Go Back   Professional Soldiers ® > Special Forces > Base Camp

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 05-14-2015, 22:54   #1
CryptKeeper
Asset
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Smoke Bomb Hill
Posts: 27
The Secret World of a Green Beret

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/04/ma...een-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.

Quote:
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.
Quote:
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.
Quote:
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?
__________________
"The fox knows many tricks; the hedgehog one good one."
-Archilochus

Last edited by CryptKeeper; 05-14-2015 at 23:40. Reason: clarification
CryptKeeper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2015, 01:31   #2
BMT (RIP)
Quiet Professional
 
BMT (RIP)'s Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Red State
Posts: 3,774
Most sounds like BULL SHIT!!

BMT
__________________
Don't mess with old farts...age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill! Bullshit and brilliance only come with age and experience.
BMT (RIP) is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2015, 03:22   #3
JJ_BPK
Quiet Professional
 
JJ_BPK's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: 18 yrs upstate NY, 30 yrs South Florida, 20 yrs Conch Republic, now chasing G-Kids in NOVA & UK
Posts: 11,901
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMT View Post
Most sounds like BULL SHIT!!

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

Butt POTUS was Jimmy Carter.


__________________
Go raibh tú leathuair ar Neamh sula mbeadh a fhios ag an diabhal go bhfuil tú marbh

"May you be a half hour in heaven before the devil knows you’re dead"
JJ_BPK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2015, 03:26   #4
Old Dog New Trick
Quiet Professional
 
Old Dog New Trick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Just above the flood plain in Southern Texas
Posts: 3,608
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.
__________________
You only live once; live well. Have no regrets when the end happens!

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” (Sir Edmund Burke)
Old Dog New Trick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2015, 03:35   #5
MR2
Quiet Professional
 
MR2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Location, Location
Posts: 3,997
Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Dog New Trick View Post
I stared at goats, sometimes all night long.
Is that some kind of muslim porn?
__________________
The two most powerful warriors are patience and time - Leo Tolstoy

It's Never Crowded Along the Extra Mile - Wayne Dyer


WOKE = Willfully Overlooking Known Evil
MR2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2015, 03:39   #6
Old Dog New Trick
Quiet Professional
 
Old Dog New Trick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Just above the flood plain in Southern Texas
Posts: 3,608
Quote:
Originally Posted by MR2 View Post
Is that some kind of muslim porn?
Ha! Only if it would sell a book or make a movie.
__________________
You only live once; live well. Have no regrets when the end happens!

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” (Sir Edmund Burke)
Old Dog New Trick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2015, 04:23   #7
Joker
Quiet Professional
 
Joker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Tampa
Posts: 2,576
Quote:
Originally Posted by MR2 View Post
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.
Joker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2015, 04:27   #8
x SF med
Quiet Professional
 
x SF med's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: In transit somewhere
Posts: 4,044
Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Dog New Trick View Post
...
But then what the hell I do I know. I stared at goats, sometimes all night long.

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

And then there was the Trojan Warrior Program.....
__________________
In the business of war, there is no invariable stategic advantage (shih) which can be relied upon at all times.
Sun-Tzu, "The Art of Warfare"

Hearing, I forget. Seeing, I remember. Writing (doing), I understand. Chinese Proverb

Too many people are looking for a magic bullet. As always, shot placement is the key. ~TR
x SF med is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2015, 04:58   #9
SFOC0173
Auxiliary
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: North Little Rock, AR
Posts: 61
MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam-Special Operations Group),
He did not even get this one right.
SFOC0173 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2015, 05:07   #10
Scimitar
Area Commander
 
Scimitar's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Hobbiton
Posts: 1,198
"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
__________________
"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for power equal to your tasks."
-- Phillip Brooks

"A man's reach should exceed his grasp"
-- Robert Browning

"Hooah! Pushing thru the shit til Daisies grow, Sir"
-- Me

"Malo mori quam foedari"
"Death before Dishonour"
-- Family Coat-of-Arms Maxim

"Mārohirohi! Kia Kaha!"
"Be strong! Drive-on!"
-- Māori saying
Scimitar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2015, 05:46   #11
Trapper John
Quiet Professional
 
Trapper John's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Harrisburg, PA
Posts: 3,834
Quote:
Originally Posted by x SF med View Post
Yeah.... all night, all day, for weeks on end. They called it training.

And then there was the Trojan Warrior Program.....
I was just going too say....but, you beat me to it.

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.
__________________
Honor Above All Else
Trapper John is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2015, 07:18   #12
Richard
Quiet Professional
 
Richard's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: NorCal
Posts: 15,370
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
__________________
“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.” - To Kill A Mockingbird (Atticus Finch)

“Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.” - Robert Heinlein
Richard is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2015, 18:47   #13
Flying Jibe
Asset
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Pamlico
Posts: 2
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
Flying Jibe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-17-2015, 13:35   #14
Team Sergeant
Quiet Professional
 
Team Sergeant's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 20,929
The Secret World of a Green Beret

I thought it would be an article detailing all the places we've buried bodies..... (whew)
__________________
"The Spartans do not ask how many are the enemy, but where they are."
Team Sergeant is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-17-2015, 14:42   #15
PRB
Quiet Professional
 
PRB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Arizona
Posts: 5,221
You guys go ahead on...I need to keep my secrets secret.....
PRB is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:50.



Copyright 2004-2022 by Professional Soldiers ®
Site Designed, Maintained, & Hosted by Hilliker Technologies