Tag: Vietnam

The Defense Department is close to naming the second director of the recently formed Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency (DPAA), SOFREP has learned. In recent weeks, reliable sources have indicated that the field of candidates has been narrowed down to three people. The wheels of change that lead to the formation of DPAA began […]

The year was 1985(ish), in Panama City, Florida.  In those days, Panama City was a backwater in the Florida panhandle.  It was suburban in some parts, but pretty much rural in most, once you were off the beach.  It was all pine forests, mosquitoes, and hot, sticky air. It was a time when “latchkey kids” […]

The jacket always was worn tucked in to reduce noise while he moved through the countryside. Pockets were moved up from the lower jacket or pants to the shoulders. The camouflage was created by using black spray paint on the clothing. In addition, an “A+” was painted on the fatigue jacket to indicate his blood type should he be wounded.

They’re holding a gun but they haven’t put the bullet in it yet, and they’re saying that’s not threatening.

The story of Green Beret Gary Michael Rose’s heroism is an epic of classified warfare and a stinging media scandal, but it might soon end with a Medal of Honor. In 1970, Rose was the lone medic for a company of Special Forces soldiers and indigenous Vietnamese fighters during a risky, four-day assault deep into […]

In the early 1960s the United States Army Special Forces was engaged in a secretive mission in the remote country of Laos in Southeast Asia. During this time we were in the midst of a Cold War with the Soviet Union, Red China, and other communist bloc nations. The perception (and reality) was that slowly […]

Kettles immediately turned his unarmed Huey around and headed back to the landing zone. He had surprise on his side, but fire from the ground — mostly small arms and mortars — was withering and ripped the windshield apart.

Army Capt. Paul “Buddy” Bucha faked out the enemy while leading a motley crew in Vietnam. The Medal of Honor recipient was hailed as a hero after he made North Vietnamese fighters believe his 187th Infantry Regiment was much bigger than it really was. The combination of bravery and cunning helped him earn the nation’s […]

We had minimal intel on enemy activities on the ground in the target area, we knew the enemy was gearing up to attack our recon teams to keep us out of Laos. Remember, in March 1968, the U.S. could have no conventional military troops in Laos, hence the secret war. We carried no identification papers or dog tags.

Keep in mind that it isn’t any secret that US Special Forces are in country, the White House has been very transparent that 50, and later 250, SOF personnel were being deployed there to assist the YPG in their fight against ISIS.

It is July 1965, and President Lyndon B. Johnson has made the decision to send troops into Vietnam. U.S. strategy in Vietnam demands a necessary escalation of force. American policy, stemming from Cold War doctrine, and events in Vietnam since at least 1954 have gone unchecked for too long. Yet, U.S. policy is destined to […]

After spending his first day in Vietnam shuttling among meetings with different government leaders, Obama will spend the next two days speaking directly to the Vietnamese people and meeting with civil society groups and young entrepreneurs.