Colt Terry, Green Beret

5. The Dangers of Maintaining Prowess

5 The Dangers of Maintaining Prowess O   , ,     Edward Gary Air Force Base in San Marcos, Texas, to attend an eighteenweek army aviation-tactics course—Army Primary Flight Training Class - . After a brief altercation with one of the flight instructors, he was dropped from the class, and returned to the th Military Intelligence Group at Fort Bragg, where he was appointed as FA team leader under FB- in the th Special Forces Group.1 Colt ran this and other teams through various training exercises during the next four years. O      ,   into the railroad station in Ogden, Utah, thirty-seven miles north of Salt Lake City; brushed the snow off his civilian clothes; and asked to speak with the stationmaster. A secretary showed him into the office of the stationmaster, who was an imposing figure behind his big mahogany desk. Colt introduced himself, “Sir, we’re having some Special Forces war games in the area, and I’ve come to ask you a favor.” The stationmaster, who had not seen a car pull up, looked at Colt and asked, “Where’d you come from?” Colt answered, “We’re staying at Como Park up at Morgan. It’s closed for the season.” Morgan, Utah, is twenty-seven miles southeast of Ogden. Colt and his team had parachuted into southwestern Wyoming. As they skied toward Morgan, they had been living out in the elements, performing missions in rough and wide-open terrain for more than a week before they found Como Park.2 With little shelter from the blowing snow and few places to hide, they knew they needed to find a better location. A two-man reconnaissance team found the closed amusement park. When they talked to the owner, he invited the soldiers to hide out in his site.    The stationmaster continued, “I know that place. How did you get here?” Colt answered, “Walked.” The trainman was surprised, “Son, that’s over twenty-five miles.” Colt joked, “I know, and I had to stay off the highway because people are looking for us.” The stationmaster returned to the original subject, “So, what favor can I do for Special Forces?” The team’s primary mission—to “blow up” the double railroad bridge at Devil’s Slide—was a tough one, Colt decided after making a personal reconnaissance . The span was out in the open, with no ditches or gullies for his men to crawl along at night and no other means of concealment. The only solution was to take out the guards from a moving train. Colt told the stationmaster: “In about a week a group of us want to ride one of your freight trains up to the double bridge at Devils Slide. When we get there, we’ll have to jump off the train onto the bridge to take out the guards. We’ll also be throwing off about six hundred pounds of sandbags, to simulate our explosives.” The stationmaster thought for a minute. “I think I can help you, but you’ve got to understand something. Trains are dangerous. We will only be able to slow the train down to  mph there. When that train slows down, your men have got to jump way out. If they land near the wheels, they could get killed or have their legs or arms cut off.” Colt countered, “If there’s an accident, the army will accept full responsibility .” “That may be, son, but it’s still our railroad.” The stationmaster continued , “Get your men down here the night before and you can load your men and sandbags on a boxcar. Colt said, “That’ll be great, sir.” The two men sealed the deal with a handshake. The stationmaster then called to his secretary. “This young man walked here all the way from Como Park. I’m leaving to drive him back out there. I don’t think he should have to walk another twenty-five miles today.” When Colt told the men that the stationmaster had agreed to let them board a boxcar, they were ecstatic. He quickly cooled their enthusiasm, however , by reminding them that they still had to find transportation from Como Park to Ogden without being seen, and they had to plan how to “kill” the guards. He had fifteen men on his team, and they had trained about twenty-       five “simulated guerrillas,” enlisted men from the Utah National Guard, as part of this exercise. W    , ,  other conveyances...