My Tac Officer from 5th WOC

Lots of comments coming from all over the Country. One in particular, was most interesting.

Bernard T. Diable, former CW2 Tac Officer from the Fort Wolters, Texas days has added more information to the political documents I mentioned earlier . He took CW2 Machen's place at the 5th Warrant Officer Candidate Company, Flight A1 (August 1969), has signed in and added to the historical information that has been posted here.

Bernie sent an email reminder for me to look into SEATO, which is the South East Asia Treaty Organization. As a coincidence, SEATO came along in 1954 which was the same time frame when the 1954 Geneva Accords came to be. This one also tells a story about political maneuverings that were going on at the time the French took a nose dive at Dien Bien Phu.

You combat Veterans and history freaks will find this addition most interesting as it included specific language regarding Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. I have a suggestion for those of you who are really interested in the factual part of things that produced such a screw up as the one we found in the 60's and 70's. Google SEATO and go over the details. You will be surprised at the information there. I thought I was well read in that department but I surely missed out on this one.

In an attempt to help you gather all the information together, please take a look at the SEATO site and take note of all the Countries involved. You will find the Philippines, Thailand and other Countries involved here and that will help you later on in these posts as an upcoming editorial that I intend to post here has a much larger scope than Vietnam alone.

Special thanks to Bernie Diable and Curt Lambert for the comments. Additional thanks to Ed Wolfe, my first room mate in Vietnam when I reported to the 199th Light Infantry Brigade in Long Binh in May of 1970.

For you new readers, you can go to "older posts" and rummage around there for separate stories about Ed Wolfe, Craig Wollman, Dudley Doc Young and other pilots who were most influential in my combat tour. As you can see by the information regarding SEATO, they are still influential.

As a final comment for today, I would like to say that there will be a very detailed editorial posted soon and knowing all the details will provide you with a very well informed background of all the facts that surrounded the political situation we unknowingly faced when we arrived for combat duty.

I consider those facts as the single, most important information base from which an intellectual determination can be made regarding the how, why and who was responsible for the mess. It will also allow you to view the after affects of the war from a different perspective. Enjoy the read. Thanks again for the comments. Tim