combat assignments behind the lines on all their repetitive missions, we have the duty to record their remarkable brave deeds.

Equally important were the deeds of those incredible Army and Air Force helicopter pilots and FACs (Forward Air Controllers) who facilitated the teams’ insertions and provided the firepower to enable their extractions, often under ferocious enemy fire. Those deeds were so cloaked in secrecy that we could not talk or write about it for about twenty years, after which much was forgotten or dimmed with the passage of time and the passing of many of the SOG veterans. Our CCS vets, and the Air Asset guys that were so important to our survival, seemed really interested in getting our story told – for they and their families can be proud of the story told by this book. Otherwise, our men who are not with us any more – as well as the aging veteran survivors will most certainly be forgotten.

We all have the duty to ensure that we always remember the sacrifices of those who paid the supreme sacrifice, as well as the many who still carry the physical and psychological wounds of that harrowing time. And we must also remember and support the families of those who did not come home, for their grief never ends. In this light, we are undertaking the task of establishing this history as a lasting memorial to the men of CCS and their Air Partners & their fellow SOG Warriors of CCC and CCN with whom we remain bonded in service. Therefore, all the net proceeds from this not-for-profit publication will go toward numerous memorials with the Special Operations Association and other Special Operations Museums or other related events.

We’ve made extensive efforts to contacting each person who fought our battles – who ran the recon missions, or were in the Launch sites or the Exploit Companies. However, there are many men we’ve not been able to reach for lack of knowledge about their current addresses, and some others have not responded. Some just don’t want to talk about it. We’ve ask all we had contact with, in hundreds of emails and phone calls, to provide documentation on their remembrances, photos and citations of awards and tell of their experiences in their own words.

We hope we have captured the true fighting spirit of