from a brother from another mother A Vietnam Tale: Long ago, in Vietnam, back in 1968, I was 22-year-old analyst. I worked Airborne Radio Direction Finding. In the midst of the 68 Tet Offensive there was also the fight to reclaim Hue City and the siege of Khe Sahn. Both were USMC operations. This one evening, while plotting fixes on the big wall map, I noticed this one unidentified unit and noted its movement. Id been keping my eye on it for a couple of months. We knew, through analysis of many factors, that this was always the same unit. We just didnt know its identification. It moved down from just above the DMZ to the area directly behind the cliffs in Laos where we knew the NVA had positioned their heavy artillery. These guns were pounding the marines at Khe Sahn ... and they couldnt be hit by our tac air because they were housed in caves . . . rolled out to fire . . . rolled back in to reload. I began a procedure called Pattern Analysis, which had been developed by us at the 8th. I searched the history for this unidentified unit and plotted its movements, using overlays. Each analysis showed this unit moving south into Laos and stopping in a flat, cleared area just behind the carst hills there. It remained there for a couple of days, then traveled north again. My theory ... this unidentified unit was a supply train, transporting ammo for the big guns. Their ammo point was located in this clearing. I put my theory to the section officer, Chief Warrent Officer Slusser. He told me to write up a TACREP (Tactical Report) for his signature. We sent it off to the naval and marine corps HQ. Navy fighters bombed the clearing within a couple of hours. They reported secondary explosions for hours after. The big guns stopped dropping rounds on the marines at Khe Sahn. All this because of a 22 year old Spec 4 in the US Army Security Agency. This was the high point of my military career.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 14:08:08 +0000