Undercover Armies - CIA FOIA - Central Intelligence Agency

C05303949
SErT1fMR
ON THE PROKIUNE IN SAM NEUAD
the NVA withdrawal into a rout. A "jubilant" Vang Pao ordered his men to
pursue the advance, which at that point had cost just one friendly fatality. D
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By May 1965, Vang Pao's guerrillas were active within 10 miles of Sam
Neua town, and nearly all the positions lost to the earlier North Vietnamese
. drive had been recovered.I [was back from the hospital but soon
to be transferred to the northwest, and Lair senti f-himself just out
of the hospital after a bout of hepatitis-to'oin Colonel Thon at the new Sam
Neua sector head uarters at Na Khan .
Like that of many another upcountry site, Na Khang's importance derived
from its topography. The length of its airstrip, almost 2,300 feet, compensated
for the thin air of its elevation (4,400 feet) and it accommodated the C-123's
nine-ton payload. By international civilian standards, the strip was suicidally
dangerous: no navigational aids helped a pilot through heavy weather, and it
was, of course, unpaved. Further, the high ground at the northeast end of the
strip eliminated any possibility of aborting a landing, once on final approach,
to make a second pass. But its handling capacity-fuel for the Jolly Green
Giants being a major item-made it the best available facility from which to
support operations in Sam Neua.90
From Na Khang, Helio-Couriers and Porters ferried food and ammunition
to the advancing forward units and to the militia outposts. As the 1965 rainy
season wore on, VangPao's motley little army stayed on the offensive in Sam
Neua Province.I Isaw him often, and grew familiar with the general's
hands-on style even while learning how to deal with a proud, charismatic
leader who was also an American client. This meant accepting the same
imperative that Bill Lair and I
Ihad earlier recognized: to exert
the requisite influence without wounding VangPao's pride or diminishing him
in the eyes of his people.Do '
I
Ihad the impression that the general indulged an almost paternalistic
interest in the younger case officers, seeingit as part of his job to ensure that
they were properly trained.c:=:Jplayed on this, allowing Vang Pao to think
of him as a senior subordinate. When the general gave him orders, he
promptly complied, at least as long as the assignment was something he was
authorized to carry out. Inl Iunderstanding, the Agency did not in any
pintervicw;l
'Jim Gleruml--l-----------------~
10 IL- -1Dinterview.D
SE,imTlfMR
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