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CryptKeeper
05-14-2015, 22:54
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/04/magazine/the-secret-world-of-a-green-beret.html

While conducting a little research on SF history in Vietnam, and specifically MACV-SOG, I stumbled upon this rather interesting article from 1982, which makes quite a number of extraordinary claims, especially in regard to the operations in Thailand, Cambodia, and Libya.

Thompson never returned to Latin America, but he reported that two years later several of his fellow Green Berets secretly took part in the capture and killing of Che Guevara, the Cuban revolutionary leader. Thompson's description of the operation in Bolivia was confirmed by another former Green Beret who was a participant, and by former Defense Department and intelligence officials who were involved. All of them asked not to be identified.

Next, Thompson was ordered to join a covert operation in Thailand run by the Army and the C.I.A. Supervised by the MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam-Special Operations Group), the mission involved the training of Thai special-forces teams, followed by their deployment with Green Berets to interdict the Ho Chi Minh trail.

He described the work when he talked to Thompson but he did not reveal that he had been dismissed several weeks earlier because he had assisted the former agents Wilson and Terpil in obtaining explosive timers for shipment to Libya. Wilson and Terpil, it was later discovered, had signed an agreement with Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi to help train terrorists.

With that being said...

Do any QP's from that era have any comments regarding the substantive nature of the claims made in the article?

BMT (RIP)
05-15-2015, 01:31
Most sounds like BULL SHIT!!

BMT

JJ_BPK
05-15-2015, 03:22
Most sounds like BULL SHIT!!

BMT

Or A script for a seal team 6 movie,, The Expendables XII?? :lifter

Butt POTUS was Jimmy Carter.


:D

Old Dog New Trick
05-15-2015, 03:26
Me thinks he's probably BFF with Dick-head Marc_inko. Both can apparently weave a fictional story surrounded by unsubstantiated non-fictional facts.

I think the the U.S. Government (aka CIA) can only claim credit for one 20th Century assassination or complicity: Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iran, 1953. That has turned out so well...

But then what the hell I do I know. I stared at goats, sometimes all night long. :p

MR2
05-15-2015, 03:35
I stared at goats, sometimes all night long. :p

Is that some kind of muslim porn?

Old Dog New Trick
05-15-2015, 03:39
Is that some kind of muslim porn?

Ha! Only if it would sell a book or make a movie. :D

Joker
05-15-2015, 04:23
Is that some kind of muslim porn?

Derka, derka?

Reference Che, there is plenty of information out there how he met his demise. Yes SF had a "hand" or two in it.

x SF med
05-15-2015, 04:27
...
But then what the hell I do I know. I stared at goats, sometimes all night long. :p


Yeah.... all night, all day, for weeks on end. They called it training. :mad:

And then there was the Trojan Warrior Program.....:eek:

SFOC0173
05-15-2015, 04:58
MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam-Special Operations Group),
He did not even get this one right.

Scimitar
05-15-2015, 05:07
"The Secret World of a Green Beret"

I'm imagining a kids cartoon, where the
"Garry the Green Beret",
comes alive each night and slips off of Staff Sergeant Jackson's night stand,
to conduct covert ops against the evil empire of the "Civilian Clothes Overlords"...

...actually not a bad idea....do I get Executive Producer Credits. ;)

S

Trapper John
05-15-2015, 05:46
Yeah.... all night, all day, for weeks on end. They called it training. :mad:

And then there was the Trojan Warrior Program.....:eek:

I was just going too say....but, you beat me to it. :p

As to the article, BS seasoned with a couple of irrelevant facts to lend credibility (what Old Dog said). And he couldn't even get MACVSOG correct. :rolleyes:

Richard
05-15-2015, 07:18
Pappy Shelton's team from the 8th SFGA was responsible for training and advising the Bolivian troops that ran Che to ground. Veritas, the USASOC Office of the Historian quarterly pub, had an issue several years ago dedicated to the 8th SFGA and that mission. Their team set up a training camp in the heart of Che's GWOA and was in the process of training the second Bolivian Ranger battalion when the 1st battalion ended Che's campaign.

The original mission of the 46th SF Co included a number of personnel with SOG experience for training Thai forces as described - the mission changed several times during the unit's existence in Thailand.

And so it goes...

Richard

Flying Jibe
05-15-2015, 18:47
I happened to be reading Inside the Green Berets (1983) by Charles M. Simpson III when this thread came up and wanted to call attention to it. If anyone is interested in learning more about the events above, and many others like them in Special Forces history, I would highly recommend picking up this book if you haven't already.

Simpson focuses on covering first 30 years of Special Forces history including those operations of the 46th SFC(A) in Thailand. It is an eye opening account of the diverse and widespread actions of SF that go unnoticed by most. It certainly gave me a greater appreciation for the work that SF does in the far corners of the world.

ISBN: 978-0425091463

Team Sergeant
05-17-2015, 13:35
The Secret World of a Green Beret

I thought it would be an article detailing all the places we've buried bodies..... (whew)

PRB
05-17-2015, 14:42
You guys go ahead on...I need to keep my secrets secret.....:)

mark46th
05-17-2015, 20:56
I thought they were going to bring up an incident at the Bell Bar in 1972.

bushmaster11
05-17-2015, 23:56
It was a nytimes story. That's about enough said. Through the late 60's and earl;y 70's, the Nytimes ran their asses off trying to get a MACVSOG story. They found a blank wall. Nobody would speak to them. The same s - - t that CNN did in the 90's.

We will never be free from persons of low moral character that would rather have a story rather than allow secret opns alone, and stay under the radar.

J R sends
De Oppresso Liber

Team Sergeant
05-18-2015, 09:11
It was a nytimes story. That's about enough said. Through the late 60's and earl;y 70's, the Nytimes ran their asses off trying to get a MACVSOG story. They found a blank wall. Nobody would speak to them. The same s - - t that CNN did in the 90's.
We will never be free from persons of low moral character that would rather have a story rather than allow secret opns alone, and stay under the radar.

J R sends
De Oppresso Liber

And we all know how that worked out for CNN......

CNN, if it ain't lies we don't run it......

x SF med
06-07-2015, 03:15
I thought they were going to bring up an incident at the Bell Bar in 1972.

No mention of Rick's either, or Bottom's Up or Flaming Mug... not a lot of secrets revealed then.

Mike
12-14-2015, 04:41
Just ran across this thread.

I knew Luke Thompson.

He was an excellent instructor in the 91a section of the Medic course in 1967.

I ran into him again later when he was an A Team medic in VN.

He was a squared away troop.

Years later, I saw him on the CBS news regarding the Wilson deal.

Team Sergeant
12-14-2015, 12:09
Wilson and Terpil, it was later discovered, had signed an agreement with Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi to help train terrorists.


If green berets went to prison for training islamic terrorists half of us would be in prison right now, along with every administration since the 60's.

And you can take that to the bank.

tom kelly
12-14-2015, 17:22
ANYONE REMEMBER OPERATION TAILWIND SPUN BY APRIL OLIVER,PETER ARNETT & OTHER CNN PRODUCERS? CNN/ & TIME MAGAZINE. APRIL OLIVER LIED ABOUT A SPECIAL FORCES OPERATION USING NERVE GAS (SARIN) TO KILL AMERICAN DEFECTORS DURING A SECRET OPERATION IN LAOS IN 1970. THE SPECIAL FORCES ASSOCIATION & JIMMY DEAN (Decd) SUED TIME & CNN APRIL OLIVER & PETER ARNET & WON THE LAWSUIT . ALL THE LIARS "APOLOGIZED & RETRACTED THE STORY WHICH WAS SO DEVASTATING THAT ARNET & OLIVER WERE FIRED. THE TRUE STORY OF THE OPERATION IS PRINTED IN "THE DROP". Tom Kelly

Team Sergeant
12-15-2015, 08:51
ANYONE REMEMBER OPERATION TAILWIND SPUN BY APRIL OLIVER,PETER ARNETT & OTHER CNN PRODUCERS? CNN/ & TIME MAGAZINE. APRIL OLIVER LIED ABOUT A SPECIAL FORCES OPERATION USING NERVE GAS (SARIN) TO KILL AMERICAN DEFECTORS DURING A SECRET OPERATION IN LAOS IN 1970. THE SPECIAL FORCES ASSOCIATION & JIMMY DEAN (Decd) SUED TIME & CNN APRIL OLIVER & PETER ARNET & WON THE LAWSUIT . ALL THE LIARS "APOLOGIZED & RETRACTED THE STORY WHICH WAS SO DEVASTATING THAT ARNET & OLIVER WERE FIRED. THE TRUE STORY OF THE OPERATION IS PRINTED IN "THE DROP". Tom Kelly

Yes many of us "older" SF guys remember the lies from CNN concerning Tail Wind.

That's how the ultra-left socialists work, on lies.

Box
12-15-2015, 09:08
Front page headline:

LIES - TYRANNY - DECEIT - NON-LIBERAL GROUP OPPRESSES MILLIONS







Page 13 redaction several weeks later:

Oooops... our research was off.



Its been the MO of the political hucksters on the left for as long as there has been a political left...

Mike
12-19-2015, 23:05
Regarding the tailwind deal.

There are some folks taking credit for things that a lot of other people did.

This was a big issue about the time I joined the SF Teamhouse.

All I'm gonna say. Sue me.

bushmaster11
04-25-2016, 23:02
Due to all the shit CNN brought up, DA had to do records searches to answer questions raised. By their diligence there was an unintended consequence of action. To their credit, The DA staff recognized a diamond in the rough which later translated to MACV-SOG being awarded the Presidential Unit Award. Long overdue, but appreciated anyway.

J R sends
DOL