january 2014 vol 49 - sfa chapter 16 · future cost of re rement for every entry‐level serviceman...

J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 4 V O L 4 9

President’s Message

Chapter 16 Newsle er Organiza on and Responsibili es:

Editor: Glen Craig

Sec ons:

Message from the President: Dave Shell

Treasurers Report: Kevin Pa on

Sec. Rpt (Staff Mee ng Minutes): John Pa erson

Sick Call/Obituary: Chaplain Butch Hall

Blast from the Past: Glen Craig

Special Recogni on: John Pa erson

Upcoming Events: John Pa erson

Calendar: John Pa erson

Human Interest Story: Chapter at large

SFA Na onal HQ Update: Dave Shell

A er Ac on Report: Jim Lessler

Membership Info: Roy Sayer

Adver sements: Glen Craig

Suspense:

Newsle er published (Web): 1st of each

odd numbered month

Input due to editor: 20th of each

even numbered month

Dra due to President: 27th of each

even numbered month

Final Dra due 29th of each

even numbered month

Many of us are jus fiably upset over the passing of the Bipar san Budget

Act of 2013 this past December 18th. I have heard several opinions from

friends and associates on what this will mean for the military re ree

community and have found that most of them have bought into the

sound bites without digging into the details. In a nutshell the specifics

that you should know are:

Changes will go into effect December of 2015

There will be no “Grandfather Clause” for current re rees

or for ac ve duty members who are future re rees.

Once effected, re ree COLAs will be calculated at the rate

minus 1% of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage

Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI‐W) per changes tallied

only during the last quarter of each FY.

COLA increases are not automa c and must be formally

approved by Congress each year.

If the CPI‐W actually decreases in any given year, re rees

will not see a reduc on in pay.

At age 62 re rees will receive both full CPI‐W increases and

a one‐ me catch‐up that will increase their re rement pay

to what it would have been if they had not had the 1% de

duc on penalty for being working age.

The best informa on I have on how this will affect military re ree pay

over the long haul was published by the Military Officers Associa on of

America. According to their figures an E‐7/O‐5 who re res at around

40‐yrs of age will see a loss of approximately 83K/124K respec vely. I will

have to trust MOAA’s math on this, because the computa on is

complicated by unknowns, such as the actual changes in CPI‐W over a

twenty‐year period and the logarithmic nature of the sums based on

losses and gains over the same me period.

Most military re rees agree that we should stand our ground in refusing

to accept any reduc on in pay or benefits no ma er how small, because

we realize that to do so establishes a precedence that could result in

future reduc ons of a much more austere nature. A few might argue

that our country is in financial trouble and that if we all give a li le, then

we can pull ourselves out of the abyss. I find both concepts somewhat

superficial. The fact is, that a well intended Congressional mandate in

1984 for the DOD to use an accrual method, rather than the previously

used pay‐as‐you‐go method, to be er project the cost of re ree pay and

benefits has been mismanaged by both with no accountability of either.

Whose fault is that? The taxpayer resourced and paid people (paid them

well) to do a job that they failed at and as a result our military is weaker,

and consequently our country is now at risk, because of the spiraling cost

of maintaining the force. Yes I do mean, “maintaining the force”, because the accrual system is designed to project into the DOD budget the

future cost of re rement for every entry‐level serviceman or woman, and to annually invest Congressionally provided funds into an account that

is supposed to grow over me allowing it to remain fungible. The accrual method for funding military re rement is a perfectly workable system

that was designed to ensure that the DOD was able to train, man, and equip the force, while mee ng it’s obliga ons to it’s veterans. Apparently

this has not happened. What really yanks my chain is the misinforma on perpetrated by senior poli cos and General Officers that is designed to

make re rees feel guilty about what they have earned and the public to feel jealous of the pay and benefit packages due our veterans. For

starters, Congressman Paul Ryan is one of many who have used the term “excep onally generous benefits package” as jus fica on to cut re ree

pay and programs. We can and should debate how “excep onally generous” it is, but to renege on the terms of a contract that was agreed

upon and honored long ago, because of bureaucra c mismanagement is repugnant. To claim, as DOD leaders have, that those who have given

the most are now responsible for weakening our na onal defense, because of pay and en tlements that were a condi on of service is even

more despicable. I believe that if the government is unable to right the fiscal boat, then things will get worse for vets before they get be er;

and so far there is no indica on that things will get be er. The cut in COLA won’t come close to closing the gap between what the DOD needs to

operate and what they have. The coup de grâce will be health care costs and management for military re rees, which is under constant a ack.

It would be laughable if not so pathe c. The fact that the cost of health care has spiraled out of control is clearly the result of systemic

interven on and intrusion on the part of big government and the legal industry. Without constraints it will wipe us all out; and forcing re rees

to pay more will not lessen the overall DOD burden in the long run if costs can’t be contained.

Lastly, the government is grossly underes ma ng the long‐term impact of breaking trust with military veterans, and it could end up cos ng

them more than they save by doing so. Here are some interes ng sta s cs: only 0.5% of the American popula on serves in the military

compared with more than 12% who served during World War II; in 1975, 70% of members of Congress had some military service; today it’s just

20%, and few have children in uniform. We are a warrior class and the military is a family business; let there be no doubt, and the all‐volunteer

military is the father of this reality. The day we turn our backs on the self‐serving ruling class by steering our children and grandchildren to

other voca ons is the day of reckoning for those whom we have protected. We have sacrificed much and asked for nothing more than what we

agreed upon at the start.

Today’s Pentagon budget accounts for less than 5% of GDP and less than 20% of the federal budget; down from 45% of federal expenditures at

the height of the Vietnam War. My message to the government is: You got money problems, look somewhere else, and don’t dare piss on my

leg and tell me it’s raining. MacArthur is dead and the Bonus Army incident is not.

Happy New Year!

Dave

J. K. Wright Memorial Breakfast November 2, 2013. The following members and guests were in a endance: Jim & Elaine Lessler (IMO Skip Sadler), Mike & Joy Cassidy, Glen Craig, Rob Wekell, Ro‐

land Nuqui, Dennis Guiler, and Walt Hezler. Chapter 43 members in a endance: Skip E nger.

Dinosaur Luncheon 11/29/13 Present were Ed and Erma Booth, John and Inge Gebbie, Dennis Guiler, Ted Wicorek and Glen Craig.

J. K. Wright Memorial Breakfast December 7, 2013. The following members and guests were in a endance: Jim & Elaine Lessler, John Gebbie, Dennis Guiler, Thomas Morgan, Daniel Jedlicka ODA

1221, Gary Villanueva, Glen Craig, Dave Shell (IMO Jack Savant), Steve White, Jay Lathrop, Ken Garcy, Butch & Regina Hall, Nick Marvais (IMO

Eulis Presley), Ed & Erma Booth, Ron & Marion Hale (IMO Bart Heimsness), and Mike & Joy Cassidy (IMO Del Richards). Chapter 43 members

present: Jerry Hampton and Stacie Hampton (IMO Gary Wright).

Dinosaurs Luncheon December 27, 2013. The following members and guests were in a endance: Jim & Elaine Lessler, Diane Regan, Glen Craig, Mike & Joy Cassidy, John Gebbie, Dennis

Guiler, Butch Hall, Bob & Joanne Dimond, and Don Franklin. Chapter 43 members present: Skip E nger.

Auburn Veteran’s Parade, 9 November 2013 On 9 November 2013, 17 members, family and friends of Chapter 16, Special Forces Associa on met at the usual rally point at K and Main for

the annual Auburn Veteran’s Parade. As you may recall, this parade is one of the largest parades of this type in the west. Thousands of people

lined Main Street to greet, wave, shake hands and to thank all veterans for their service to our country. Over 5,500 people par cipated in the

parade, with 215 entries and 25 marching bands. Those from Chapter 16 that took part marching and watching the parade included: President

Dave Shell (who led the forma on), Brian Rowe and mother‐in‐law, Bill and Steph Gates, Dennis Guiler, John Pa erson, Jake Robinson, Mike and

Joy Cassidy, Tom Campbell and his lady friend, Steve Kubeszswki, Paul & Gigi Waltberger, Bill Butler, Michael Smith and Brendon Hay.

Wounded Warrior Cruise IV

The 46th SFCA Wounded Warrior Cruise IV kicked off on Sunday, November 10th at Noon from Miami, Florida. This cruise was a 10 day

Southern Caribbean cruise. The first two days of the cruise were spent at sea which was a great opportunity to get familiar with the ship and

con nue to get to know each other and develop lifelong friendships.

On the first night at sea, November 10th, we met as a group in our mee ng room to celebrate the 238th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps. We

had some marines with us and we had a formal ceremony including Marine Corps history and a formal cu ng of the Marine Corps cake with a

military saber.

On our first full day at sea, November 11th, we celebrated Veteran's Day with the raising of our American flag, and offering a memorial wreath

to the sea in honor of our Veteran's who are no longer with us.

Day three was our first of five days at a variety of ports: St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, and St. Maarten. There were many different

ac vi es being enjoyed such as: zip lining, fishing, ATV's, diving, snorkeling, tubing, swimming in waterfalls, island touring, and lots of local

shopping and ea ng.

For the third cruise in a row SFA Chapter 16 sponsored a wounded warrior and spouse from the 1st SF Group. This year we sponsored SSG Mark

Dickison and his wife Virginia. SFA Chapter 16 members that a ended the cruise were: Ed & Erma Booth, Wayne & Yoko Karvonen, and Jim &

Elaine Lessler.

Plans are already being made for the Wounded Warrior Cruise V. This coming cruise will be in 18 months rather than the 2 years between

cruises. The cruises have proven so popular and successful that it has been decided not to wait for another 2 years for the next cruise. We will

keep everyone informed on the plans for the next cruise.

The Norwegian Sun Cruise Ship & Jim Lessler SFC Jim Davenport, Ed Booth & Jim Lessler SSG Mark & Virginia Dickison

Menton Days Culmina ng with the Menton Ball SFA Chapter 16 has usually had a potluck and get together instead of a regular Chapter mee ng for the month of December. This year we

hosted a Menton Social in conjunc on with the week long Menton ac vi es for the 1st Group. This was held on 11 December, 1800. It was held

at 1st SFG(A) Regimental Mess. We provided excellent Thai appe zers and also beverages.

This event provided camaraderie and a good chance for ac ve duty personnel and Chapter 16 members to socialize and get to know each

other. The event was well a ended. We hope to see this get together next year.

Canadian & American Ceremony at 1st SFG Memorial Wall

SSG Mark & Virginia Dickison with

Dave Shell & Ed Booth. They were

Sponsored by Chap VI on WWCruise.

Pastor Butch’s Corner

John ‘Bud’ Hawk dies at 89; awarded Medal of Honor for WWII heroism John Hawk, of Bainbridge Island, was recognized many mes for his valor during World War II.

Originally published Saturday, November 9, 2013 at 6:15 PM

By Emily Langer

The Washington Post

John “Bud” Hawk, an Army sergeant who received the Medal of Honor for his heroism during a ba le of the Normandy campaign that led to the

Allied libera on of France in World War II, died Nov. 4 at his home in Bremerton. He was 89.

The cause was complica ons from a stroke, said his daughter, Marilyn Harrelson.

Mr. Hawk grew up in a community on Bainbridge Island, where, he once said, the post office was the “center of the known world.” He joined the

Army shortly a er gradua ng from high school, was shipped to France weeks a er the D‐Day invasion and received an unexpected promo on

from private first class a er his sergeant was wounded.

Mr. Hawk received the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest award for valor, for his ac ons on Aug. 20, 1944. He was manning a light‐machine

gun near the town of Chambois, a cri cal point in the encirclement of Germans that became known as the Falaise Pocket.

The Americans had advanced from the south and the Bri sh from the north, according to Peter Collier’s book “Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor

Beyond the Call of Duty.” The enemy was a emp ng to extricate itself by moving east, back toward Germany.

Posi oned near an apple orchard, Mr. Hawk and his machine‐gun squad came under an early morning a ack. He could smell dead livestock,

according to Collier’s book. He fired un l the German infantry pulled back — and un l enemy shelling destroyed his weapon and struck him in

the thigh.

Despite his wound, Mr. Hawk moved toward a ditch and found a comrade with a bazooka. Together, the men forced the remaining German

tanks to take cover in the woods. At that point, Mr. Hawk regrouped two machine‐gun squads and led the refashioning of two broken guns into

a working one.

The Germans a acked again, and Mr. Hawk “was forced to pull back from the pressure of spearheading armor,” according to the Medal of

Honor cita on. Two U.S. tank destroyers arrived but were unable to see the targets through the orchard trees.

Mr. Hawk — s ll suffering from his wound — climbed atop a hillock. Fully exposed to enemy fire, he made himself, according to the cita on, a

“human aiming stake for the destroyers.”

“The idea was that if you don’t catch them here you’re going to have to chase them clear to Berlin,” he told The Sea le Times, “and that wasn’t

a pleasant prospect.”

Because of the din, the Americans arming the tank destroyers could not hear Mr. Hawk’s instruc ons. Con nuing to expose himself to fire, he

hurried back to relay the informa on, then went back to the knoll and went on direc ng the destroyers un l two German tanks were taken out.

A third retreated.

Mr. Hawk con nued leading the a ack un l the Germans emerged from the woods and surrendered.

“Sgt. Hawk’s fearless ini a ve and heroic conduct,” the cita on reads, “even while suffering from a painful wound, was in large measure

responsible for crushing two desperate a empts of the enemy to escape from the Falaise Pocket and for taking more than 500 prisoners.”

John Druse Hawk was born on May 30, 1924, in San Francisco and grew up in Washington state. His father was an ar st and World War I

veteran; his mother ran an an que shop.

A er the ba le in Normandy, Mr. Hawk was treated for his wounds but declined hospitaliza on because he did not want to be separated from

his men. He went on to fight at the Ba le of the Bulge and received military decora ons including four awards of the Purple Heart. “Courage is

not the absence of fear,” Mr. Hawk once told an interviewer. “Having no fear would be the absence of intelligence. Instead, bravery is

overcoming that fear.”

President Truman awarded him the Medal of Honor in Olympia — a special, local ceremony reportedly arranged by Mr. Hawk’s friend, the late

Sen. Warren Magnuson, D‐Wash. — during a trip to the West Coast in 1945.

Mr. Hawk pursued his educa on over several years and ul mately received a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Washington. He

became an educator and worked in Washington state as a teacher and elementary‐school principal for more than 30 years.

His wife of 37 years, Natalene Crandall Hawk, died in 1985; son David Hawk died in 1956. Besides daughter Marilyn, of Federal Way, he is sur‐

vived by son Mark Hawk, of Des Moines; a sister; and a grandson.

Bremerton’s annual Armed Forces Day parade, which describes itself as the largest and longest running such celebra on in the country,

originated as a tribute to Mr. Hawk. He was for years its grand marshal.

In 2010, the Kitsap Sun newspaper reported, his local post office was renamed in his honor — a display of pride in the bravery he had shown

thousands of miles away from home.

John “Bud’ Hawk went home to be with the Lord the 5th of November at 89. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in WWII. Over

the years I always enjoyed my visits with Bud Hawks. He loved the Army, Special Forces, and he loved the City of Bremerton. Many of

Bremerton Police would flash their blue lights when they would pass by his house as a salute. Bud always

waved or flipped his porch light. The city of Bremerton and the na on as lost a great and gentle man and he will be truly missed by all that knew

and admired him.

A p of the Green Beret, Thanks Bud

Pastor Butch Hill

The Snake‐Eaters and the Yards The Vietnamese tribesmen who fought alongside American Special Forces won the Green Berets’ admira on—and lost everything else.

NOV. 27 2013 8:12 AM

By Rebecca Onion

Wounded Green Berets are evacuated by helicopter from a camp in Plei Me, South Vietnam, in November 1965 Photo by AFP/Ge y Images

In 1965, syndicated columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak used a fron er metaphor to describe the American Special Forces’ advisory

role with Vietnamese tribesmen. “Assume that during our own Civil War the north had asked a friendly foreign power to mobilize, train, and arm

hos le American Indian tribes and lead them into ba le against the South,” they wrote.

If that historical hypothe cal suggested wild possibili es, Evans and Novak used it advisedly. For four years, Special Forces had been training an

oppressed minority group in guerrilla tac cs, providing them with weapons and ac ng as de facto aid workers in their communi es. When

Americans remember Vietnam, we o en think of the war as having three major actors: the North Vietnamese, the South Vietnamese, and the

American military. But there was another player: the Montagnards.

The indigenous Montagnards, recruited into service by the American Special Forces in Vietnam’s mountain highlands, defended villages against

the Viet Cong and served as rapid response forces. The Special Forces and the Montagnards—each tough, versa le, and accustomed to living in

wild condi ons—formed an affinity for each other. In the tes mony of many veterans, their working rela onship with the Montagnards,

nicknamed Yards, was a bright spot in a confusing and frustra ng war. The bond between America’s elite fighters and their indigenous partners

has persisted into the present, but despite the best efforts of vets, the Montagnards have suffered greatly in the postwar years, at least in part

because they cast their lot with the U.S. Army. In a war with more than its share of tragedies, this one is less o en told but is crucial to

understanding the conflict and its toll.

The Montagnards, whose name is derived from the French word for mountaineers, are ethnically dis nct from lowland, urban Vietnamese. In

the early ’60s, writes military historian John Prados, almost a million Montagnards lived in Vietnam, and the group was made up of about 30

different tribes. The Montagnards spoke languages of Malayo‐Polynesian and Mon Khmer deriva ons, prac ced an animis c religion (except for

some who had converted to Chris anity), and survived through subsistence agriculture.

In the early ’60s, the Green Berets were supermen of the Cold War: tough, smart, and canny.

When the United States Special Forces first arrived in Vietnam in the early 1960s, the Montagnards were already decades into an uneasy

rela onship with Vietnam’s various central governments. Before their withdrawal, the French had promised to give the Montagnards protected

land—a promise that vanished with them. The Communist government of North Vietnam had included the right for highlander autonomy in its

founding pla orm in 1960, but many Montagnards were uneasy about Communist inten ons. Meanwhile, South Vietnam’s President Ngô Đình

Diệm had begun to se le refugees from North Vietnam in the highlands. His government neglected educa on and health care in the Monta‐

gnard areas, assigning inexperienced and ineffec ve bureaucrats to handle their needs.

Tensions between the Vietnamese and the Montagnards were ratcheted up by racism. Vietnamese called the tribal people mọi, or savage.

Prados recounts a story of a “young Vietnamese woman who told an American, in all seriousness, that Montagnards had tails.” Stereotypes

about the “primi ve” nature of the tribesmen—unfounded beliefs that they were all nomadic and lived by slash‐and‐burn farming—made it

easier for the government to advocate the expropria on of their lands.

Meanwhile, in the United States, American Special Forces were taking on an increasingly large role in American military planning and strategy.

The Cold War seemed to demand a decentralized, versa le style of figh ng. In 1961, John F. Kennedy, a proponent of such irregular warfare,

authorized the use of the iconic green beret, a symbol that would capture a na on’s imagina on. In the early ’60s, the “Berets” were seen as the

supermen of the Cold War: tough, smart, and canny.

Star ng in 1961, in an ini a ve at first run by the CIA, the Special Forces moved into the Vietnamese mountains and set up the new Village

Defense Program (a forerunner of the be er‐known Strategic Hamlet Program). The Montagnards’ forested mountain homelands, which ran

along the Cambodian and Lao an borders in the western por on of Vietnam, were prime highways for North Vietnamese forces to move men

and materiel. The Viet Cong, understanding the way the Southern government discriminated against the tribes, promised much if the tribesmen

would defect—and some did. But the VC also preyed on isolated villages, taking food and pressing Montagnards into labor and military service.

When Kennedy visited Fort Bragg in 1961, the Green Berets demonstrated their skills by catching, preparing, and ea ng a snake.

The working rela onship between Green Berets and Montagnards began in the Village Defense Program. Detachments of 12 Green Berets

trained Montagnards, drawn from the tribe dominant in the surrounding area, into “civilian irregular defense groups,” or CIDGs. The idea was

that a security zone would radiate outward from each camp, with CIDG serving as defense forces, advised by small groups of American Special

Forces and South Vietnam’s own special forces, the LLDB. With help from the Navy’s Seabees, Special Forces built dams, roads, bridges, schools,

wells, and roads for Montagnard groups, and Special Forces medics provided rudimentary health care. By December 1963, 43,000 Montagnard

defenders guarded the area around the first camp, Buon Enao, from the Viet Cong, while 18,000 Montagnards were enlisted in mobile strike

forces, which were deployed by air to spots where conflict broke out.

In interviews, Special Forces o en described the people they were training as loyal, honest, and friendly and compared them favorably to

Vietnamese allies. In 1970, Gloria Emerson of the New York Times visited a CIDG camp at Dakseang. The Green Berets there were uninterested

in being interviewed, but she managed to ask them some ques ons about the Yards:

When they talk of the Montagnards—uncorrupted by the ci es, physically superior to most South Vietnamese, less sophis cated in their

outlook—the Americans are fiercely possessive ... Because the Green Berets enjoy their own toughness, they appreciate some of the more

primi ve aspects of the Montagnards’ habits.

The tribal customs were strange; but then, the regular Army found Special Forces’ ways odd. Edward E. Bridges, a Green Beret who was at Fort

Bragg when Kennedy came to visit in 1961, remembers that as part of their demonstra on for the visi ng president, the men caught, prepared,

and ate a snake. The nickname “snake eater” stuck to the Special Forces. The Berets, who o en made jokes about the Yards ea ng dogs and

seemingly unpalatable vegeta on, saw something of their own values in these ways.

In many anecdotes, Special Forces veterans describe their interac ons with the Montagnards as full of bonhomie. “The Vietnamese strike me as

being a rather sour people,” a Beret pseudonymously iden fied as “Lieutenant Pre y” told fellow Beret Joseph Patrick Meissner. “The Yards,

however, find much humor in things. They’re easy to get along with.”

Russell Mann, who served as a medic in the Special Forces, told Hans Halberstadt one of many funny stories soldiers traded about the Yards.

Mann was assigned to teach a group of Montagnards how to throw grenades. “Montagnards culturally do not throw,” he said. “They have no

games that require throwing. They don’t even throw rocks at their chickens.” Mann trained his students, who were “more than willing to humor

the crazy Americans as long as they got to kill some Vietnamese,” to throw progressively larger items, with an actual grenade toss as the “final

exam.”

When a poorly placed grenade, lobbed over a berm, rolled back down the slope toward a student and his instructor, both had to dive into a

muddy trench. “The subsequent mud‐soaked exit was a source of great amusement to the tribesmen,” Mann said. Eventually, he said, “I

developed a great fondness for the Yards. If it was a slow day, I would occasionally dive into the trench just to amuse them.”

The tribal customs were strange; but then, the regular Army found Special Forces’ ways odd.

The Green Berets also admired the Montagnards’ figh ng prowess, no ng their loyalty. As Bridges told an interviewer, the Green Berets

believed that “the Montagnards made excellent soldiers.” They were used to working in teams: “They were very good at small unit tac cs and

seemed to know ins nc vely how to protect their flanks. In a way, combat was almost like a family situa on with them: you protect your

brother and your brother protects you.” Bridges added, “I found them very brave under fire. They wouldn’t hesitate to run out and help a team

member who was in trouble.”

Perhaps the most respected group of indigenous fighters was the Nung, an ethnic Chinese minority from North Vietnam that had emigrated

south as the Communist government took power. The Special Forces o en used Nung as bodyguards, as they were a dependable source of

security while the Berets were recrui ng and training local tribesmen.

On July 6, 1964, in a stellar example of collabora on between the Special Forces and indigenous troops, Capt. Roger H.C. Donlon, his group of 12

Green Berets, 60 Nung, 311 CIDG troops, and an Australian adviser, fended off a late‐night a ack on their isolated camp near Nam Dong village,

repelling 900 North Vietnamese in a five‐hour ba le. Donlon, who was wounded four mes but con nued to direct the defense of the camp,

earned the first Congressional Medal of Honor to be awarded in Vietnam. He gave par cular credit to the Nung.

Nam Dong would eventually become part of American popular culture, featured in Robin Moore’s novel The Green Berets and the John Wayne

film adapta on, both of which popularized the collabora on between Special Forces and indigenous allies by way of burnishing the mys que of

the Green Berets.

Not all Special Forces troops were united in their good opinion of the indigenous forces’ figh ng prowess. Meissner also interviewed some

Green Berets who described Montagnard soldiers as undisciplined, though these informants allowed that Vietnamese discrimina on against the

Montagnards in ma ers of pay, provisioning, and the distribu on of difficult du es exacerbated the trouble.

American soldiers media ng between Montagnards and Vietnamese repeatedly found themselves in difficult posi ons. Many of them believed

that the tribesmen got a raw deal from the Vietnamese and were inclined to look with sympathy upon Montagnards’ enmity towards the

government. The official American posi on, however, was to encourage na onal unity.

This awkwardness worsened in 1964 and 1965, as poli cal circumstances made it harder and harder for Americans who might have sympathy

for the Montagnards. A er the coup against Diệm in 1963, the succession of military leaders that took control in Saigon pursued ever‐more

restric ve policies regula ng Montagnard life. In response, some highlanders formed FULRO, a group whose ini als, in French, translate to the

United Front for the Libera on of Oppressed Races.

In September 1964, FULRO‐allied Montagnards in five Special Forces camps rebelled, killing 80 South Vietnamese troops and taking 20

Americans hostage. Eventually, Special Forces personnel in the camps managed to talk the rebels into laying down their arms. Howard Sochurek

was on the scene for Na onal Geographic and published an ar cle in the January 1965 issue that documented the tense situa on and credited

the Special Forces with “pulling the firing pin from the revolt of 3,000 mountain soldiers.” Capt. Vernon Gillespie appeared in the photographs

accompanying Sochurek’s ar cle dressed in Montagnard clothing: a long loincloth, tunic, and bare feet. Gillespie saved the Vietnamese in his

camp by nego a ng a ceremony in which he, the Vietnamese commanding officer, and a Montagnard chief performed a two‐hour rite of

friendship.

A er the uprisings, Saigon made some concessions to Montagnard demands but refused to allow tribal autonomy. Saigon also made a formal

protest to the United States, alleging that the arming of the Montagnards had proceeded without the regime’s knowledge or consent and that

the U.S. had assisted the highlanders in their rebellion.

In a way, combat was almost like a family situa on with them: you protect your brother and your brother protects you.

Former Green Beret Edward E. Bridges

The episode also exacerbated tensions between Special Forces and the Army. The Special Forces commanders of the camps were relieved of

their posts, and, as Gillespie told Halberstadt, headquarters tried to “whitewash the whole event.” Edwards writes that Gillespie was later

reprimanded for having worn the Montagnard costume in photographs and “for telling a general officer that the general didn’t know enough

about the Montagnards to interfere in that part of the country.”

In the mid‐1960s, responding to South Vietnamese pressure and acknowledging that it had become difficult to successfully defend the isolated

camps against a ack, the Americans dismantled the Village Defense Program in its original form. The most highly trained Montagnard troops,

those in the mobile strike forces, were redeployed in base camps along the Lao an and Cambodian borders. As Prados points out, “this move

clearly aimed at closing off a large poten al source of arms for FULRO adherents,” since many decommissioned CIDG mili a members would

have to surrender their weapons.

The Montagnards moved into the second half of the 1960s living ever more precarious lives. From a humanitarian perspec ve, their situa on

worsened, and the Green Berets felt powerless to help them. Master Sgt. John J. Self, interviewed by Sochurek for Na onal Geographic in 1968,

told of the lack of supplies and food for the Montagnards who lived near his camp. (The Special Forces camps o en contained not only the

enlisted Montagnards, but also their families, who insisted on staying near their loved ones.) “We are trying to help them, but there are only 12

of us here and 8,000 of them,” he said. “If just si ng down and crying about it would do some good, I’ll tell you something—I’d sit down and

cry.”

The 1960s found Montagnard life disrupted by combat, the 1970s were disastrous for the tribes. The Special Forces turned the command of

remaining Montagnard mobile strike force groups over to the Vietnamese in 1970, and the transi on did not go well, with the tradi onal

conflicts between the two groups souring their collabora on. A er the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam in 1972 and 1973, the

Montagnard situa on worsened further. Tribesmen who had been moved from their tradi onal lands for security reasons returned to find their

former homelands occupied by Vietnamese refugees. More than 150,000 Montagnards became refugees themselves, as figh ng between the

North and South intensified in the central highlands.

By the me the hos li es between North and South Vietnam ceased, around 200,000 Montagnards had been killed and 85 percent of their

villages leveled.

Some American Special Forces personnel con nued their involvement with the tribes in civilian capaci es a er the military had officially

withdrawn. Jacques Leslie of the LA Times and Philip A. McCombs of the Washington Post both interviewed Ed Sprague, a former Special Forces

master sergeant. Sprague returned to work with USAID in Phu Bon Province, spending his days driving around back roads in a car with

Montagnard assistants, visi ng tribesmen in his capacity as USAID adviser for economic development.

The Sprague stories were, in some respects, humorous accounts of a seemingly eccentric man—McCombs described Sprague as he “lounges in

his tribal dressing gown” in his “spacious, modern compound on a jungle hilltop surrounded by watchful Montagnard guards.”

But Sprague’s commitment, if unique in degree, was a ves ge of the long‐standing Special Forces affec on for the tribes. Amid the chaos of the

1975 fall of South Vietnam, Sprague took 2,000 tribesmen to the beach at Nha Trang, where the group hoped for an American evacua on. Help

was not forthcoming.

Despite the isolated efforts of some former Green Berets and of the government ministers appointed to help ethnic minori es, the

Montagnards suffered in postwar Vietnam. By the me the hos li es between North and South Vietnam ceased, according to historian John

Fredriksen, around 200,000 Montagnards had been killed and 85 percent of their villages leveled. Known to have fought with the Americans, the

Yards entered a new phase of repression under the Communists. Many of their remaining leaders were thrown in prison or escaped across the

border to Cambodia. There, the Khmer Rouge imprisoned and killed those it could find.

In 2001, according to Human Rights Watch, about 1 million highlanders lived in four Vietnamese provinces, along with 3 million ethnic

Vietnamese. The Vietnamese raise coffee in state‐owned planta ons on former Montagnard land. Many Montagnards have now converted to

Chris anity—a fact that increases their vulnerability as a minority in a Communist country.

Throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, some 3,000 Montagnards with combat records have emigrated to the United States. The tribesmen

chose to se le in a cluster in North Carolina, in part because of the strong Special Forces presence near Fort Bragg. The Special Forces

Associa on, a veterans’ group, has assisted with the process of immigra on, circula ng images of refugees who claimed to be veterans, in hopes

of finding former Green Berets who could verify their stories.

Special Forces veterans seem to see the abandonment of the tribes as part and parcel of the larger American amnesia surrounding Vietnam. As

with the related Hmong people of Laos, many of whom fought with the CIA in the “Secret War” and then pe oned to emigrate to the United

States, the Montagnards’ plight has become poli cized, their abandonment seen as analogous to the general neglect American service members

felt upon returning from the war. Discussions of the tribes’ plight on pro‐military message boards focus on the Montagnards’ loyalty,

Chris anity, and sense of duty, drawing a contrast between the worthy Yard immigrants and an ungrateful American public. The fight to help

Montagnard refugees enter the U.S. has created strange bedfellows, as the Special Forces have advocated for tribesmen alongside organiza ons

like Human Rights Watch.

To the extent that most Americans know of the Montagnards, it is likely through film. The wide gap in style and sen ment between the jingois c

Wayne vehicle The Green Berets (1968) and Francis Ford Coppola’s medita ve, almost nihilis c Apocalypse Now (1979) is o en cited as symbolic

of the way American public opinion turned on the war in the late 1960s and early 1970s. There are Montagnards in both movies. The tribesmen

in Green Berets are simple, childlike vic ms whose appearance on screen is accompanied by a varia on on the Oriental riff. And to a cynical eye,

the highland group that surrounds Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now is but a living manifesta on of the soldier’s madness. Their loyalty to Kurtz,

their supers ons, and their tradi ons of animal sacrifice are all decora on for the former Green Beret’s ul mate descent into “the horror.”

We have been the fiercest allies of the Americans. But not of the Generals or of the Poli cians: of the soldiers.

Montagnard leader Kok Ksor

But a look at the movie through Montagnard eyes challenges this interpreta on. In a 2002 interview on the Degar Founda on’s website with

leader Kok Ksor, who has lived in the United States since seeking asylum a er he led a Montagnard protest against the Communist government

in 2001, Ksor speaks of Apocalypse Now as emblema c of the rela onship between the Special Forces and the Montagnard.

Ksor began working for the Americans in 1960 when he signed on as a messenger carrying word between Americans and his tribe. Later, he ran

messages to exiled FULRO leaders living in Cambodia. Watching Apocalypse Now with the interviewer, Ksor began to weep. The alliance with the

Special Forces is one that he s ll holds dear, even as he mourns everything else that has happened to his people.

Telling of Viet Cong atroci es, he adds that he felt his people had been “used” by the American government, which “allowed that the Viet Cong

a ack our villages ... and promised that at the end of the war they would help us a ain independence.” To this bi er assessment, Ksor adds a

firm confirma on:

We have been the fiercest allies of the Americans. But not of the Generals or of the Poli cians: of the soldiers, of the non‐commissioned officers.

For us it was people who had come to help us, had come to die of [sic] a country that was not our own.

Yes, the loyalty of the tribe around Colonel Kurtz in the film is real.

As Ksor acknowledges, the Special Forces couldn’t set American policy or dictate Vietnamese a tudes toward the tribes, so their good

inten ons had limita ons. No ma er how hard some Green Berets wished for and worked for be er lives for the Montagnards, the end result of

the war, for the tribes, was disaster.

Statue to honor SEAL for Vietnam War rescue

Rick Neale, USA TODAY 5:53 p.m. EST November 7, 2013

A spectacular Vietnam War ba lefield rescue will be memorialized in bronze.

The Navy SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Fla., on Saturday will dedicate this statue, honoring two Medal of Honor recipients.(Photo: Navy SEAL

Museum)

Under heavy gunfire from dozens of North Vietnamese soldiers, Navy SEAL Mike Thornton li ed cri cally injured fellow SEAL Tom Norris onto

his shoulders and carried him in the darkness down the beach into the South China Sea surf.

Infla ng Norris' life jacket, Thornton kept him afloat and breaststroked for about two hours to a support boat a er that October 1972

beach‐landing firefight near the Cua Viet River. Norris — who had been shot in the head — later underwent surgery and three years of

rehabilita on, but he survived.

Now, this spectacular Vietnam War ba lefield rescue will be memorialized in bronze. Saturday, officials will dedicate a 10‐foot statue depic ng

Thornton carrying Norris on his shoulders during the facility's 28th annual Muster reunion at the Na onal Navy UDT‐SEAL Museum in Fort

Pierce, Fla.

"It was the only me this century when one Medal of Honor winner was rescued by a person who would eventually get a Medal of Honor for

rescuing him," said Rick Kaiser, execu ve director of the museum.

Kaiser expects about 10,000 people to a end this weekend's Muster events, which include a 5K beach race, a music fes val, a memorial service,

and demonstra ons of SEAL sniper, parachute and K‐9 teams.

The statue was commissioned by former presiden al candidate Ross Perot, who is friends with Thornton. The sculptor is Paul Moore of Nor‐

man, Okla., who also cra ed a Perot‐commissioned bronze statue of Gen. Hugh Shelton at the Airborne and Special Opera on Museum in

Faye eville, N.C.

This year's Muster also commemorates the 70th anniversary of the original Naval Combat Demoli on Unit "frogmen." In 1943, the military took

over por ons of Hutchinson Island and established a training base at Fort Pierce. Here, frogmen trained to penetrate enemy beach obstacles

and defenses. Predecessors of today's SEALs, these elite fighters trained for D‐Day and other World War II amphibious assaults.

The museum was dedicated on Veterans Day in 1985 at the site of the defunct Fort Pierce Treasure Museum, and ac ve and re red SEALs and

their families from across the USA have gathered for annual Muster reunions ever since.

The story behind The A leboro, a true story of sacrifice and honor.

In 1966 the Vietnam War was escala ng with opera ons every increasing. The conven onal war was intensifying with the largest ba le up to

that point in the war looming on the horizon. In III Corps, Tay Ninh Province, along the Cambodian border just northwest of Saigon (now Ho Chi

Minh City) Opera on A leboro commenced. Its general goal was to find, then destroy North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Viet Cong (VC)

logis cal resources plus any enemy units opera ng in the area. A leboro would slow enemy support and infiltra on into the Saigon III Corps

area. Among this conven onal opera on was a very unconven onal unit, the III Corps MIKE (Mobile Strike) Force, led by an Army Special

Forces (SF) Team and manned by ethnic Chinese Nung soldiers. The “A leboro” is named to honor and commemorate those SF soldiers who

fought and died during this opera on. We recognized one heroic soldier who during this opera on epitomizes the spirit of our knife, Master

Sergeant William B. Hunt. His heroic ac ons during the ba le led to several saved lives but in the process causing his wounding then his

loss. He was declared missing in ac on for ten years with the Army declaring a presump ve death in 1976. With this profound history in mind,

we bring to you, the “A leboro”.

We are offering this knife to SF guys for $250 ($100 dollars off the $349.99). They can buy two knives at this special price. All we ask is for our

SF brothers to verify they are SF (DD‐214, orders, etc.). I a ached a sales sheet for the knife giving details about its high quality and

manufacturing specifics. The knife can be purchased by following this link or phone number,

www.A leboroKnives.com

p 877.993.8227

De Oppresso Liber

Ken Hunt

C: (208) 301‐8152

W: (877) 993‐8227

[email protected]

h p://www.a leboroknives.com/

Chapter XVI Special Forces Associa on Quartermasters Store

The Quartermasters Store has Special Forces Crest Uniform and Blazer Bu ons for Sale. They can replace the Army Dress Uni-

form or the SF Associa on Blazer Bu ons. They really look sharp. The Bu ons are $5.00 a piece. A set of 4 Large and 6 small are

$50.00. If you would like them mailed there is a shipping and handling cost of $4.50. We also have a number of other Items of

SF interest. We also have SF T-Shirts, hats, jackets, SFA

Flashes, SF Door Knockers, Belt Buckles, Money

clips and numerous other Items of Special Forces

interest.

1st SFG(A) Ar facts

The current 1st SFG(A) Commander is solici ng support from former 1st SFG(A) unit members for dona on of ar facts that could

be displayed in the units Regimental Mess area at Fort Lewis. He has his PAO officer working on the project and he is asking for

items that could be secured in display cabinets for viewing by guests who use the facility for ceremonies, re rements and other

ac vi es. Hank Cramer is planning to donate some uniform items that his dad wore in Vietnam and others from SFA Chapter

and First In Asia Associa on are pu ng out feelers to our community. If interested, please contact Major Jason Waggoner at

[email protected]

Looking For Historical 10th SFG(A) Items ‐ Assistance Requested ‐ for Group Foyer POCs:

SSG Ryan Sabin OR Andy Tyler

Public Affairs NCOIC [email protected]

10th SFG (A)

719-524-4528

[email protected]

We are looking for any historical items and photos that will cover the following areas. I a ached the history outline that we will be following.

These items will be used in the HHC foyer and we are trying to tell the 10th SFG(A) story.

- 1952- Ac va on of 10th SFG (A)

- 1953- Bad Tolz

- 1954-1955 Authoriza on of the wear of the Green Beret

- 1962- CPT Roger Pezzelle Trojan Horse Unit Insignia

- SF Soldiers opera ng in; western and eastern Europe, clandes ne organiza ons in England, France, Norway, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy,

Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

- Fort Devens - JOINT ENDEAVOR and PROVIDE COMFORT - Opera on Desert Storm

- Panzer Kaserne - Task Force Viking

I am delighted to invite you to join me in

celebra ng the recent publica on of my

book.

Titled

Captain Ron

Flying Life’s Longitudes and La tudes

The book Explores the fascina ng life and mes of

Ron Rismon.

I am looking forward to seeing you all enjoy and

share my work.

“To Order”

Books will be sold for $66.00 + $20.00 Shipping.

Call (253) 670‐2760

Or

E‐mail: [email protected]

THE GREEN BERETS...America’s Vanguards of Freedom

The United States Army Special Forces - the Green Berets - have led the way in America’s

armed conflicts from the Vietnam War through present day conflicts in Afghanistan and

Iraq. The largest component of U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF), Special Forces has

suffered tremendous losses in the ongoing War on Terror; since 9/11, 136 Special Forces and

Special Forces Support Soldiers have made the ultimate sacrifice in the fight for freedom.

The families of America’s Green Berets, especially their children, continue to bear a particularly heavy burden as they endure

repeated deployments of their parents into harm’s way.

ABOUT THE SF SCHOLARSHIP FUND

The Special Forces Scholarship Fund (SFSF) recognizes the sacrifices of these children

through its merit-based educational scholarship fund for those pursuing post-

secondary education.

The Special Forces Scholarship Fund (SFSF) was incorporated in the state of North Carolina (home to the Fort Bragg headquarters of the U.S. Army Special Forces Command) on March 8th, 2011

to operate exclusively for charitable and educational purposes under Section

501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code; it is a charitable tax-exempt

organization as defined by North Carolina General Statute 55A-1-40(4).

The SFSF is focused solely on awarding merit-based scholarships to children of current and veteran Special Forces Soldiers. All SFSF board members are volunteers who work pro-bono for the

fund. All fund activity expenses are borne by board members so as to ensure that every dollar donated is used to create

scholarships for Special Forces children.The fund’s long term goal is to create an

endowment that will provide over $400,000 in scholarships to SF children each year. In

the near term, the SFSF is focused on funding scholarships to children of the Army’s five

active duty SF Groups located throughout the United States. In its pilot program last year (2011), the SFSF awarded 11 scholarships,

worth nearly $20,000, to children of the 3rd Special Forces Group; this year, SFSF will

award approximately 25 scholarships - worth $70,000 - to deserving children of all active

duty SF Groups in Washington, Colorado, North Carolina and Florida.

YOU CAN HELP SUPPORTOUR HEROES

Your tax-deductable donations to this worthy fund can help shape the futures of our very deserving Special Forces children - and the

future of our country as well.

While donations of all sizes are most welcome, corporate sponsorhip and assistance is highly

encouraged; various levels of corporate involvement are outlined on our website at

www.sfscholarshipfund.org

Special Forces Scholarship FundPO BOX 1509

Fayetteville NC 28302-1509

Donors wishing to direct their contributions to the children of the 1st Special Forces Group of Fort Lewis, Washington, may

indicate that on their donation.

CONSIDER SUPPORTING THE SPECIAL FORCES

SCHOLARSHIP FUND NOW...

You’ll be supporting America’s Heroes…

AND investing in our nation’s future!

For more information on how you can help, please contact the 1st Special

Forces Group Scholarship Fund Director at

[email protected]

Support America’s Heroes...

By Investing in America’s Future

The Special Forces Scholarship Fund

www.sfscholarshipfund.org

Thank you for considering a donation to the Special Forces Scholarship Fund.

The Special Forces Scholarship Fund recognizes the service of Green Beret families by awarding merit-based post secondary educational scholarships to the daughters and sons of current and veteran Special Forces Soldiers. This is the only organization whose sole purpose is to provide scholarships to the children of Green Berets. To learn more about the Special Forces Scholarship Fund, please visit www.sfscholarshipfund.org.

Directed Giving: You can direct your donation to a specific Special Forces Group or academic institution.

Memorials and Honorariums: Donations can be made in honor of a loved one. You can also create a named corporate or personal sponsorship. Wills, Trusts, and Life Insurance: You can leave a legacy through a will, a charitable trust, or trust of life insurance. YES, I want to support the Special Forces Scholarship Fund.___________________________________________________________________________________________________Company Name: (please print name as you would like it to be listed)

___________________________________________________________________________________________________Contact Name: (person will serve as primary contact for event)

___________________________________________________________________________________________________Address: Home Office

City_______________________________________________State_________________Zip_________________________

Telephone___________________________Fax_____________________________Email___________________________ I would like to donate to the Special Forces Scholarship Fund at the following level: REGIMENTAL SPONSOR ($100,000 and above) COMMANDER’S CIRCLE ($25,000) GREEN BERETS CIRCLE ($15,000) FRIEND OF THE GREEN BERETS ($5,000) GREEN BERETS PATRON with my contribution of $________________

A check payable to the Special Forces Scholarship Fund is enclosed I have paid by bank transfer or credit card through the secure PayPal donation link at www.sfscholarshipfund.org

Please return this completed form by mail to: Special Forces Scholarship Fund P.O. Box 1509, Fayetteville, NC 28302-1509

http://www.sfscholarshipfund.org

http://www.sfscholarshipfund.org

january 2014 vol 49 - sfa chapter 16 · future cost of re rement for every entry‐level serviceman...

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