Jim Rohrer Part 2

If you haven't already done so, please read the previous post about Super Scout before beginning this one. It will give you a better understanding about the character of Jim Rohrer.

In any event, I've tried to go over some more information to add details to the mission so I could complete this without having to write a book about it. In pursuit of that, I opened my files from Jim last night and went over as much stuff as I could.

I could not find the map of Haiti I was looking for but I did find an email from Jim that was written during the time frame when we were both going through chemo therapy. He was down to 150 pounds and very close to the end of his time but he was still hammering away on his lap top.

I reviewed Jim's files because I was wanting to copy the map and get Curt to put it on the Air Cav Troop site so you could see the two areas that he and I discussed as a point to insert our special passengers. I was particularly interested in a mountain that was close to the Presidential Palace near Port au Prince. On my old map I remembered that it was named "Massif ???????" (something or another) but I can't find it as today's map is different.

My target was Jeremie where rumor had it that Cedras had a private plane hidden in case another coup attempt was made. I found out that Jeremie was the birth place of Cedras and probably the reason he stashed a plane there.

I guess that we were really nothing more than a contingency plan that was put in place as an alternative if all else failed.

Despite the fact that Carter and Colin Powell finally managed to get things squared away, I always wondered what would have happened if they hadn't managed to inspire Cedras to seek political refuge in Panama. I thought it would be Venezuela because there were ties there that came from the time when Papa Doc Duvalier was in charge. That's another story all together and I don't think it fits the profile here so I won't go into it.

Despite all the things that ended up as the cause of cancelling our mission, I wondered about many logistical things had the mission proceeded..

I had never even considered long, over water, night time, rotary wing combat assaults. I had seen pictures of refueling probes mounted on the "Jolly Green Giant" helicopters and knew that long, over water rescue missions could be accomplished by refueling them at sea.

We never got far enough along to focus on the proposed method of refueling OH 6's over the Caribbean at night. I recall an estimated six or seven hour en route time requirement and that only covered the flight time from Puerto Barrios to Jeremie where Cedras had his plane hidden. I knew it would take several mid air refuelings to accomplish that and after the fact, knew that our part of the plan was a "last ditch effort" if every other effort to get him out of Haiti failed.

I hope that this little story has helped make the point about "Character" that has been a topic of discussion on the web site from the Air Cav Troop. I am already aware that some of you didn't know where Jim ended up and from that point, were glad to find out about some of the things he did after our time in Vietnam and Cambodia came to an end.

With regard to that, I think it would be better for me to open my files for the guys who are coming to Shreveport for a reunion. I think that Bill knows some of it but I'm not sure how much. When the reunion takes place, I will disclose all of those things including a couple of other missions that are more in tune with current events.

As I close this I wanted to say that we had no specific intent to kill Cedras. I'm not even sure if we were simply delivering snipers to take him out as he attempted to board his plane and make his escape or if we were simply taking them for security to insure that we could have kidnapped him and returned him to Guatemala.

Jim, rest in peace, brother. Curt Lambert said that you are still listed as a member on the site and that you always will be.