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83 7 Vietnam and RT Ohio 1965 After the mission described in the prologue of this book, Meadows was quietly satisfied with the results. He could not even begin to anticipate what far-reaching effects his irrefutable evidence of a large NVA presence in South Vietnam would have on the U.S. war effort and his own career. Neither did he know at the time that this mission was to earn him his first Silver Star.1 The film he had taken was rushed to the Pentagon for a top security–level screening and accepted as proof that the NVA was indeed moving into South Vietnam , and Meadows was required to travel to Saigon and personally brief General Westmoreland. This was not the last time that he would be required to brief the general personally. Meadows had volunteered for Vietnam duty within days of returning to Fort Bragg, and in November 1965 he received orders assigning him to the 5th SFG. He had hardly touched down when the now very familiar Colonel Bull Simons contacted him. Simons was then chief of Op 35 and working under Colonel Donald Blackburn, chief of SOG. It was not until Meadows took up his post as operations sergeant at Long Thanh that he was briefed on what SOG was all about. It was fascinating stuff. SOG, the Studies and Observation Group (formerly known as Special Operations Group), answered only to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Though General William Westmoreland , the commander of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), was briefed on the activities of SOG, he had no power of command over the organization.2 Op 35 was the department covering ground studies, and as such it controlled all cross-border reconnaissance team activities. Within days Meadows made a direct approach to Simons: he wanted to lead a reconnaissance team (RT). He did not want to be the operations sergeant. He was given a leave of absence from the post for a period of two months. This only partially pleased Meadows, but he knew exactly what he needed to 84 THE QUIET PROFESSIONAL do to break away from his designated job. He had to build the best possible team, succeed on every mission, and try to make himself indispensable (he knew that was impossible, but it was a good aim). He also knew that there were some excellent RT leaders in SOG and that competition would be great. With RT Ohio his reputation was quick to grow, and his secret lay in detailed training and planning, maintaining the physical fitness of his team, constant rehearsal of techniques and immediate action drills, and, of course, first-class leadership. The then-SFC “Billy” Antony3 recalled his time with Meadows and RT Ohio with great fondness: Typically the “packet” with the orders for the next mission would come down and we’d study it before equipping and going into a local training phase. Teams rotated to take a break, but we’d often go out of sequence because of Dick’s success with Ohio, but we’d always get some sort of break. Often teams just flopped out during their break, but Dick always kept something going on to hone our skills. He made a very big thing also about staying close and associating with our Nungs. We’d often go out of the compound to eat with them, and this gave the Nungs confidence and made them appreciate their importance to Ohio. This was really critical, as there were many losses in Vietnam recon teams due to “layback” after a mission and splitting from the Nungs during breaks. Dick’s personality made you want to go with him. He’d place a challenge in front of you and get you psyched up (even over a beer). His mind was always actively finding new things and improving old tactics. Training was very detailed and we practiced all the time. You never had the time to get bored or stale. The missions really became little different to training. Dick made everything fun and no one ever wanted to leave his team. He could cut your ass up though and he’d leave no doubt in your mind of what he wanted. But he could do all that without ever giving offence. His mind was uncanny. He thought of everything and this gave us all a good feeling. In the jungle we talked with our hands. There was no unnecessary conversation. We became programmed robots but always 110...

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