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Saturday, March 03, 2012

MACVSOG Living History Project


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Ranger was recently interviewed for the MACVSOC Living History Project (link HERE.) He still has more photos to transmit to Paul Bishop in England, but here's what posted as of 1 Mar 2012.

Thanks, Paul, for you and your team's good work documenting the unit.

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Saturday, January 21, 2012

A Good Day to Die

Hueys at Camp Lang Thanh (CLT)
Clockwise: Cpt. Jim Hruska (with sunglasses); SFC Corey (black hat);
Lt. Edwards (hands in pocket, back to camera);
SFC Johnnie K. Berry (squatting, back to camera);
SFC Brockelman (sitting in profile to camera);
SFC Kenneth Lovelace (standing in front of Hruska, hand on back of head)
photo taken between June and September 1970

His nature is too noble for the world:
He would not flatter Neptune for his trident,
Or Jove for ’s power to thunder
--Coriolanus (III, i), Shakespeare
______________________

Ranger looked at this photo for 40 years before realizing that Lovelace was in the frame. It is the only picture he has of him and a poor one at that, and an internet search revealed no more.

It was a beautiful day on 21 Jan 71, much as in this photo, on the day Lovelace died. Ranger wishes to remember his friend who was killed on that date, but first some background prompted by the photo.

We are here conducting an Airborne operation (note parachutes on ground). SFC Corey is wearing a CLT Vietnamese camp unit patch on his left pocket. Instructor S-3 section Lt. Edwards was not camp personnel, but he was present for training. Notice his cut-off sleeves and our lack of headgear; we did not always hew to standard uniform niceties.

SFC Berry was assigned to Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group (MACVSOG) HQ at Pasteur Street, Saigon. SFC Brokelman was an instructor S-3 section in the Combat Reconnaissance Course, also called One-Zero School (see, Down in the Zeroes), along with SSG Lovelace.

We appear casual, but we were doing the job. I am reminded of our comfort with each other, and the lack of feeling crammed even when working in close proximity, which was often required. We appear to be problem solving in this photo. These men are mentoring me and are patient in so doing. It also shows the young bloods of that era, like myself and Edwards, integrating with more experienced members.

Lovelace, Corey and Brockelman were low-key professionals, confident but with no need for showboating. I remember marveling at SFC Corey's weathered 40-ish face, and remember telling him he looked like he got shot by the wrinkle gun. As a First Lt., Corey was my primary instructor in 1-0 School. Ranger was required to graduate in order to be assigned to staff functions at CLT/B53.

As mentioned yesterday, the 1-0 course was modeled on the Ft. Benning Pathfinder course, with the addition of in-country experience. Men like Lovelace, Corey and Brockelman were fine examples of the expertise and professionalism which brought this training to the next level.

Now to 21 Jan 70: As mentioned, it was a clear blue sky day, and the men had just returned following a successful mission; all was well in the world. We were happy to be there.

I don't know if Ken was talking to me man-to-man or soldier-to-soldier, but he mentioned he was short-timing and didn't like the idea of going to the the field before his Date Estimated Return Overseas (DEROS). I felt he had a foreshadowing of his death, which made his death all the more poignant.

The last time I saw him all that I would recognize was the tattoo on his arm.

Kenneth Lovelace was from Bellefontaine, Ohio. The only data given online differs somewhat from Ranger's recollection of the day, to include the date of death. There are no personal recollections of Lovelace on any of the military boards, only this:


KENNETH LOVELACE SSGT - E6 - Army - Regular Special Forces; tour began 27 Mar 70; Casualty was 22 Jan 71 In BIEN HOA, SOUTH VIETNAM. Age 27, DOB 21 Feb 43. He was married with children.


The 5th Special Forces Group left country five weeks later, and SOG remained operational for about another year. The deaths of four men on a lovely day in January 1971 are of little import to the planet's transit and were not the result of a great battle. They were in a desperate encounter ending in death, and such is the way most soldiers die. (As an aside, in WW II 15,000 airmen died in training in the U.S.).

Soldiers die daily and most of us fail to notice. More soldiers die in nasty little battles than are killed in the big named conflicts, especially in Low-Intensity Conflicts. Their deaths are the deaths of a 1,000 cuts, so inconsequential as to be unnoticed by a great nation.

Except ... every now and then, someone stops to think that all these deaths are too many to count.

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Bookmark and Share posted by rangeragainstwar at 9:09 PM 2 comments

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Down in the Zeroes

Camp Long Thanh, B53, 5th Special Forces Group,
1970. The bottom shows our DZ for airborne training;
top shows the North Airfield; Main Gate is in the NW corner,
leading straight to Bearcat
Rappelling -- this shows the vulnerability of the
Huey when used as a rappelling platform
CLT team, in training with full equipment, helicopter
is operational. This is how the team looked 21 Jan 71
(all photos from Ranger's private collection)

All greatness, all power, all social order
depends upon the executioner;
he is the terror of human society
and the tie that holds it together;
Take away this incomprehensible force
from the world, and at that very moment
order is superseded by chaos, thrones fall,
society disappears
--Joseph de Maistre

"I wanted an ideal animal to hunt,"
explained the general.
"So I said: 'What are the attributes of an ideal quarry?'
And the answer was of course:
'It must have courage, cunning, and,
above all, it must be able to reason.'"
--The Most Dangerous Game,
Richard Connell
__________________

Ranger will discuss the One-Zero School of MACVSOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam, Studies and Observations Group) in Vietnam as prelude to an upcoming piece.

May 1970 was when Ranger attended the officially-designated "Combat Reconnaissance Course", an innocuous-sounding DD-214 designator for a course which anything but. It was the only Army course ever conducted that had an actual combat mission as a graduation requirement; but that is not solely what distinguishes the 1-0 School.

One-Zero taught its students to perform and to survive while being hunted by superior enemy forces -- it taught its students how to be prey. This is a different thing from the aggressive can-do attitude associated with the combat arms. They were trained NOT to fight, unless running for their lives.

If memory serves, 14 SOG Reconnaissance Teams disappeared from the earth during that war. Teams disappeared because the enemy was so overwhelming while the teams were tight and compact, and not arrayed for action. Additionally, they operated in denied areas. One team member's loss jeopardized the entire group.

This behavior is counter to the civilian's perception of the Infantry, and is difficult even for most soldiers who were not in SOG to grasp. Many missions were doomed before they were launched. The North Vietnamese Army had trail watchers watching every LZ in the area, so many teams were compromised from the point of insertion. For this reason, Ranger believes that Lt. Murphy's Medal of Honor scenario in Afghanistan resembled the SOG template; it failed because the members of the team were compromised, as was often the case with SOG. They tried to fight when they should have run.

Knowing they would be hunted and trailed by trackers and hounds requires a great deal of reserve, courage and devotion to duty. Ranger has always thought that level of danger to which these teams were exposed unacceptable for a mission; fortunately he has never had to cross that border.


Tomorrow: A requiem for a One-Zero school friend

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Bookmark and Share posted by rangeragainstwar at 10:32 PM 12 comments

Friday, May 15, 2009

MACVSOG PUC, Redux: Respect



I'm about to give you all of my money
And all I'm askin' in return, honey
Is to give me my propers
When you get home
--Respect, Aretha Franklin

My blood runs cold
My memory has just been sold
--Centerfold, J. Geils Band

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields were glory does not stay
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose
--To An Athlete dying Young,
A. E. Housman
_________________

This may seem a tempest in a teapot to those who have never been in military bureaucracy, but if they cannot get even this small citation issue right, that seems indicative of slippages in more consequential areas.

To recapitulate: Ranger finally received his Presidential Unit Citation in February after petitioning and being rejected by the Army's Awards and Decorations branch. It was only through intervention by Ranger's Congressman Allen Boyd, and his veterans assistant Michael Bishop, that the citation, awarded to the unit in 2001, was finally issued to Ranger. Although the letter of authorization and DD215 were finally sent, no certificate was sent.

Instead, what you see here is what he got: no heavy paper, no embossed seal -- just a plain Kinko's 3 ¢ copy on cheap paper.

The citation exists -- Ranger's father has his own PUC certificate earned in World War II with his name indicated on the document, and the MACVSOG PUC certificate has been posted online by its various recipients. It is on parchment, with blue embossing, and bears the official seal. (A Google search turned up a copy online posted by Ranger's associate Fred "Lightening" Wunderlich here.)

The HQ Department of the Army, Chief of the Military Awards branch, actually wrote my senator a letter saying the citation cannot be given to an individual recipient (me). If not to us, the recipients, then to whom? Maybe it just doesn't go to Special Forces officers who are audacious enough to write against the current wars.

What about, "We Support the Troops"? The Kinko's copy of my cert is a finger in my eye, and not a meet tribute from a grateful nation. To Ranger, this is a denigration of his service, and is indicative of the value placed upon his service. Soldiers are not given xerox copies of their awards.

The wording of the citation is even incorrect: twice it is given correctly as "Studies and Observations Group" (SOG); however, six times SOG is called "Special Operations Group" -- a unit that never existed! So 75% of the references to the awarded unit are incorrect. One would think that a document authorized by the President and signed by the Secretary of the Army would be technically correct.

Ranger is torqued that such a simple administrative process has morphed into a typical military run-around. As an aside, he has received his share of "Howdy, fellow snake eater letters" which are invariably from SOCNET sorts seeking to "blow his cover". They usually come back, tail between legs, touting their great contacts on the inside, and how they've vetted Ranger.

Well, if any of you patriots has a contact in awards and decorations, please help me find out why another patriot can't get his PUC certificate. If all else fails, maybe Ebay will come through for me -- they are selling MACVSOG unit citations here. The surrealism of this reality almost trumps Vietnam.

Thanks for your service, boys and girls -- now get lost.

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Bookmark and Share posted by rangeragainstwar at 5:08 PM 4 comments

Friday, February 20, 2009

Presidential Unit Citation

Michael Bishop, Military Rep to Congressman Boyd,
pinning Ranger with his Presidential Unit Citation,
2/17/09


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Ranger was awarded his Presidential Unit Citation this week for his service with B53/5th Special Forces group, in a "highly classified mission in 1970."

I remember asking him what he did in Vietnam when I first met him. When he said he was with "B53" I pressed -- "So, what was that?" He shrugged his shoulders and said that's what they called it. This secret name of a letter and numbers sounded a bit fishy to me, until he explained it was a part of the MACVSOG project (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Studies and Observations Group.)

Ranger was glad to be in the SOG environment at B53 versus Command and Control South, Central and North [CCS-C-N]. B53 was the training camp of the Special Operations Augmentation. As all SOG assets passed through his camp, he saw everything that was being performed by them.

It was a heady experience for a young man. Ranger met, worked with and befriended some great people in SOG -- Bob Howard, Jon Caviani, Franklin Miller, Fred "Lightening" Wunderlich, Frank Norbury and Billy Waugh, among many others.

However, the fact that Ranger's PUC -- officially awarded to the unit in 2001 -- was initially denied, though he provided the Army Awards branch with all necessary documentation, is an indicator that the Army still does not prioritize Special Forces or COIN, despite the lip service. Or, it is a sign of extreme inefficiency.

The award was made 29 years after SOG closed shop. Why so long? The official answer is, "classified missions." (Good luck to those in Gitmo hoping for documentation.) If the Army really cared to recognize us, they could have sanitized the PUC, as they did with Howard's and Miller's Medal of Honor (MOH) citations.

Why was SOG classified anyway? We were no secret to the North Vietnamese Army who had watchers along the entire Ho Chi Minh Trail dedicated to spotting SOG teams. Answer: It was classified because the unit violated Laotian and Cambodian neutrality every time they entered these countries.

The NVA killed hundreds of SOG men: 10 teams disappeared, 14 others were seriously compromised, with every indigenous SOG agent inserted into the NVA compromised and captured. It is safe to say the NVA knew our mission. But because the unit was not a conventional entity, the Army did not and does not consider SOG's recognition a priority.

Dick Meadows, arguably the most famous SOG NCO/officer, had difficulty being retained and promoted. Only repeated intervention by General Westmoreland saved Meadows' career, allowing him to retire as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Imagine: Bull Simons and Charlie Beckwith retired only as 0-6's. SF MOH winners Howard and Donlon both retired as 0-6's in an Army that rewards West point football players 0-6 if they are still breathing after 20 years service.

Yes, Singlaub and Healy made General Officer, but that was only on the conventional airborne side of the house. The Reduction in Forces (RIF's) following the Vietnam war were heavy with Special Forces officers. There was no career protection for Special Forces officers in the Vietnam era.

Ranger is fortunate to have a Vietnam vet congressman who takes a sincere interest in veterans issues, and whose vet rep assisted him in getting his PUC individually authorized. This hoop-jumping with congressional support is par for the course.

It is the same formula Ranger experienced in receiving his Department of Veterans Affairs Service Connection compensation and his Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC).

Note to young soldiers: Expect the yellow ribbons to stop shortly after your service viability expires.

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Bookmark and Share posted by rangeragainstwar at 10:15 AM 15 comments

Friday, November 28, 2008

Watching the Wheels


What we have here is
failure to communicate
--Cool Hand Luke (1967)
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Ranger recently applied to the Chief, Military Awards Branch, Department of the Army (DA) to receive his Presidential Unit Citation (PUC) which was awarded to MACVSOG a few years back.

Proper authorizing documentation such as his DD214, 5th Group Orders assigning Ranger to B53/5th Grp. and MACVSOG orders, and my Officer Records Briefs were all submitted to verify that all of my RVN service was with B53, which was also designated as Ops 38 MACVSOG. B53 was a Special Operations Augmentation assigned/attached to SOG (Studies and Observations Group.) Secret stuff stuff at the time, but out in the open now.

Ranger was denied his request, but not because he didn't qualify. Instead, the Awards Branch mistakenly read that he had requested the PUC for the 5th Group, which he in fact did not request. Clearly and specifically, sent with the imprimatur of his local Congressman and Vietnam veteran Allen Boyd, Ranger requested the SOG PUC.

This is mentioned as yet another example of failed communication with a DA that can't find its ass with two hands. Whoever deep-sixed my request had not even read the clearly-worded request. Is it possible that DA still doesn't understand the command relationships of the SOA and SOG?

If the Army can't even award a PUC to an old soldier, then how in the hell are they giving proper administrative support to the troops? How can they find OBL if they can't even read a clearly defined request? You will not end up in Brussels if you read is as "Bratislava".

Though this is a minor speed bump, it is far from an isolated event, and is indicative of careless performance of duty and disregard for a serviceman's request.

Will Ranger ever wear this PUC? No. It is but a loose end that needs to be properly documented in my records. Who knows -- it might be worth a free cup of coffee or even put Ranger closer to the front of the soup line one day.

Ranger would also like to point out that he learned of this award by reading Soldier of Fortune magazine. Ranger received no request nor was he informed about the award ceremony. How is that for a thank you from a grateful nation? You would think they would want survivors to attend the ceremony.

Maybe not.

--Jim

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Click the box, then the green circle under post #44
to nominate Ranger Against War for
Best Military Blog:

The 2008 Weblog Awards

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Bookmark and Share posted by Lisa at 12:22 PM 4 comments