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14 Operating along the Cambodian Border I , , .  . “” McKean left C-, and a month later Col. Francis J. “Blackjack” Kelly arrived to replace him as th Special Forces Group (Airborne) commander at Pleiku. In June, , Lieutenant Colonel Bennett rotated back to the States, promoted to (full) colonel, and assigned, as Colt recalls, as deputy commander of the d Division. After Bennett left, while a replacement was being assigned, for about six months as Colt recalls, Colt served as the CO of C-, Project Flying Horse.1 Kelly was a big man—six feet, two inches tall—a former New York City cop, and tough. While the troops feared him, Colt has always felt that he was a good man. He believes that Colonel Kelly saw his officers in only two ways— those who were with him, and those who were against him. If he perceived that a man was not with his program, he was soon gone. When he first arrived , Kelly insisted that every officer in the field come to headquarters and meet with him. When it was Colt’s turn to appear before him, an old friend, Col. John S. “Jack” Warren, whom Kelly had recently brought in as his deputy commander, gave the major a big buildup.2 When Colt arrived for his scheduled visit, Colonel Warren told him that all he had to do was to salute; mind his military manners, and, if he had the opportunity, tell Colonel Kelly that he was behind him  percent—this last suggestion being the key. Warren had done a good job. After Colt saluted and greeted Kelly, the colonel returned the salute, rose from his desk, and walked around it. He came straight up to Colt, gave him a hug, and addressed him by his nickname , “Skosh” (Japanese for “small”), telling the major that he had heard a lot of good things about him. When Colt politely thanked him, Kelly slapped him on the back and told him that he was glad to have him as one of his officers . Any time that he needed help, all he had to do was ask, and he would get all the assistance he needed. Colonel Warren, standing to the side, just stood       there smiling like a possum and winked at his friend as he left. Colt left feeling assured that he would have Colonel Kelly’s support. C’      , . Howard Stevens, was still recruiting Montagnards and sending them into Cambodia. According to Colt, Stevens was a smart, independent trooper. He was stationed so far away that the major did not see him often. On one visit to Duc Co, Colt arrived just as Stevens was leaving the camp with a large reconnaissance patrol of about sixty-five men, mostly indigenous; the major decided to tag along with them.3 On a trail a good distance from Duc Co, they stopped at a small stream to get water. The air was steamy, with a temperature over one hundred degrees and humidity close to  percent. When the st Air Cavalry arrived in country , in September, , it started sending its NCOs to Special Forces camps for on-the-job training, continuing to do so into .4 Stevens, a veteran NCO with three years of service in Vietnam, had two Air Cavalry NCOs, both of them new to Vietnam, on this patrol. The two “Green Peas” were loaded down with all the paraphernalia that the st Air Cavalry forced them to carry on patrol. Special Forces, in contrast, traveled very light. For example, steel helmets were too heavy and hot for one-hundred-degree weather, but the st Air Cavalry required its men to wear them. Fortunately most of them were smart enough to ignore that rule. At the stream, Stevens put out security in all directions. He told one of the Air Cavalry NCOs, Sgt. “Ray Curtis,” to take two of the indigenous up the trail about one hundred yards and set up security there. If Curtis saw anyone coming down the trail, he was to send one of the indigenous back to let him know. The three men went up the trail, and Stevens sent another small security team to their rear and down the trail. On one flank, away from the stream, there was a small hill about the size of a house. He set sentries there too as well as on the other flank across the stream. The rest of the men began to fill their canteens. The patrol had not been there...

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