Smoke On The Wind

There was a smoky odor on the wind as the breeze blew in from the west. We were easing along a footpath just below the crest of a ridge looking for signs of recent passage by humans. The ridge had just turned west from a northerly direction. As soon as we turned to the west the smoky odor became prevalent and was getting stronger!

Y Tal, our point-man, signaled to halt & take cover. We did so noiselessly. He snaked his way back to my position and began to whisper to me in Vietnamese that he had located a small village of "rotting people." Y Tal was a Rhade Montagnard tribesman in his late 20's, a sergeant in the MIKE Force. He was a veteran of 12 years of MIKLE Force duty and knew his craft as a warrior. Rotting people is what the Rhade called lepers.

We edged up to the edge of the tree line onthe ridge above the village some 60 feet below us. Once there I signaled 2 of my MIKE Force scouts to flank our position by 50 feet each way long the ridge. I sent 1 man back over the ridge as a rearguard as well. That left me with Y Tal & 2 other men. We watched as life went on unsuspecting in this village of lepers.

Some of the people looked normal. Most did not look at all normal as they were not whole physically. Lom, a Jarai tribesman and MIKE Force trooper, came back from the northern flank to tell us that he found another trail. I sent him back to scout the trail.

After about an hour he returned to tell us that he had found a larger village about 1 ½ klicks away to the north. By now we had identified the lepers as being Mnung Montagnards, a tribe known to us as mostly friendly and one from which we had recruited many MIKE Force troops. Y Tal & Lom agreed that we should send Bih R'ri,a Mnung MIKE Force trooper down into the leper village to make contact with these folks. This was done as we we moved into another over-look position. Bih R'ri, returned. He reported that there was indeed a larger village just to the north of this leper village. They were indeed Mnung, his people, although they were from another clann group than his own. They were known to him and with his confirmation we went down into the village where we met with the chief, a man with no nose, no fingers on his left hand and no toes on either foot. He asked us if we could provide medial assistance to his people.

I asked for him to accompany us to the larger village. He agreed and we set out to go there immediately. We were met by the village elders. Several young men wearing pieces of MIKE Force tiger-stripe jungle uniforms were there as well. Lom recognized one fo them and told me that he had been wounded at Dak Pek the previous spring.

I got on the radio and called in for a Civil Affairs team to be dispatched along with a platoon of MIKE Force troops to provide security. Word was quick in coming. The team was enroute with extra medics and a convoy of trucks with supplies was headed for Cheo Reo, about 12 klicks aways to the southeast. The village chief was ecstatic. They were getting visited on regular basis by Viet Cong tax collectors. Maybe we could put a stop to that for him as well? Of course we would be happy to do so! This sort of HUMINT (human intelligence) was worth some medicines, supplies & a security force.
Soon the sound of a Huey helicopter could heard approaching from the east. The radio came alve as the pilot called out our call sign. We connected, threw out a yellow smoke grenade as ordered and awaited his touch down in the cleared area near the rice paddies.

As the skids barely made contact with the ground my CO, LTC Madison & an Aussy warrant officer, Mr. MacDade, leaped out! They approached us where we made the introductions all around. Overhead a pair of Huey-Cobra gun ships were sweeping the area as air cover.

My CO decided that a company of MIKE Force was needed so the call went out & they were airborne within the hour and enroute to our location. Before nightfall we had in place a company of MIKE Force, a CA team treating the sick, lame & injured. We had recruited some 15-20 young men for MIKE Force training and had been asked by the chief for assistance make his village a fortified village with a school, a clinic and a new well. This request would be sent to the Corps Commander for approval but we all knew that it would be quick in coming.

Yes, it was war! Yes, it was a time of unrest and horror! It was also a war on sickness, on stone-age poverty, as well as on the Viet Cong & NVA. Not everything we did was about killing. In fact the vast majority of what Special Forces did in Viet Nam was about teaching. We taught things such as community hygiene, agriculture, basic education, water management, animal husbandry, etc. When the USA pulled out of Viet Nam the Montagnards were left holding the bag! They were always hated by the Vietnamese and were always persecuted by them. Many Montagnards left Viet Nam and trekked west to Thailand where they were interned in refugee camps. Many made it here to the USA. They live in such diverse areas as North Carolina, Idaho, Montana, California, Oregon & Washington State.

When I went back to Viet Nam in 1997, I was not allowed by the government to go to areas where I might have found some of my old comrades from the MIKE Force. Reports of fighting, guerrilla warfare, etc. continue to come out of the Central Highlands abut the Montagnards who keep fighting the Vietnamese oppressors. I will always feel a sense of guilt over the fact that we left them to that fate.

Copyright © 2009 Donald R Houston, PhD. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without the author's consent.