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Special Air Warfare and the Secret War in Laos by Joseph D. Celeski Pdf
"This book is Dedicated to the Air Commandos who served in the secret war in Laos and who fought and gave their lives in that conflict to prevent the communist takeover of the Royal Kingdom of Laos. It was through their efforts, vision, and bold leadership that Special Air Warfare was successful in that theater of operations"--Provided by publisher.
Special Air Warfare and the Secret War in Laos by Air University Press,Joseph D Celeski Pdf
The story of special air warfare and the Air Commandos who served for the ambassadors in Laos from 1964 to 1975 is captured through extensive research and veteran interviews. The author has meticulously put together a comprehensive overview of the involvement of USAF Air Commandos who served in Laos as trainers, advisors, and clandestine combat forces to prevent the communist takeover of the Royal Lao Government. This book includes pictures of those operations, unveils what had been a US government secret war, and adds a substantial contribution to understanding the wider war in Southeast Asia.
The Green Berets in the Land of a Million Elephants by Joseph D. Celeski Pdf
The untold story of US Special Forces in Laos, one of the longest secret wars of the Cold War—by a military historian and Special Forces veteran. The Secret War in Laos was one of the first “long wars” fought by US Special Forces, spanning a period of about thirteen years. It was one of the largest CIA-paramilitary operations of the time, kept out of the view of the American public until now. Between 1959 and 1974, Green Berets were covertly deployed to Laos during the Laotian Civil War to prevent the Communist Pathet Lao from taking over the country. Operators disguised as civilians and answering only to “Mister,“ were delivered to the country by Air America, where they reported to the US Ambassador. With limited resources, they faced a country in chaos. Maps had large blank areas. and essential supplies often didn’t arrive at all. In challenging tropical conditions, they trained and undertook combat advisory duties with the Royal Lao Government. Shrouded in secrecy until the 1990s, this was one of the first major applications of special warfare doctrine. Now, the story is comprehensively told for the first time using official archival documents and interviews with veterans.
Usaf Air Commando Secret Wars from Laos to Latin America by Eugene D. Rossel Pdf
The Air Commando secret wars happened mostly during the Vietnam War time frame and was a global effort involving USAF volunteer personnel who were given official military orders that did not necessarily specify the country they served in, and civilian clothes were many times authorized. Later they had great difficulty proving that they served in many of these countries, which affected their future VA care. These operations were used to strengthen normally a poor country with little military resources and training with secret warriors frequently being there doing some of their legwork behind the scenes. All the operations were tight-lipped, frequently forbidden to tell families where you were and what you were doing. As an example; Capt. Bob Simpsons death, the first fighter pilot KIA in Vietnam in August 1962, became a total fabrication of where, why, and how and took a number of years before the government came clean because of my efforts. Secret wars have a long history, and they will continue because of the interest of more-powerful nations with their less fortunate brethren.
Presenting a fascinating insider's view of U.S.A.F. special operations, this volume brings to life the critical contributions these forces have made to the exercise of air & space power. Focusing in particular on the period between the Korean War & the Indochina wars of 1950-1979, the accounts of numerous missions are profusely illustrated with photos & maps. Includes a discussion of AF operations in Europe during WWII, as well as profiles of Air Commandos who performed above & beyond the call of duty. Reflects on the need for financial & political support for restoration of the forces. Bibliography. Extensive photos & maps. Charts & tables.
Air University Press,U. S. Military,Department of Defense (DoD),Michael E. Haas,U. S. Air Force (USAF)
Author : Air University Press,U. S. Military,Department of Defense (DoD),Michael E. Haas,U. S. Air Force (USAF) Publisher : Unknown Page : 331 pages File Size : 42,8 Mb Release : 2017-04-09 Category : Electronic ISBN : 1521032580
Apollo's Warriors: U. S. Air Force Special Operations During the Cold War - Secret Psywar Weapons, Indochina War, Air Commandos, Covert War Missions by Air University Press,U. S. Military,Department of Defense (DoD),Michael E. Haas,U. S. Air Force (USAF) Pdf
In Apollo's Warriors, Michael Haas brings to life the critical, albeit little-known, contributions US Air Force special operations forces have made to the exercise of air and space power.The author focuses in particular on the period between the Korean War and the Indochina wars of 1950-79. The Korean War marked the first major use of Air Force special operations capabilities during the cold war. Capabilities previously employed during the Second World War were quickly resurrected and used to conduct unconventional warfare missions on the land and sea, as well as in the air. Once these capabilities were available, USAF special operations personnel found themselves constantly engaged in psychological, covert, and search and rescue operations far north of the 38th parallel until the war ended in 1953.During the period between 1953 and the initial force deployments to Laos and South Vietnam in the early 1960s, the Air Resupply and Communications (ARC) units had the primary responsibility for USAF special operations. The role of USAF special operations changed dramatically with the increased involvement of the United States in the Second Indochina War. One of the more interesting changes was the reconstitution of the Air Commando concept of the Second World War. During that war, the Air Commandos conducted effective aerial invasions throughout the China-Burma-India theater. Building on this legacy, the Air Commandos of the Vietnam era initially were the focal point for training Laotian pilots and conducting unconventional warfare operations in Laos. By 1968, they had proved so valuable that their role had been expanded to encompass all USAF special operations in Indochina. As a reflection of this broader mission, the Air Commandos were renamed the Special Operations Forces.CONTENTS * PRELUDE: BEFORE THE BEGINNING * Special Operations in Europe * The Air Commandos * KOREA * THE RETURN TO WAR * THE SHADOW WAR * The War: Center Stage * The War behind the Curtain * Aviary and Unit 4 in Action * SPECIAL AIR MISSIONS * FIREFLY, LEAFLET, AND PICKUP OPERATIONS * NICHOLS'S "ONE-MAN WAR" * SPECIAL OPERATIONS BY USAF "SAILORS" * USAF'S SECRET PSYWAR WEAPON * Organizations and Missions * Tales of the 581st * COVERT WAR * THE AIR RESUPPLY AND COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE * A Chilling Fear * An "Agency outside DOD" Makes a Request * Going Too Fast * Psywarriors from Georgetown University to Fort Benning * The Air Resupply and Communications Service Balloon Program * Operation Think * THE "COLD ARCS" AND THE IRON CURTAIN * Blue Suits, Green Berets, Hidden Faces * The SA-16s' "Silent Success" * From H&B to AMA * The Last of the Breed * THE GUARD GETS THE NOD * "BANDITS" ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD * "THEY HAD NO AIR SUPPORT" * Operation Pluto * Aftermath * THE SECOND INDOCHINA WAR * LAOS 1961: THE KEY DOMINO * A Blue Major in the Black World * No Faces, No Serial Numbers * A Primer in "Cold War 101" * LAOS 1964: THE BRUISED DOMINO * A Wilderness of Mirrors * Teaching the "ABCs" of the Secret War * LAOS 1966: THE BLOODY DOMINO * Snake Country * Tigers and Eagles Go Snake Hunting * The Nimrods * Zorro! * The Skyraiders * LAOS: INSIDE THE DOMINO * AT THE TIP OF THE SPEAR * FIGHTING WITH THE HEART * THE RANCH HAND PROJECT * THE DRAGONSHIP * Aftermath * THE SHADOW * THE PREDATOR * THE "OTHER" WAR * THE 75TH AIR STUDIES GROUP * Duck Hook, Combat Spear, and OPLAN 34A * The "Bringers of Death" * Green Hornets and Knives * A Bitter Postscript to the War * BARBARA'S SECRET * The Players * From Duke to Takhli * Execute! * The Scapegoats * Son Tay With 20-20 Hindsight * AIR COMMANDOS ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL * Maj Bernard F. Fisher, 1st Air Commando Squadron * Lt Col Joe M. Jackson, 311th Air Commando Squadron * Lt Col William A. Jones III, 602d Special Operations Squadron * 1st Lt James P. Fleming, 20th Special Operations Squadron * Airman 1st Class John L. Levitow, 3d Air Commando Squadron
At the same time the Vietnam War was being broadcast into the living rooms of Americans across the country the CIA was conducting a large-scale secret war in northeastern Laos that few heard about. Agency case officer Jim Parker's five years of combat and immersion in Southeast Asian culture had a lasting influence on him and his family. His dramatic, provocative reminiscence of those years is the first account by a participant to portray America's involvement in Laos.
A Great Place to Have a War by Joshua Kurlantzick Pdf
The untold story of how America’s secret war in Laos in the 1960s transformed the CIA from a loose collection of spies into a military operation and a key player in American foreign policy. January, 1961: Laos, a tiny nation few Americans have heard of, is at risk of falling to communism and triggering a domino effect throughout Southeast Asia. This is what President Eisenhower believed when he approved the CIA’s Operation Momentum, creating an army of ethnic Hmong to fight communist forces there. Largely hidden from the American public—and most of Congress—Momentum became the largest CIA paramilitary operation in the history of the United States. The brutal war lasted more than a decade, left the ground littered with thousands of unexploded bombs, and changed the nature of the CIA forever. With “revelatory reporting” and “lucid prose” (The Economist), Kurlantzick provides the definitive account of the Laos war, focusing on the four key people who led the operation: the CIA operative whose idea it was, the Hmong general who led the proxy army in the field, the paramilitary specialist who trained the Hmong forces, and the State Department careerist who took control over the war as it grew. Using recently declassified records and extensive interviews, Kurlantzick shows for the first time how the CIA’s clandestine adventures in one small, Southeast Asian country became the template for how the United States has conducted war ever since—all the way to today’s war on terrorism.
Riveting, novelistic, and startlingly candid, John T. Halliday's combat memoir begins in 1970, when Halliday has just landed in the middle of the Vietnam War, primed to begin his assignment with the 606th Special Operations Squadron. But there's a catch: He's stationed in a kind of no-man's-land. No one on his base flies with ID, patches, or rank. Even as Richard Nixon firmly denies reporters' charges that the United States has forces in Laos, Halliday realizes that from his base in Thailand, he will be flying top-secret, black-ops night missions over the Laotian Ho Chi Minh Trail. A naive yet thoughtful twenty-four-year-old, Halliday was utterly unprepared for the horrors of war. On his first mission, Halliday's C-123 aircraft dodges more than a thousand antiaircraft shells, and that is just the beginning. Nothing is as he expected -- not the operations, not the way his shell-shocked fellow pilots look and act, and certainly not the squadron's daredevil, seat-of-one's-pants approach to piloting. But before long, Halliday has become one of those seasoned and shell-shocked pilots, and finds himself in a desperate search for a way to elude certain death. Using frank, true-to-life dialogue, potent imagery, and classic 1970s song lyrics, Halliday deftly describes the fraught Laotian skies and re-creates his struggle to navigate the frustrating Air Force bureaucracy, the deprivations of a remote base far from home and his young wife, and his fight to preserve his sanity. The resulting nonfiction narrative vividly captures not only the intricate, distorted culture of war but also the essence of the Vietnam veteran's experience of this troubled era. A powerhouse fusion of pathos and humor, brutal realism and intimate reflection, Flying Through Midnight is a landmark contribution to war literature, revealing previously top-secret intelligence on the 606th's night missions. Fast-paced, thrilling, and bitingly intelligent, Halliday illuminates it all: the heart-pounding air battles, the close friendships, the crippling fear, and the astonishing final escape that made the telling of it possible.
“An incredibly powerful account of a little-known chapter in the Vietnam War saga” written by a CIA veteran who fought in the Secret War (Booklist, starred review). In the 1960s and ’70s, the Laotian Civil War became a covert theater for the conflict in Vietnam, with the US paramilitary backing the Royal Lao government in what came to be known among the CIA as the Secret War. In late 1971, the North Vietnamese Army launched Campaign Z, invading northern Laos on a mission to defeat the Royal Lao Army. General Giap had specifically ordered the NVA troops to kill the CIA army and occupy its field headquarters in the Long Tieng valley. The NVA faced the small rag-tag army of Vang Pao, mostly Thai irregulars recruited to fight for the CIA. But thousands more were quickly recruited, trained, and rushed into position in Laos to defend against the impending NVA invasion. Despite overwhelming odds in the NVA’s favor, the battle raged for more than one hundred days—the longest battle in the Vietnam War. In the end, it all came down to Skyline Ridge. Whoever won Skyline, won Laos. Historian James E. Parker Jr. served as a CIA paramilitary officer in Laos. In this authoritative and personal account, Parker draws from his own firsthand experience as well as extensive research into CIA files and North Vietnamese after-action reports in order to tell the full story of the battle of Skyline Ridge.
The Trails War formed a major part of the so-called 'secret war' in South East Asia, yet for complex political reasons, including the involvement of the CIA, it received far less coverage than campaigns like Rolling Thunder and Linebacker. Nevertheless, the campaign had a profound effect on the outcome of the war and on its perception in the USA. In the north, the Barrel Roll campaign was often operated by daring pilots flying obsolete aircraft, as in the early years, US forces were still flying antiquated piston-engined T-28 and A-26A aircraft. The campaign gave rise to countless heroic deeds by pilots like the Raven forward air controllers, operating from primitive airstrips in close contact with fierce enemy forces. USAF rescue services carried out extremely hazardous missions to recover aircrew who would otherwise have been swiftly executed by Pathet Lao forces, and reconnaissance pilots routinely risked their lives in solo, low-level mission over hostile territory. Further south, the Steel Tiger campaign was less covert. Arc Light B-52 strikes were flown frequently, and the fearsome AC-130 was introduced to cut the trails. At the same time, many thousands of North Vietnamese troops and civilians repeatedly made the long, arduous journey along the trail in trucks or, more often, pushing French bicycles laden with ammunition and rice. Under constant threat of air attack and enduring heavy losses, they devised extremely ingenious means of survival. The campaign to cut the trails endured for the entire Vietnam War but nothing more than partial success could ever be achieved by the USA. This illustrated title explores the fascinating history of this campaign, analysing the forces involved and explaining why the USA could never truly conquer the Ho Chi Minh trail.
