User talk:2605:6000:160A:C616:8876:DFE1:30AB:AA1E

I have comments about the pieces on the CIA ops in Laos. There are no mentions of Army helicopter operations into Laos.

I was a pilot for the US Army, Company B, 158th Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Mobile) from April 1969 through March 1970, flying the Bell UH-1H Huey.

I and many others flew missions into Laos from Camp Eagle at Phu Bai, Dong Ha and Quang Tri, in Northern I Corps of South Vietnam.

All of the missions I was on was to rappel two teams of three men down 250'f long ropes through the triple canopy jungle into the jungle floor.

Other times we would go to retrieve them. We would drop our ropes through the jungle. The men would hook up their rig to the rope by carabiner and we would hover out of the jungle straight up until they cleared the tops of the jungle. Then we would climb and fly towards a mountain top directed by our gunships (Cobras), they would put suppressive ordinance on to the spot. Then we would set then men down on the mountain, then hover down the 250' length of the ropes (strings for slang), and put the men into our cargo hold, along with the ropes. The CIA rigged them into the tie down rings in the floor. Then there were two ropes or more per side that dropped out when they were pushed out. It seems the ropes (lines) on each side were taped together. I just flew the missions, the CIA and my two crewmen in the back handled all of that.

At no time were my crews given navigation maps of Laos, nor emergency radios to carry if we had to walk back to the coast. Many times we went to recover a crew that we did not put in days before. We had no ability to navigate to them as we had no maps, and it was always the tops of jungles which had no discernable features. Laos was not defoliated anywhere that I saw. So the US Airforce was employed to lead us to the sites using electronic navigation aids while flying the Cessna O-2 Skymaster

I figured out that they CIA was often times trying to infiltrate North Vietnamese Operations Centers in Laos. On one recovery that I lead, there was an young NVA Lieutenant with his right arm shot off at about mid forearm. It was well bandaged up and he was in no danger of bleeding to death. I think we recovered that crew to the Army Surgical Hospital at Quang Tri. It was easy to understand CIA captured him so they could interrogate him to obtain military intelligence.

Some of our operations used about an hours fuel just to get to the intended location, we would fly just South of the DMZ, then in Laos we turned North West towards our target in Laos, which put us North of the DMZ. The DMZ was only about 65 miles long. We were flying over and around the Ho Chi Minh Trail of course.

Sometimes we would go out to recover a team that had been out for some days, and sometimes were told by the people that the team was never found again. I have no idea of the details.

We were like UBER drivers, we were told as little as possible for us to get the job done. We had no survival equipment or food. We were told that if we went down that the people we were carrying would get us out. I asked, "What if they are all dead then what?" The guy briefing us just gave a weak smile and looked at us, that was it! I knew then, more than at anytime, including my time on Dong Ap Bai (Hamburger Hill), that we were expendable and just cannon fodder.