1 - The Black Vault

PRAETORIAN STARSHIP
and other reconnaissance assets; PACAF owned
additional fixed- and rotary-wing assets needed
(including Talons, A-1s, and helicopters) for the
operation; and USAFE owned a contingent of
Combat Talons and crews from which to draw additional
support. 11
With a green light from the JCS, the already
hectic planning tempo accelerated. The next major
milestone was the selection of a mission commander.
On 10 July USAF brigadier general
Leroy Manor received a telephone call from the
Pentagon shortly after SACSA briefed the mission
to the JCS. He was told that he had been selected
to command a special mission for the Joint Chiefs
of Staff. He was instructed to fly to Washington
the next day and to make an operation’s stop at
Pope AFB, North Carolina, to pick up a US Army
colonel named Arthur D. Simons. General Manor
was, at the time, the commander, USAF SOF, located
at Eglin AFB, Florida, and was responsible
for training Air Force Special Operations Forces
supporting worldwide tasking, including Combat
Talon operations in SEA and in Europe. He was a
highly respected Air Force general officer and
combat veteran, having flown 345 missions in
World War II and in Vietnam. He was the former
wing commander of the 37th Tactical Fighter
Wing stationed at Phu Cat, South Vietnam. 12
General Manor thought it strange that he was
directed to stop and pick up an Army colonel at
Pope AFB. Although they had never met, General
Manor would soon come to appreciate the abilities
of Colonel Simons, who, as it turned out, had been
designated the ground force commander. Colonel
Simons’s nickname was “Bull,” and he had earned
his reputation through three decades of soldiering.
He had entered the Army in 1941 as a second
lieutenant fresh out of Reserve Officer Training
Corps. After his light artillery unit was disbanded
while in New Guinea, his unit was absorbed into
the Sixth Rangers. He commanded B Company of
the Sixth Rangers during the invasion of the Philippines.
In the early 1960s he worked with General
Blackburn preparing Special Forces’s soldiers
for White Star team operations in Laos. His mission
there was to help establish a Laotian army
and to instruct it in basic military skills. Bull Simons
joined SOG when General Blackburn was
its commander in 1965; he enjoyed General Blackburn’s
complete trust. 13
General Manor and Colonel Simons reviewed
the operational plan that General Blackburn and
his staff had briefed to the JCS. Both concurred
with the feasibility study group that the mission
was, indeed, possible. Meetings were held with
DIA, CIA, and National Security Agency representatives
where the two men were pledged complete
support from each agency. With a window of
18–25 October only three months away, much
work needed to be done to establish the JCTG and
bring it up to mission-ready status. A rough timetable
was worked out to ensure the raiding force
was trained and ready. The two commanders
would return to their respective locations and immediately
begin selection of the nucleus of their
force. On 8 August they would return to Washington
with their deputies for a five-day detailed
planning session. A training site would be selected
during the planning session, and a detailed training
plan would be prepared and ready by 20 August.
The OPLAN would be completed by 28 August,
with actual training commencing by 9
September. Support missions, including SR-71
and unmanned drone reconnaissance flights over
North Vietnam, would be laid on during this period.
Cover stories would be developed by a special
security section in SACSA, and measures to
prevent information leaks would be put into
place. The raiding force would be fully trained
and ready to deploy by 10 October to meet the
first mission window. 14
General Manor and Colonel Simons used sepa -
rate approaches to find and recruit volunteers for
the mission. At Fort Bragg Colonel Simons selected
his key deputies and then discreetly put
out the word that he was looking for volunteers
for a “moderately hazardous” mission, instructing
all who were interested to form up in the base
theater at an appointed time. Through an extensive
process whereby Colonel Simons personally
interviewed every volunteer, just over 100 men
were selected from the 500 who answered the call.
This group would be reduced later to a raiding
force of 56 men. 15
General Manor used a different approach. He
called in men whom he was sure would volunteer
and told them only that he had a highly classified
mission and asked if they would like to participate
with him. He explained that there were some risks
and that it was a good project, but he did not disclose
the actual objective of the mission. He offered
to excuse anyone who did not want to participate. 16
The Air Force contingent consisted of aircrews
and support personnel for two Combat Talons,
five A-1E Skyraiders, one HH-3, and five HH-53
helicopters. 17 One Combat Talon crew was sourced
from Detachment 2, 1st SOW, Pope AFB and was
commanded by Colonel Blosch. The second Talon
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